More on beans, beetles, and the winner

I'm so proud you all for figuring out the right answer, although if you've read my blog for long, it should have been pretty obvious. Choice A is not even an option. As for B we've never used a trap, but I did buy a lure one year and hang it on the turkey pen. As the beetles were lured to the pen, the turkeys snapped them up. I do sometimes take a bucket of soapy water out to the garden and shake the leaves over it, but I've done it less each year; and since I realized that the beetles are quite happy munching on the lazy wife beans (and a weed with huge round leaves), I've pretty much abandoned that practice.

I love all the other options readers mentioned, in addition to planting the Cherokee and rattlesnake beans. Since we will have free access to the lazy wife, we'll probably plant some of them again, and since heirloom beans are so much fun, I want to try another new variety or two. Who knows what other fabulous traits I'll discover.

By the way, all three of these varieties are pole beans. After harvesting our first batch of bush beans a few years ago, our backs told us to plant pole beans forevermore. It might seem like a lot of work to give them something to climb on, but it's nothing compared to the backache of picking bush beans.

The winner of the contest is (drum roll, please) Laura and Kelly Allen. Drop me -- Deborah -- an email at Antiquity Oaks dot com with your full name, mailing address, and variety you prefer, and I'll send the bean seeds in the fall after they're dried.