Bar none, the Scarlet Runner Bean, which I've been growing for well over a decade in my gardens, has embraced my new DIY trellises connecting our galvanized trough raised beds.
As we reach late June in an overly mild summer that has thus far reminded me eerily of my hometown as a child (you know, old school PNW summers where the season doesn't 'officially' begin for us until the 4th of July), or almost as challenging as the coastal farm climate we endured (amen for a microclimate that helped me grow most fruits and veggies I loved there but regularly and unceremoniously helped kill off our beehives due to the high winds and long wet season that made Portland look like Phoenix), I'm constantly monitoring my climbers, from beans to squashes, as some do seem to look up at me like "really, you want me to do this in 62 degree weather?" We got up to 80 this past weekend and yet today we're only expected to hit...59. What the ever loving fuck, y'all.
But the scarlet runners, who I originally grew up my garden fence in P-town for it's pretty orange blooms, is also a pretty tasty edible and has proven from the Rose City to the Coast to the Emerald City and now here in the Valley. Let it grow, let it bloom, let it evolve into beautiful pods, and literally let them dry on the vines. Then just pop them open and they can go into storage almost immediately. Plus they're purple which is extra rad (and go figure with its orange blooms!).
I planted a few of these along with some saved pink delicata seeds, wondering if the latter would sprout and - of course - they ALL did so it'll be a battle of wills between the two, and may ultimately require me to thin the masses of vines a bit more, but for now I'm just stoked that the chicken wire trellis I macgyver'd together is working how it's supposed to. Yee haw! Keep going, gals!
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