Doing stuff....

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. 

Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. 

If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. 

The trick is the doing something else. ~Leonardo da Vinci

Sometimes I feel this way about the garden.  When something doesn't work out, I fuss and fuss over it, knowing the whole time I'm just wasting my time....I have to learn when to cut my losses and "do something else."  I feel that way about the bush beans this year.  I've been having bad luck with them, although the Brittle Wax Beans are the only ones that I think will do okay. The others are curled up on themselves, look stunted and one variety, the French Garden Beans, did not even germinate well.  Of about 75 seeds, I think there were only about 6 that germinated. Sigh...I won't even provide a photo -- it's that sad.

The peas are about done, I'm calling them a huge success.  I put up another 6 bags in the freezer today for future stir fry. The plants are starting to brown from the bottom up, and although I'm still getting a good amount from the Mammoth Melting Sugar peas, the other "blue" varieties are not able to handle the heat.  They are discolored and very small.  I won't grow those again, I like the Mammoth Melting Sugar peas the best and they don't seem affected by the heat at all. 

The dwarf sunflowers that I planted right outside the hoop house are about to bloom! I can't wait!  I love sunflowers - they may be my favorite flower.  I can remember hating them when I was a girl because my dad thought that pulling sunflowers out of the field was a perfect job for us kids. First, they're not easy to pull, and second, they have a spiny stalk that hurts if you pull on it!

The round zucchini is showing up! The packet said "round" zucchini, but we used to call these calabacita.  I think that's really the name of the recipe that uses any type of zucchini though.  I'm going to check out HEB and see what they call them.

 I trimmed the basil plants today and made my first batch of pesto for the season.  I've grown to love it on sandwiches and in many recipes.  Oh, the smell of that fresh basil!!! It was heavenly!  John even commented on how pungent it was!

Here's the recipe I followed in case you have a basil plant you need to trim. I keep these ingredients on hand, all but the pine nuts that I had to buy.  Ohhhh, yummmm!  In the fridge with it!