Yesterday I was looking at the sweetpeas that I have growing in several areas in the garden and came to the conclusion that runner beans would be just as pretty and give better value for the amount of space taken up by the sweetpeas.
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| Sweetpeas growing up a support next to the Jerusalem artichokes in front of the trellis panel. |
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| Sweetpeas and runner beans growing in the bottom left hand corner of the garden |
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| Sweetpeas growing next to the pond in front of the shed |
I tend to give loads of the sweetpeas away to friends and neighbours when I could use the space for food production. What I am getting around to saying in a very long winded way is that my intention next year is to do a bit of research and find some runner bean varieties with different coloured flowers and plant them instead. I'll still keep a few sweetpeas as they are a delight to see and smell but now that we have decided to stay put and not move house I want to utilise as much space as possible for growing things to eat. The little gutter garden is currently filled with golden purslane, dwarf basil and spring onions. The box in the corner had peas that are now finished. It's a really shady corner so I need to have a think about what to plant there. I have cucamelons coming along nice on the trellis next to the gutter garden. I had never heard of them before this year but they are a very productive crop and we are enjoying them in salads every day now
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| The gutter garden has been brilliant this past year |
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I know what you mean. Sweet peas are beautiful and their scent is second to none but runner beans are more useful and the Elizabethans grew them for their flowers, I believe.
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Sweetpeas are an absolute favourite of mine but some beans have really pretty flowers too. Your Fartichokes look like they're coming along nicely. May I ask what you use the orange bowling ball for ? Lulu x
ReplyDeleteThe bowling ball at some point will be covered in mosaic. I want to create a beautiful 'gazing ball' for the garden. Don't hold your breath though as I've had it nearly four years and done nothing with it.
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