It's never too late

As I found out a couple of days ago, it is never too late to have a look into the winter garden in search of some hidden treasures. Nature is continuous - life cycles usually never stop but are in constant movement, and life forms sometimes just change from one to another.

When I cleared out some really manky looking old dry remains of last year's runner beans, which were still firmly attached to and intertwined with the see-through fence we've installed as a screen around the sitting area, there was not only waste to be found. I spotted five or six extremely dry old bean pods, which came apart upon touching, just to reveal what the were hiding inside: a good number of perfectly formed and well preserved bean seeds.

Photo taken by the author - all rights reserved (C).

They have now been spread out on a sheet of paper in the conservatory, and the occasional sunlight in the relatively warm room should eventually fully dry them. Once that has happened, I can put them into an envelope and wait for the right time of sowing. That will be another cycle of life closed - seeds from last year's very successful runner bean plants will sprout, grow and climb when the right time comes, in order to eventually form some new bean pods with news seeds...