Earlier in the season, we planted shelling peas in the front right bed. The purpose is two-fold. First of all, we love peas and we ended up with a good amount to freeze. Secondly, we aren’t using the bed for any other vegetables this year, so we wanted to restore the nitrogen in the soil by growing peas and pole beans. When the peas were just about ready to harvest, I planted a couple of packages of pole beans.

The peas are done and the pole beans are starting to grow up the poles. I added some criss-crossed twine to give them more to grab on to and help them get higher.

In this garden bed, we have a good example of what gardening really is – building the soil for next year with a secondary benefit of food production.