This is the time of year for me when supports will fail if they are not adequate, or if the plants grew bigger and taller than expected. I don't know why I continue to believe pea packets that say 'grows to 5 feet' because I haven't seen it yet. They're either 3 ft or less, or 6 ft plus it seems, at least the ones I've tried. But! this time I only fell for it with 2 varieties. Unfortunately, at this point there isn't much I can do. I can only hope they make it and don't get too damaged by being supported poorly.
The stick broke
and several semi runner beans were attached (though I gave others sticks as well). Not much to do, since I can't manually wind the beans on a new stick pole.
T- posts this size were not tall enough, I just hope the peas still mature alright. They're soup peas and are going to need more time for sure.
Harvested my first cherry tomato, which tasted delicious. Not sure if that's because they actually are or because it's been so long since I had a garden tomato! Lol Used some of my dud peppers in a new moong dahl recipe, added a nice bit of spice. And a 'Petch Siam' eggplant turned bright yellow, which seems to mean it is seeds are getting close to full maturity! A few other eggplants are getting bright yellow too, so maybe bright yellow is a common deep maturity indicator, like orange for cucumbers.
Not really a support issue, but this has been a problem with a few plants - stems breaking from the main stem; vigorous growth combined with the deep rains we've gotten, when it does rain, are partly to blame. Same with the Gem marigolds, I lost 1000''s of seeds because big chunks of the plants are breaking off.
My pole bean experiment in part shade is turning out well so far. Whether they will make dry seed I'm not sure but I think I'll get fresh beans from them. (The 2 poles on the end, in right of pic.) Considering I put them in a bit late and as seeds, not transplants, they are comparable to the others. No pods yet though.
On a happier note - a butterfly pea bloom!
And the 'Dead Viking' peas - the oddest and most rare pea I have - are SO tiny! I've never seen anything like them, little mini peas! Probably just over an inch.
enough to get you started with them.
Curious how they'll go this year as it's the first time I've actually grown annuals hoping to save seed. Even if they don't all work out some have been such a lovely surprise it'll have been worth it.
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