Jen Fulkerson

Thank you I appreciate the info. I have always gotten solid color beans, so I wasn't sure.
I did notice something interesting this year. Aphids always infest the beans in August. This year they came very early, I don't think they were even producing when the aphids arrived. My initial thought was we had a very mild winter, I think we hit 32 once. So I figured bugs would be an issue. I also wonder if there was less pests pressure on the adapted beans?  I guess I will never know, but it does make me wonder.
Thanks again

I always grow yard long beans. It's the only bean I have tried that will produce all summer in my Northern California zone 9B garden. I gathered the dried beans in 2023 and have been growing them since. This year I thought maybe they are getting a little old, so I bought green yard long beans a Botanical Interest seed, and a red Chinese long bean from Bakers Creek. I planted one of each, 1,2,3,1,2,3,... I didn't count them, but I planted very densely, and there didn't appear to be any empty spots, if I didn't get 100% gremination, I got pretty close.
At this time of the summer we are kind of burnt out on Beans. Even though I have been talking lots to work, I still have tons of dried beans on the vine. I picked a bunch today to save. The beans are mostly kind of red, some tan, and some black. size very, but I have never noticed a difference when I grow a small bean versus a large one (I don't save very small beans, or deformed ones) 2 of the pods had beans that are red and tan/off white. I have never seen that in this kind of bean before. I have always planted green and red long beans together. The only real difference I can think of is I did have a bush bean growing at the same time for quite a while. Usually by the time the long beans are producing the regular beans have stopped producing. But not this year.( we had a pretty mild summer compared to normal). I was under the understanding that the yard long beans are not a true bean, so it doesn't seem like they would cross, but I don't know anything about seed breading.
What do you think? Is it a cross between the varieties? a disease? Should I keep them and plant them next year?
Thanks

Thanks for posting this, I have also had difficulty growing echinacea from seed. It gives me hope, maybe I will try again next year. I hope yours are still doing well.

Still blooming

I'm so glad this post resurfaced, thank you very much for  sharing your beautiful garden and the abundance of butterflies.  I'm a little envious. I have lots of life in my gardens, but almost never see butterflies lots of cabbage moths that I used to enjoy until I realized what they are. Maybe because I live between a walnut orchard and a almond orchard. Unfortunately they drive by in their hazmat suit and spray ?  
I enjoyed your photos and videos thanks.

Emma I'm afraid you get the typical permaculture answer. It depends.
I live in N. California, and have a very open coop. In the winter I put a couple of corrugated steel panels up so my hens are not getting wet on the roosting bars if it rains. It's  kinda closed in on 3 sides in the back of the coop, and the rest is pretty much chicken wire. For me I have to worry more about the heat than the cold.
How cold will it get where you live?  
I hope someone else chimes in, we think we are freezing to death if it gets into the 30s, so I'm probably not the best source. Good luck.

I'm my raised beds i sprinkle a little of a mix of what I have on hand. It's always organic, but may very. Usually something like bio live, green sand, azomite, stuff like that. My thoughts are it takes a while for organic fertilizer to be available for the plants, so so what I add this season is maybe available next season. I do this twice a year when I transition from summer to fall and from winter to spring. I will also top off my beds with compost, and or organic soil, what ever I have on hand. We get more squash than we can possibly eat.
That being said I had volunteer pumpkin and 2 kinds of squash in my food forest want-a-be. I was covered with wood chips that have pretty much broken down. They grew and produced like nothing I have ever seen.
I live in N. California zone 9B, and in our area I just don't think it matters. Squash will grow and produce. I do agree about the water. When I was watering a good amount they were producing like crazy, when I greatly reduced the water the vines started to die off.

Time to start fall seeds again. This year I have been battling Harlequin bugs.  I don't know if it's the weather, our persistence, or both, but we have been seeing a fewer Harlequin bugs. Fewer isn't zero, so I have been worried about starting my fall seeds, which are heavy on the brassica's which are the Harlequin bugs plants of choice. My work has roe cover that got a little dirty, so they are clearancing for . 39 per foot it comes 12' wide, so I got 20'. A 12X20' piece  cost 6.00, a heck of a deal. I covered the chicken wire top with the row cover, and nailed a piece on the top of the seed table. I will probably still throw some shade cloth over the top in the beginning, but will remove it as the days get shorter, or if the seedlings show signs of not enough light.
I hope it works, I'm just thinking an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I made  new rollaway nesting boxes. It's a better design, the eggs roll to the back instead of to the front like my last one. Also the only part of the boxes in the coop is the front of the boxes and the ledge to get inside. This doesn't take up much coop space, and is nice for the family who don't want to go into the coop. Maybe now I won't be the only one to gather the eggs. I wanted to keep expense down, so repurposed a lot. I used up 4 different paints I had. It's a little funky, but now I have 4 less quarts of paint in my work space (most of the cans were about 1/4 to a 1/3 full).
Now let's hope they use it. The first day 0, day two 1 egg(I put one in the box hoping to give them the idea) Day three 2 eggs. Not fast learners, but at least we are going in the right direction.

I will toss this in as part of the redo. The trash can I keep in the chicken yard is old, and the lid pops off easy. I constantly have to pick up the same trash over and over again. I drilled a few holes on side. I put wire through the can and lid, and secured it loosely like a kind of hinge. On the other side There's a handle on the can and a hole that runs through the lid. I attached a piece of wire through both.  I will just remove the wire on the handle when I need to use the can. Now if the chickens, or the wind knock it down the chickens won't be able to remove everything from the can. Plus this is their new hiding spot to lay eggs, so many it will encourage them to use the new nesting boxes.

As you can see I did manage to grow watermelon. We got to eat a few. They were good, not great, but pretty good.
I wouldn't say I was very successful, but not a total fail either. I did grow them, and I learned a lot. Next year I think I will plant them sooner. I think I will plant the seeds around an olla. I'm not the most consistent waterer. I'm pretty good in the beginning, but as time goes by I mess up now and then. So an olla will at least provide a consistent amount of water at all times (as long as I keep it full). I didn't try the toothpick in the stem a little while before I pick the melons, and I do think it would help intensify the flavor .