Virgo Days

Royal Burgundy Bush Beans is wine box

The Moon moved into Virgo early this morning, which means I absolutely must garden this evening after work! My almanac, “Guided By The Moon” by Johanna Paungger and Thomas Poppe, says Virgo days “are the best days for almost every type of work in garden, field, and forest that is connected with setting, transplants and new planting.” (the only exception is lettuce, which will run to leaf too quickly) The seeds I planted on the last full moon are ready for permanent homes and some plants are not doing well in their spots, so transplanting and new planting is exactly what I’ll be doing. I don’t have a lot, but having Moon where it is was the perfect excuse to plan my evening for that. And, lo and behold, Sun is actually shining today. We have had so much coastal cloud cover this year that I’m planning a separate post just to list the plants that I lost due to lack of Sun, in San Diego!

I hope she doesn't eat much!

Yesterday, I harvested my Royal Burgundy Bush Beans. We only got a small bushel but it was enough for Tom and I to have a good side dish at dinner. They are beautiful and delicious and a little Gothic looking. I will be growing them again next year for sure. Not the same feelings for the Yellow Pencil Pod beans I grew at the same time. They didn’t do as well and the color was kind of anemic and not terribly enticing, except to our snails – ok by me because they stayed away from the purples.

Royal Burgundy Bush Beans

The camera, trooper that it is, didn’t really capture the luxuriously deep purple of these beans. When you break them open, they’re bright green inside and they cook to a regular ‘green bean’ color. We roasted them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

Wicked looking beans ready for roasting. Bwahahaha!

Next year I will plant more of these and I know now they grow best in the meditation circle. Most things do, to the point of leaving me no room to sit on my bench, which is presently covered with grape vines. Oh well, I don’t have time to meditate much these days anyway!

Hydrangea with droplets