JD and the beanstalks



I never got that Jack and the Beanstalk story until I grew pole beans. I though beans were just little short things. I think it was 1996 - Garden Number Three - that I first tried pole beans. Then I understood how someone could imagine beans growing to the sky.



The fence this year is 9 1/2 feet tall. The tallest fence I've ever built, though I had taller beans in 1998's Garden Number Five when they started growing up the second story porch at Bachelor Apartment One.



Three kinds of beans this year, all grown from saved seed from Garden Number Nine (2002, the last Brookside Drive garden). Kentucky Wonders, the classic pole bean; purple pods (they turn green when ya cook em); and Italian Romanos. Didn't have room for the long Asian Beans which I haven't grown since Garden Number Seven in 2000.



No one ever called me Jack except myself. It was a briefly used pen name back in grad school, when I was one of about 10 TAs on the entire campus and TAs were mildly controversial.



Anyway I should be picking beans by the end of July. Stay tuned.