Brown Thumb Gardener – Baby Purple Podded Pole Beans

Brown Thumb Gardener - Baby Purple Podded Pole Beans CradleRockingMama.com

When I got home from work, it was almost midnight on Sunday. Monday evening, I went out to say “hi” to my garden, and my purple podded pole beans looked beautiful! They finally had some little buds on them.

Sprouts CradleRockingMama.com

Last night, while watering the garden, I looked at my beans again. Imagine my surprise and excitement when I saw this:

Purple Podded Pole Beans CradleRockingMama.com

Little baby purple podded pole beans! Yay!

I had no idea these little beans would grow so fast. It’s truly amazing. 

Something tells me that July will see lots of bean canning on my schedule. Good thing I just ordered more pint sized canning jars!

Other than the pole beans, the garden is doing just about the same. The carrots are looking fabulous, the potatos seem to be doing well, and the basil is bushing up more by the day.

I did lose one basil plant that just didn’t seem to transplant well. That’s okay; I still have 16 more in my garden!

The swiss chard and collard greens are obviously trying to make a comeback, but the critter keeps nibbling away at them. I need to decide if I’m going to get an electric fence to try and save them, or just write them off for the year.

Honestly, I don’t know which way I’m going to go. At this point, I doubt I’ll be able to grow enough to stockpile a years supply for Zac, so I may just call it a loss and move on…carrying the lesson into next summers growing season, of course!

There was one interesting thing I ran across recently: a new magazine in our area called “Edible Ozarkansas“.

It’s quite a lovely little magazine, with some useful and amusing information.

The thing that caught my eye, though, was a nice spread they did on “A sampling of what typically can be found available fresh in the Ozarkansas region during July, August and September”. 

Of course, my antennae immediately perked up; this could be a handy guide to things that grow well in my area for next summers garden!

I had to laugh when I read it, though. Here, I’ll list off everything they shared was typical for my area, and next to it the reason why we can’t eat it:

Apples Fructose
Basil Waiting to trial
Blackberries Accidental ingestion/reaction
Black-eyed Peas Fructose
Blueberries Waiting to trial
Cantaloupe Reacted via BM
Corn Not on your life!
Cucumbers Waiting to trial
Edamame Not on your life!
Eggplant Hmm…worth looking in to
Figs Fructose
Grapes Fructose
Green Beans Major FPIES trigger
Lettuce Fructose (depending on type of lettuce)
Okra Fructose
Peaches Fructose
Pears Fructose
Peppers Hmm…worth looking in to
Potatos Can’t trial on Zac when they’re so vital to my diet
Purple Hull Beans Waiting to trial (see photos above)
Summer Squash Major FPIES trigger
Sweet Potatos Major FPIES trigger
Tomatillos Hmm…worth looking in to
Tomatos Hoping to trial, but potential fructose issue
Watermelon Fructose
Zucchini Major FPIES trigger***  Maybe

I didn’t even share any potential histamine problems on this…only the things that popped out off the top of my head!

Out of 26 possible foods that I can easily find in my area, only 8 have any potential as a trial food for Zac. 3 of those 8 I don’t know enough about, so I may discover they are a potential problem via FPIES, fructose, or histamine!

So really, only 5 potential foods for Zac at this point in time off that list.

I’m amazed at how something so basic and fundamental as eating can be such an obstacle when a body doesn’t function in a typical fashion. 

Well, on the bright side, I guess that still helps me winnow down my gardening options for next summer. Right?   (I have to find a silver lining in this somehow!)

How is your garden doing so far? I really would love to hear any gardening stories – especially from folks who haven’t grown much before!

__________

***It was brought to my attention that zucchini actually has a high success rate for FPIES kids. All I can say is that either I remembered information incorrectly, remembered it correctly and it was outdated information, or I just lumped zucchini and summer squash together in my head when I first wrote this. Just goes to show – no matter how far down the path of FPIES you go, there’s always something to learn! Thanks, Jamie!

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3 Responses to Brown Thumb Gardener – Baby Purple Podded Pole Beans

  1. defendingjoy says:

    I am currently trying to sprout some spinach in the fridge, and grow squash in our AeroGarden.

  2. defendingjoy says:

    I guess germinating spinach seeds would be more accurate.
    We just use the nutrients that come with the aerogarden. I plan to move the spinach and squash to pots outside before we harvest anything. But for now its nice to have the aerogarden take care of everything until they get bigger.

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