Garden Diary – My beanstalk’s bigger than Jacks!

Well maybe not quite as big as Jacks, but I do feel that if I stood and watched I’d see them growing!

I sow my beans directly into the ground on May bank holiday, none of this faffing around starting them off in pots. It’s honestly as easy as that!

The most difficult bit is providing them with a support, but the gardeners mate and I have got that off to a fine art now.

Some years I am a few weeks late sowing and this was one of those years, I always think, “oh no, I’ve left it too late and I won’t have any beans”. But I should know better by now!

The beans germinate and up pop these sturdy looking seedlings. As they grow I carefully twist them around my supports, as they do have a tendency to wander off and find anything to climb up.

Within no time at all they are sprinting their way upwards, and before you know it, you’re eating freshly picked beans, absolutely delicious.

But, you’d better really like beans as they produce more for you each day. You quickly work your way through one recipe after another, finally resorting to stuffing them in the freezer.

This turns into a blessing though come the winter as you have all the lovely summer bounty frozen, awaiting your taste buds.

I’m always telling people that want to start growing their own food to start with beans. As a lot of you know I started growing beans in granny’s old dolly tub. The one I now grow tulips and flowers in.

If you haven’t got spare ground to grow them, then a large pot is absolutely fine. You do need some tall canes though, and they do need tying together well as the beans do weigh a fair amount.

The temperatures last week were perfect, proper Goldilocks weather. We even had a bit of rain, although not enough to do much good but at least it freshened the plants a bit. I see another heatwave is predicted for next week, oh dear!

It’s interesting to see which plants have done well in this hot year, and in the case of the roses rather surprising.

Whilst I’d gone to pick the first few autumn fruiting raspberries (it’s always confused), I spotted that the pink ‘Mary rose’ had started blooming again. I think of roses as quintessentially British ie. Liking cool wet weather!

Even the tough penstemon ‘Garnet’ is very reduced in size. It’s normally a bit of a thug, albeit a very pretty thug. At least it’s alive and flowering, as I’m sure we’re all expecting quite a few casualties from the drought.

More vegetables have bolted (gone to seed), but some I’ve left as they look so decorative, and they’re great for the pollinators, plus I get to collect free seeds. Win, win, win!

No surprise that the Japanese anemones have turned up, as I think of them as one of the hardiest plants. I remember someone I used to visit years ago, actually had them pushing up through her tarmac drive. Let’s face it, there can’t have been much water there!

My six on Saturday photo features some potato flowers, as they are the largest I’ve grown. They are a main crop variety and I only normally grow earlies so that could be it, but I thought they were worth including.

I’m afraid I didn’t get around to posting on Sunday as my lovely family came around, and what with watering, continued renovations, plus rustling something up to eat, I simply ran out of time!

You’ll be pleased to know that I did make them eat a few beans 🙂.

Monday 3rd August 2026

Penstemon ‘garnet’ usually wants to spread over everything around it. This year it’s much smaller but luckily still producing some lovely pink blooms 🌿🩷🌿🩷🌿🩷🌿

#magentamonday #summerblooms