Maypop (passionflower) juice

Maypop is a North American passionflower that is cold-tolerant. It makes an edible fruit that has long been eaten by native Americans and rural populations in the southerneastern US. In Louisiana it is sometimes referred to as pomegranate vine. It has a vine growth form that is known for being weedy, and some consider Passiflora incarnata invasive. I've had to pull runners up all summer to keep it from growing over my other plants. I'll know next year if I have a source of fruit juice and leaf cover to cool my porch, or if I have a weedy monster I can't control.  It does die back completely in the fall though. It does not leave behind a woody vine that persists through the winter. The fruits just needs to be scooped out, squeezed or pressed against the sides of water-filled pitcher to extract the juice, then chill. 

Harvesting my molokhia

Also known as Lebanese spinach, Egyptian spinach, Palestinian spinach, If I get a lot of seed pods I may make refrigerator pickles out of them. Below is a closeup of some of the leaves. And at the bottom are the plants in my garden. They are well over six feet tall. I had minor beetle damage on the top leaves mid summer, but they grew well and needed very little care or watering. I'll probably grow it again as I have been using the leaves all summer on pizza, sandwiches, and wraps. Photos of the cooked version coming soon.

White asparagus long beans

 I grew another crop of asparagus beans this summer.  Asparagus beans originated in Asia and are increasingly grown in the US. They looks like snap beans but are actually more related to southern cowpeas. They are also pest resistant and in my garden much easier to grow than some of the more common Kentucky bean varieties. The photo at the bottom is my storage freezer. It is filled with tomatoes and lots of bags of asparagus beans - I can make Lebanese green beans for dinner all winter.