Herbert Grosshans: Beans...beans...more beans

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Welcome to my personal blog. I have another blog, Herbert's Place, but that one limits me to what I sometimes want to publish, because it is mainly used to promote my books. As it says in the header, I want to use this blog to write about things that have nothing to do with my books. There is no real theme here. I'll be writing about anything that causes me to either be happy or somethings that concerns me. It could be political, travel, a hobby, or anything else. So come and visit me sometimes.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Beans...beans...more beans

With all the rain and the warm weather we've been having, things grow in the garden. My tomato plants are huge and they carry loads of tomatoes, all still green, though. The peppers are also quite plentiful this year. Last year for some reason my Gypsy peppers didn't do much, but this year they are quite prolific. I saved some seeds last year from peppers I bought in the store. The peppers are long and red and expensive to buy. I thought I'd give them a try in the garden, so I seeded some into containers in early Spring. The seeds sprouted and I transplanted the seedlings into the garden beginning of June. I'm happy to report that I have many peppers on the plants. The Banana peppers are also growing nicely.

We've harvested a few zucchini, yellow ones, and ate them yesterday. The green zucchini are growing well again this year. We haven't had much luck with them for a few years. I've harvested four so far. I don't let them grow to large. They're only good for baking if they get too large.

One thing that always amazes me are the beans. You plant one little bean and you get a ton of beans from this one tiny bean. I usually seed one packet of yellow beans and one packet of purple beans. The plants supply us with more beans than we can eat. The purple beans turn green when boiled. And the yellow one taste great boiled and served in a sour-cream sauce with plenty of dill. We had one supper with yellow beans already. Sometimes my wife makes a salad with vinegar. Also tastes great.
Yesterday I harvested my beans and was surprised how many were on the plants. We still have some left from the last time I picked.

Beans are healthy and prolific growers. I don't know why not more people have gardens and grow a few beans, a few tomatoes, and maybe a few peppers. Lettuce grows mostly in the Spring, but is also easy to grow. I doesn't do well once the weather turns hot. Having a garden is fun and the rewards are well worth the effort of planting, seeding, and spending a little time weeding and watering. And a garden is soothing for the soul and nourishing for the body. There is nothing better and more satisfying than eating fresh vegetables picked in ones own garden. There are no chemicals to worry about. It's a win-win-situation.