Well, our runner bean crop was definitely not one that we were expecting to go anywhere this year! As of just a few weeks ago, we had pretty much given up hope that we wouldn’t have a bean harvest at all this season. After all, our bush beans had all ready failed tremendously!
As you can see, that has definitely changed! We pulled several pounds of runner beans off our plants, which is great considering we definitely thought it was going to be near zero pounds! We’ll take it and call it a win!
But, this does make us think about “hope” and its place in the garden. We very much try to temper our hope in gardening against realistic expectations. It’s really easy to get sucked into being “overly-optimistic” and end up disappointed. If we’re talking about you, that’s a totally normal thing in growing!
Gardening is simply not a “fast” thing. Biology rarely works on a scale that measures in days or even a week or two. Most things take longer, often times much longer. There are exceptions of course, like broccoli flowering in the heat, but these things are rarely the desired outcome for the grower.
But, it’s truly a more difficult path to be a pessimistic gardener. We think Audrey Hepburn said it best, that to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow. You can’t truly disconnect hope and gardening. And if you try, you’ll likely be an unhappy, short term gardener.
Fortunately, we’ve gained enough garden wisdom to discern what is and what isn’t possible. We knew that seeing tiny little beans in late August might, given the right conditions, have a chance to mature in a few weeks. We try to lay these facts bare, when we can. Things like a late August tomato flower will never become a ripe tomato in our northern climate. But, sometimes and with some things, letting things ride to see what happens is absolutely the right call.
We’re happy to get at least some beans this year, it was looking pretty bleak! We do regularly appreciate our dedication to crop diversification as it often helps us out in unexpected ways. We’re going to put these up using our standard blanch and freeze technique, and they should make for some tasty stews, soups and creole!
