September 7, 2009 �Nature (whoever she is)�

September 7, 2009
"Nature (whoever she is)"

 Greetings Friends of the Farm,

 Nature (whoever she is) has her own ideas. In theory we try to act in sympathy to those ideas but usually we push back a little. I guess we can't help our meddling, but we always think we are justified....

 For instance, plant a tomato "vine" without coordinating an encompassing support system, and the vine will follow Nature's directives and act like a ... vine. It will slink around looking for altitude, charge up and over rocks and lean on old logs, but mostly it will settle for the ground, and let its fruits rest on neighboring vegetation or lie heavily upon the soil. If you wait too long to harvest them, most of these tomatoes will probably have already been sampled, or fully consumed, by the tiny creatures of the Earth. Nature thinks the little guys should eat too. And, Nature really wants those rotting fruits and their subsequently expelled seeds to be close to the soil so that there will be another generation of tomatoes (for Earth's tiny creatures).

 Unfortunately, we can't stand that, so, circumventing Nature's wishes, we tie the tomato stems to tall baskets or fences or stakes -- any kind of support to insure that we and not the tiny masses will have at least the majority of the fruit. And to insure that, we pick them before they are fully ripe, as if we don't, something else will mess with them. Like Nature's squirrels, or like birds, who will peck holes in ripe tomatoes, in the attempt to lure something containing protein that wants easy entrance to the tomato's juicy interior. A worm for instance -- the utmost treat for birds.

 Once the tomato harvest is over, the support systems are normally retired for the off-season. "Off' season? Well, a lot of gardeners grow mainly tomatoes, as that is what they think of when they aren't thinking about steaks.

 But, we, true omnivores, want our veggies and greens just as much as we desire tomatoes (or steaks). Well, at least I do. Larry might quibble over my including him in this summation.

 So, because I (and you, I think) want something more than just tomatoes, we leave some of the fences that supported the heirloom tomatoes in place so that other climbing, vining crops can use their services.

 After the Cherokee Purples were memories, we decided to plant the seeds of Asian long beans on the same fence. In late July, my intern, John, amended the narrow bed with gypsum, sulfur and greensand, to supply missing nutrients and to make other minerals water soluble so the plants can take them up. The gypsum will also help neutralize the buildup of sodium in our soil. Rain usually washes sodium down and away from the plants' roots, but, guess what? We've not had much rain....less than six inches since the first of April. That's an inch a month on average. We need a LOT of rain to make the soil happy again.

  After the amending, we irrigated the bed, as gypsum needs moisture to do its work. Then John mulched the bed with straw to retain the moisture. There were a lot of chopped out Cherokee Purple viney stems tangling up in the foot path, but they would be important later...

  In early August, tromping along on the tomato vines, we planted the long beans on the fence bed. It took both of us to get a good stand, as after I covered the adjacent Romano beans to keep the grackles from pulling them up, the birds moved onto John's first sowing of beans, whose sprouts had been looking great! We had made the mistake of congratulating the long beans, as we had earlier congratulated the Romano beans. I should have known better. "Pride goeth...." Too much arrogance will lead to failure of the beans. It's a serious rule in farming and in life.

 So while John was vacationing, with nary a thought of the farm and what calamities could befall it in his absence, I replanted about a third of the long bean rows. For some reason, probably humbleness on my part, the grackles took no interest in the newest seedlings. Of course we'd also planted beets and chard over in the side field, and they were highly entertained by those tiny tender stems.... After the little beet feast, we also replanted, and covered, them. You'd think we would have learned by now, but really, since the sparrows (who ate three plantings of chard and beets last year) have mostly disappeared from the farm, and it's been three years since the grackles pulled up a lot of our broccoli transplants (through bird netting I might add, for those who are fans of this diabolical netting), it just didn't occur strongly enough to me that they would repeat their behavior.

 It's true that the same thing rarely happens each year. Now I know also that it (the thing) can skip a year - or two - and when you are complacent, here it is again. (A new rule of farming.)

 The long beans are doing well. Oops, I didn't say that did I? I take it back. Although they look good, surely they will die next week. Meanwhile they are misbehaving; like momentarily senseless adolescents, they are refusing to use the fence right in front of them for support. Instead, they are waving their feelers around in every direction save the fence's and look suspiciously like they may be contemplating the ground. They are vines you know. Maybe they just need a bit of direction. From me, not from Nature (whoever she is).

 Trying to be helpful, every few days or so, I carefully weave their tendrils through the fence wires -- gently, so as not to break off the little tips....

 Finally I remembered the tomato vines, all brown and gnarly, scrambled on the foot path. With my foot, I pushed them up into the bean vines which, with that encouraging support, immediately straightened up. Now the fence is inches from their leading tips so I'm hoping that they will get the notion to follow others of their clan and wind around and around until they reach the top of the fence. There they can wave at every grackle that flies overhead. And with the extra sunshine, they will make more beans for you and us! Before the first frost comes, I hope...for that will end their exuberance for good, and of course, this time it will be Nature's doing.

The Tomato Vines helping the Bean Vines...

 The long beans are a great bean to plant in Central Texas, from spring to late summer. They do need a trellis, but once established, they will produce good-flavored beans often a foot long. We just blanch them for a few minutes in simmering water - whole - and then either eat them with our fingers or chop them to add to a quick saute. They can generally set in very hot weather and will do well in a drought....much better than "regular green beans." But, they are hot weather beans and not cool season beans, so they must be harvested before cold weather arrives....

 Carol Ann