Tussiemussie's Garden
Runner beans, Broad Beans French Beans.
Genus: Phaseolus.
Species: Phaseolus sensu stricto.
Broad Beans French Beans.
Plant in manured soil
Need strong supports
A garlic infusion sprayed on occasionally will deter blackfly and ants.
Last year I left a few good pods on the vines to dry and collected the seed late in the year. The vigour and size of the seeds and new plants was far superior to any I have bought., and the plants will adapt to the local soil.
Roots of restoration.
The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of one bird for mirth
one is nearer to god in a garden
than anywhere else on earth."
-- Engraved stone tablet found in the garden, author unknown
It had been a struggle to survive,
in the end the natives won. The garden
was impenetrable; a mesh of brambles
in mortal combat with aged shrubs.
Contours of old flower beds were
covered in long grass. A drunken old
pergola teetered over the flagstones
buried under weeds, with no space to fall
it stood tall. The rear garden gate
swung on a single hinge and creaked
in the prevailing wind. Water iris
and a lily clung to life in a leaky
pond which sprouted a mix of moss grass
and brambles, these lay on a thick mat
of old roots. A water boatman and a newt
paddled about on the stagnant surface.
A rustic garden seat had succumbed
to rampant woodworm and decay, in front
of a dilapidated shed where old spades,
scythes and rakes had rusted away.
We didn't find the ancient well until
we fell the overgrowth. The supports
for the winch had toppled into the well,
a bucket lay where it fell, in a tangle
of cable next to an old rusted handle.
We open up the well, thirty feet down,
glimpse a prehistoric scene. Wild
creatures frolic in the cool water.
A family of newts, blink in the light,
this garden is their nursery and home.
