I had a conversation a few days ago with another farmer where he mentioned that some of his bean plants tipped over causing them to get sun burnt. Usually under normal circumstances this is not an issue. This was a rare case of the plants getting too tall and not being able to hold themselves up. Therefore exposing the beans to the sun when they would normally have shade. So there I am just a day or so later walking our green bean and squash fields and looking around, I realized that the crops that we have growing, under some of the hottest times of our summer, actually have natural shade built in. How smart of them!
So I walked around and took some photos of our squash and green beans, these plants by design give shade to the crop as it grows! Here is a photo of our green bean field that is due to be harvested in the next week or so. Under all those leaves, millions of green beans maturing everyday.
Same with our squash field. While you might look out and see just a sea of green, under all those beautiful, huge, green leaves, lays thousands of pumpkins slowly growing, getting ready to be harvested for seed.
I just love when plants take care of themselves in these sneaky little ways that I never even thought of. Happy Friday!
NuttyGrass 
This post almost made me miss the gardens of my youth. Mama called the green beans “snap beans” and we also had Crouter peas (spelling?) and “Irish potatoes” distinguished from “sweet potatoes” of course. Your garden looks splendid, indeed!
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We still call them snap beans as well! I’m glad that this post brought you good memories! We have a large family garden as well and it is something that I will always treasure, for the food and the memories!
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