Things That Grow That Are Green

Remember my bean vines that thought they were Kudzu?

Here is how it looks this week......

You can't even see the plant hook anymore! lol

This vine reminds me of the old segment of the movie CREEPSHOW.  The one where Stephen King plays Jordy Verrill, a not-too-bright Maine hick who ends up being swallowed up by strange vegetation that grows thanks to the alien slime that came out of a meteor he poked when it fell to Earth on his land.

I don't recall any meteors falling in the backyard so I think I am safe from that characters fate at least. ;-)

I did get the wind chimes taken off and moved before it totally enveloped the pole.
And now look at the plant hook pole on the other side of the deck where I moved the chimes to......

The wind chimes are starting to get swallowed up again.....this time by the volunteer Morning Glory vines on this end of the garden bed.

I have run out of places to hang the chimes now.
I guess I'll take them down until I can hang them up again on the other pole in a couple of weeks when the bean vines are done and can be pulled up.

What's new in your garden this week?

Sluggy

What's Growing in Sluggy's Yard?

Well the first obvious answer to this question is weeds.  *rimshot*

Since we finally got lots of rain last week, the plants are perking up around here.
And that includes the plants I want to grow AND the ones I don't want, the weeds.

We had to do some more bean picking this past weekend.....

We'll be getting another mess o' beans at least from these plants before they are done.  This variety is called Gold Rush and they are an early variety.

After picking beans, I had Hubs thin my Collard Plants.  We never thinned them after they came up and they are really going wild, so it was way past time to reign them in.  Here is what he pulled up....

They could have stood even more thinning.
Here is what I harvested after cutting the leaves off....

They overfilled my ginormously large colander.
After a nice cold soaking bath with salt in the kitchen sink(coarse salt helps remove the dirt), here is what went into the pot with a small portion of salt pork(cut into lardons).  I also season with freshly cracked pepper and a small amount of sugar(especially if the greens are picked before the first frost as they tend to be bitter and this cuts the bitterness).

I didn't have to remove many of the spines, as the leaves were so young that the spines weren't tough and large.

We ate the Collards with some Barbecue Chicken last Sunday night.  I forgot to get a photo of the finished product.....*burp*. hehehe

While the yellow bean plants on one side of the bed have been fruitful, the vine beans on the other side have been not so much.
Ok, I take that statement back.
These plants have not yielded a single dang blasted bean....yet!
But the vines?
Oh, they are doing a mighty fine impersonation of Kudzu!
And if you are a Yankee or a West Coaster, this is what Kudzu looks like....

Let's just say it is a rather "prolific" weed that grows quickly and swallows up anything in it's path.
In the Summer down South, you don't leave your windows open at night for fear that the Kudzu will come into your home and strangle you in your sleep.lol

Here's what the backside of the garden bed from the deck view looks like.....

They have topped the deck railing and are growing back down again behind the deck box onto the deck.
Now do you see the resemblance to Kudzu?......

And on the end they have overtaken the bird feeder pole and are about to consume my wind chimes.

Totally amazingly lush plants but no blooms yet, let alone actual baby green beans.

So what is growing in your yard this Summer?

Sluggy