Contender beans in front of a row of pole beans, a Matt's Wild Chery tomato, and a small patch of Cherokee Popcorn.
I swore off bush beans but not for long. I planted a packet of Contender BB with my melons and squash as a companion plant, Most of the melons and squash didn't come up but the beans sure did. I was so impressed with their vigor that I bought 2 more packets to plant out and save the seed.
Upper Ground Sweet Potato squash is the only squash to come up and it is very healthy looking; likely my only winter squash next year.
Six varieties of everbearing strawberries stayed green thru the winter and are now putting out flowers and fruit. Tribute and Sarian are the most vigorous and I plan to propagate them. I've already had 3 large, red, juicy, tasty berries from the Tribute plant.
Oregon Sugar Pod II is the only pea of 6 that I planted to set fruit. The other 5 either rotted in the very wet soil or grew stunted plants. Likely my only pea next year. Fava beans came up strong but got attacked by black ants and black aphids. Very little fruit set. I'll not plant Favas again.
The Golden Giant amaranth is doing great. It has better seed for grain than Vitnamese Red that I grew for it's great leaves.
I cut my Stevia plant to the ground after it died from a frost. Happily, it came back from the roots. I plan to root a bunch of cuttings and get several plants going. Stevia and Lime basil make my favorite tea. Stevia combines with lots of tea plants: Chocolate peppermint, Lemon Balm, Monarda,
I transplanted dozens of new varieties last week and look forward to see how many adapt to my garden. Sure hope the Red Veined sorrel is one of them.
