Summer Bounty for the Rest of Us

Since retiring, I have made two lampshades. Or rather, I've re-made two small shades which were old enough to be attending junior high, but I don't think that really counts as working.

Instead, I've been slaving away into the yard. Ahhh, yes, the Zucchini Sex Goddess has been re-deployed. In fact, that ZSG tried to expand her area of expertise and work her charms on a gourd plant - close cousin to the zuke, that blooms even earlier in the morning - but to no purpose. No girl gourds came to the party.



The blossoms on the gourd plant are quite pretty, though - white instead of goldfish-orange. So we all pretended it was just fine to grow a flowering vine. It doesn't really matter that there will not be any gourds this year, right?

But there are beans, beans and more than enough beans to make up for the lack of a few stupid gourds. This season's choice was Fortex pole beans. Great results. And the neighborhood crowd pleaser? Watching the vines grow up the trellis in the front yard (more about trellises another time).

I like my beans mildly flavored (none of that hearty, chewy beany-ness of romanos for me). If you feel that same way, I strongly recommend Fortex. Then you get the entertainment of designing and building a trellis, too.