Growing better than weeds.

The garden is growing faster than weeds. The only real disappointment is the Topsy Turvy Tree. The tomatoes are growing, but the other tomatoes are doing so much better. My sister sent pictures of her garden and she is having issues with the excess water that runs down the plant causing fungus growth. All plants have leaves that reach their usefulness and the leaves will die off. However, it is too early in the season for that much yellowing.

I love my sister, but her idea of gardening is Miracle Gro. Organic gardeners do not use this product because it is petroleum based and we do not use that kind of fertilizer. There are great companies like Gardeners Supply(www.gardeners.com)or Gardens Alive (www.gardensalive.com) that make specialty fertilizers that are totally organic and made for specific plants. I have bought from these companies with complete assurance that they meet organic standards.

The tepees for the pole snap beans, Blue Lake Poles, are ready and will go out this week. The beans are sending out runners and it is time to train them to grow on the netting. I plant Blue Lake pole beans because I like snap beans and not the beans that require the strings pulled off of their sides. My mother liked the stringy pole beans and I hated them and as some mothers and daughters are, we were always at opposite sides of the spectrum. I prefer the snap beans because I hate the work and taste of the other type of pole beans. I guess preferences run deep as differences can and we mimic our tastes.

Most people are probably saying "what's the difference?" The difference is in production of edible fruit or vegetables. When you plant bush beans, you get two pickings of beans. When you plant pole beans, the production is all growing season once the bean starts producing. For instance, Burpee has both kinds of seeds and it is up to the gardener.

This brings up why the pole beans were preferred to bush beans. It is easier to sit and pick when your bean is growing up something. The older farmers used a lot of companion gardening and pole beans and corn were often grown together.

Years ago, we planted beans in the French Intensive method. This worked great because you made your row a little wider, put up a fence or grow net down the middle and planted on both sides of the divider. This made the beans grow like a tent. My two oldest daughters loved to climb in and out the growth of the beans when they were young. They would help pick the beans and they felt a part of the garden. I distinctly remember the summer Kimmie was fifteen or sixteen months old, and she delighted in pulling the beans and being in the bean house.

Sometimes, in my mind's eye, I see that little girl with the coal black hair in two pigtails on either side of her head bounding from my garden. That garden is long gone and the little girl is now a warm, sweet wonderful woman who teaches AP Psychology and sometimes, like on vacation, I see her dimple when she smiles and the little girl replaces the woman.

All of my children are growing better than weeds, plants and humans.