Field of beans

When we first talked about starting a garden, everyone we spoke with and all the articles we read indicated growing beans was easy.

We realize, now, that none of these people have ever grown beans.

To begin with, everything loves to eat beanstalks. Of the 15 vines we started, 10 were eaten by rabbits who, apparently, are capable of 48" vertical leaps and can cover 30 feet of horizontal ground in one hop!! What the rabbits didn't get were attacked by slugs and the few remaining vines seemed to stop growing some weeks back.

Then, all of a sudden, two vines we had written off early on started growing like crazy. Then a third at a much slower pace and all three began flowering. Two weeks later:

Our first non-leafy produce from the garden.

Here is the great defender against rabbits:

Riley patrols the yard. Since we let him have greater access to the main part of the yard, rabbit sightings have decreased significantly.

The Beans

We have been enjoying the basil and spinach.

The rabbits also enjoyed about half of the spinach

The watermelons have been a huge success

And we continue to find new fruit weekly

Even the little peanut plant is starting to thrive

We don't see how corn can be an economically viable crop as it is by far the most resource demanding

For reference, J is 4'8", Ari is 4'101/2" and the fence is 6'.

Do not go near them! They will mess you up!!