That's a great idea, about planting beans and reusing those posts that way. And every time you pick beans, you'll appreciate how they got to be there. This evening I bought my son a gyro at the corner gas station (a characteristic of the Texas economy--if you can't get funding to build a restaurant, get it for a gas station, and put the food inside!) and had a nice visit with the main cook. He is from Lebanon, and I took him several of my surplus eggplants last summer. I told him I'd cut the plants back after the frost killed them, but left the roots in the ground to see if they will sprout in the spring. He's convinced they will--his mother used to do it that way with her garden. So I hope by not de-cluttering too soon (and digging out everything to start over from scratch) I have saved myself some work and will have sturdy plants much faster in the spring.

SRS