Page 8 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FriDAy, JUly 21, 2023 Saugus Gardens in the Summer Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable By Laura Eisener T he community garden at St. John’s has a new set of raised beds this year in front of the church. Raised beds have several advantages – it means the gardeners don’t have to bend quite as far to work; the vegetables are a little less accessible to rabbits who might devour the produce; and good drainage is pretty much guaranteed even in rainy weather! The wooden, metal or stone framework of the beds themselves can add a design element that may enhance the appearance of the garden, especially when the plants themselves are not in their prime. Since cold air settles close to ground level, a slightly raised bed can be a bit warmer than the surrounding ground surface. This may mean heat loving vegetables or flowers develop more quickly, and toward the end of the season it may be enough to protect tender plants from the first light frost. While some vegetables like lettuce and peas are at their peak of production when weather is cool, others like beans develop better in warm temperatures. Green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in the community garden have been blooming for a few weeks, and the first few servings of beans for the food pantry are being harvested this week. Green beans are usually eaten before the seeds are actually ripe – the pods may be raw or cooked with the unripe seeds still inside. The flowers are usually white but some varieties of green beans have pink or pale purple flowers. They are sometimes called string beans because older varieties often had tough “strings” that would usually be pulled from the pod before eating. While this species is the most commonly eaten, White blossoms of green beans are in bloom at St. John’s Episcopal Church, which means harvest time is not far off. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) Along the Northern Strand Trail at School Street and Essex Street are golden flowers of black-eyed Susans. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) Two species of black-eyed Susans bloom along the bike trail. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) several other bean species are also edible. Bean plants may be pole beans, which means they need to climb and should be provided with an appropriate trellis, or bush bean varieties, which can be grown without support. Green beans and some other members of the bean family (Fabaceae) can thrive in soils that lack nitrogen because of rhizobia, bacteria growing in root nodules that can convert nitrogen from the air and make it usable by plants. This is called “fixing” nitrogen and helps in making the beans or other host plants able to grow in poor soils; some of this fixed nitrogen will become available to other plants when the original hosts die and decompose. While not all bean family members are hosts to these bacteria, many do benefit from them, such as the purple clover (Trifolium pratense), also called red clover, seen scattered among the black-eyed Susans along the rail trail and elsewhere. Earlier in the summer, ox-eye daisies bloomed in great profusion along several parts of the Northern Strand rail trail on the rights of way of the old Saugus Branch railroad. A few can still be seen here and there, but the swathes of white petals have been replaced by golden ones, as black-eyed Susans are now flowering in similar locations along the trail. Two species can be found, very similar in appearance and bloom time, and both are North American natives. The showier species of black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) have larger flower heads, the petals sometimes streaked with dark red. These may be annual or short-lived perennials, but they often self-sow prolifPurple clover, like some other bean family members, can grow in poor soil where many other plants could not. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) Vegetables for the Saugus food pantry are being raised in four new raised beds at St. John’s Episcopal Church as well as in an in-ground garden behind the rectory. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate by Laura Eisener) ically in meadows and fields. Another similar looking species, also often called orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida), tends to be a longer lived perennial plant, but its flowers are slightly smaller and usually the petals are plain yellow. Black-eyed Susans are often considered symbolic of resilience and perseverance, since they can thrive in poor soils. Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking.
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