Soybeans, Scarlet Runner Beans, Snap Peas

After our Scarlet Runner Bean plants didn't produce any bean pods in the heat of the summer, they did grow pods as the weather cooled, and we were able to pick some pods that were developed, and they were huge!

 The beans are funky, from pink to purple.  It turns out that only the purple ones dried correctly, so the pink ones weren't fully developed yet. 

 Dried snap pea pods that were left of the plant were harvested for seeds.  Look like we have way too many.  Oh well. 

 The soybeans did very well. 

 We blanched and froze them. 

Dried Beans

So we let all the beans on the Italian Rose bean plants dry, to store as dried beans.  Once the pods changed from their bright red and green color to brown and crackly, we pulled them off.  We removed the beans by hand, and then put into an uncovered bowl to further dry.  In a week or so we'll seal them up in an airtight jar. 

 As you can see, the beans are white with red spots.  But a few beans were the inverse, being red with white spots. 

Vegetable Garden - 1st week of July

We've planted two rows of gourds, we'll be building an arbor for them.  

Birdhouse gourds and snake gourds.

 The watermelon vines are starting to take off.

 Sweet potatoes are doing fine, they needed more room.  The squash and zucchini plants have bloomed and are developing. 

 The sugar snap peas have completely climbed the tepee, and are now starting to yellow with the heat.  Carrots next to them are good, we think we should have thinned them out a bit though.  We'll see how big the carrots end up.

 The Italian rose beans are full of beans, the 3 cucumber plants in this bed appear to have been infected with Bacterial Wilt.  But we've only seen one cucumber beetle, which supposedly causes it.  The plant didn't seem slimy when cut either, which is supposed to be a sign.  Either way, this is the 2nd year in a row they did not do well. 

 Closeup of the Italian Rose beans.  We are going to let them dry on the plant.

 These 4 cucumber plants are doing much better, but now some of the vines are starting to wilt too. 

 Our soy beans plants are huge, and are flowering.  The green bean plants behind them have already flowered, and have small beans on them. 

 As you can see, for whatever reason, the one half of the tomato plants are doing much better than the other half.  We can't figure out why. 

 The "Fourth of July" and "Fresh Salsa" varieties are starting to be ripe.

 The peppers plants all have peppers.   The Scarlet Runner beans have flowered, but don't seem to be forming beans.  We think maybe the birds are eating the flowers/baby beans?  

Closeup of some of the peppers

Closeup of Peppers and Tomatoes

 We planted 5 pumpkin vines, 2 "Amish Pie" and 3 "World Color". 

We harvested our onions (yellow and red), and the rest of the garlic. We discovered that you do not want to let the onions bloom.  The 3 that had flowered, had the smallest onions.  The garlic is hanging up to dry on the porch, as it's supposed to be out of direct sun, and breezy.