Organic. Period.

In southern Indiana this year, the fall has been mild enough that my green beans planted on Labor Day weekend are now giving me lots of beans! Many gardeners pick over one planting of beans until the plants are done for, then forget about growing them until next year.

It seems like I always have seed left over, and I always plant late beans. Some years we have an early frost and nothing matures in the fall garden, but most of the time I can get at least one picking from beans before frost. The picture here is the second pick on these. I doubt if they will bloom again, but you never know. It’s 84° today, and warm for at  least another week. And there are plenty of baby beans coming along.

Fall beans often have smaller pods than summer plantings, and sometimes the pods are less meaty and more seedy since the plants are trying to make seeds before winter. But I find that there are almost NO insect pests this time of year, and I never have to pick a single bean beetle. The beans are always flavorful, and easy to pick. The plants seem to have fewer leaves with their energy directed at seed production.

This fall I figure I’ll end up with at least 12 quarts of beans from less than a dollar’s worth of leftover seeds.  I think that’s a pretty good way to use the final few weeks of the growing season!

More tips from my fall garden tomorrow.

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