Friday, June 13, 2008

Attempt at Growing Green Beans

Today's post is short and sweet.

With the failure of my pea plants at Cam's house, I am optimistic about the green beans that I'm trying to grow at my parents' home. Two weeks ago, my sister and I planted two long row of bean seeds (one in full sun and one in partial shade). I'm going to see which one survives the summer.

Below: The bean seedlings are coming up.
On a shocking note, my sister saw a 6-foot snake sitting on my parents' porch yesterday. She said she didn't know what kind it was, but it was long and it had a bulge in its body. She assumed it was an animal the poor snake killed. It slithered away after an hour of lying in the shade. My mom wanted to call Animal Control, but they were closed by that time.

Anyone know what you do if you find a poisonous snake in your yard and you don't want it there?

Well happy news... it's cloudy and rain is a possibility. Yay!

5 comments:

tina said...

I try to always identify any snakes I see. I have found garter snakes, rat snakes, and once a baby copperhead. I leave all of them alone. I just can't kill snakes. But for the poisonous one, I quickly left the area and never saw it again. Whew! This is just me. No matter how big the snake, as long as it wasn't poisonous it won't hurt you. I posted a picture of a garter snake I recently found in my garden. A bulge too. Never bothered us at all. Did she take pics?

Dawn said...

I think you will have luck with beans, not poisonous snakes up here, the ones we have do not move until you almost step on them. If my dog is around he kills them by shaking them and smacking them on the rocks. He got into this habit after my daughter was born, all he has to hear is "snake!" usually from us being startled, can't get used to the first seasons appearance, much careful after that. Oddly beans are his fave veggie, he eats them right off the bush!

Skeeter said...

I educated myself on snakes also but still hard to identify some we see. We mostly see the green Garter or Black Rat snakes in our yard. I am an avid animal lover but hate poisonous snakes and they will loose their head when I find them. I worked in a pharmacy for a while and have seen what a snake bite can do to a humans arm. I fear if I let the snake be, that it will crawl up in the garden and I will not see it and either get bit by stepping on it or bit by reaching down to pull a weed and not see it and the thing strike me! I dont like to kill them but they scare the dickens out of me. The non-poisonous snakes, I just leave be or rustle to the woods area.... if I should ever get bit, I fear my gardening days would be over for me…

We spotted a snake under a boardwalk at a Nature Center we visited yesterday. I am yet to look it up in our GA snake book but he did not scare me at all. Was interesting to observe with us being safey above the land below!

DP Nguyen said...

Tina-sadly, my sister didn't take any snakes, but it was scary nonetheless! I'm glad you've never been bitten with your experience. crazy. I guess if you don't bother them, they won't bother you. :-)

Dawn: You are so lucky that your dog does all the dirty work for you. Aww, how funny that he loves beans! Well that saves you money on dog food, right? ;-)

Skeeter: Snakes scare me! I think I would be afraid of going outside if I was ever bitten by one. I would have a phobia! hehe. There are so many poisonous snakes in TN that they all freak me out!

Anonymous said...

Snakes are not welcome in my yard!
Having grown up on a farm, we lost a number of dogs, chooks and even a few sheep to snake bite. The only good poisonous snake is a dead one (in Australia most snakes are poisonous, and of the top 10 most poisonous snakes in the world we have 7 of them).
A quick whack on the head with a shovel will fix him up (shotguns are also useful, but the neighbors can become alarmed when used in town).
On a less deadly note, I do enjoy growing snake beans... Yours look very healthy!