mears garden: Week 10- February 3, 2019- An early spring?

Yesterday was Groundhog day.
In the morning it was cloudy.
So no shadow.
Well, the sun came out for a few hours in the afternoon. Does that count?
Spring is coming soon.
Yeah, right.
I have wondered what happens if the groundhog's way to the surface is covered with snow.
I would certainly think about going back to sleep for 6 weeks.

Of course this past week was dominated by the "Polar Vortex". Those words will stick with us for a while. We saw it coming. We endured it. It was as bad as they thought. Then we watched it go away.
Iowa City, by one measure got down to -32 on Thursday morning. Our thermometer on the front porch only said -25. Think about that expression. "Only"
On Thursday, during the day, after it warmed up to 0, it snowed. Of course it snowed.
Friday morning, the sun came out. There was no wind. The fresh 2-3 inches of snow covered everything. Snow can get dirty.
With new snow it was gorgeous.
Remarkably 0 did not feel cold. I was not surprised.

We now have a good 12-15 inches of snow cover.
It looks to be around for a while.

The garden catalogues are arriving all the time now.
You can feel better just looking at all the wonderful new Coneflowers. Then you look at the prices. So maybe I will not get a dozen.

Last week's contest

In the contest the winner was...the white zinnia.
I was not surprised. I was surprised at the size of the win. It barely missed the 50% mark.

Did you notice something about our new poll this year? Thank you Kevin.
You can see the poll results not only for this week but all the previous week's in the contest. You just have to scroll down from where the results are shown. (You scroll within the poll box.)

Here was your winner last week.

Here was the full vote.

Week 10

#1 White daffodil (May 1, 2018)

I so look forward to daffodils.
This little beauty blooms later in daffodil season.

#2 Little dark dwarf bearded iris (May 10, 2018)

The little bearded iris are a favorite of mine. I added a bunch 2-3 years ago. I have high hopes for them this spring.

#3 Pardancanda- Blackberry lily (July 28, 2018)

What is this you ask? It is an Iris that is often called a lily. It gets called a Blackberry lily sometimes. It is so named after the seedpods it makes. It also is called a Candy lily. I have a bunch of these plants, all crossing with each other and coming up all over.
A special acknowledgment goes to Joe Pye Weed Garden, in Massachusetts. They have been hybridizing these plants in an organized fashion. I bought one of those special hybrids. We will see how it does.
I have found that they grow well from seed.
While they prefer full sun, they grow nicely in part shade.

#4 Silk Road asclepias, the annual (September 12, 2018)

This is the annual asclepias Silk Road. I love the fancy shape and of course the colors of the individual flowers. You saw and liked the orange butterfly weed a few weeks ago. This has the same shape at individual flower level. So do all the milkweeds,... mostly. Here is a link to milkweed images. https://www.google.com/search?q=asclepias+silk+road&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=QpB3sRuQyVjm6M%253A%252Cs9ABbF1yQxOt3M%252C_&usg=AI4_-kT_PttwfINHXHSAqtW1YIZLON2sPQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjatPScmZ3gAhVl4YMKHVLABF8Q9QEwCnoECAMQBA#imgrc=QpB3sRuQyVjm6M:

#5 Corydalis solida- Beth Evans (April 21, 2019)

A splash of pink with all that blue. Corydalis solida is a species of spring bulb that comes in lots of colors. I have some of this pink one getting started. It blooms at the same time as the blue scilla or squill. I would love to have 200 of these little pink guys in among all that blue. It is also known as fumewort. The little bulbs are now expensive. You can get them for not much more than $1/each. You really could get 20-30 and splash them in where the scilla blooms.

There you have this week's contestants.
Vote away.

Bonus pictures

Here are more daffodil pictures.

First here was the tiniest daffodil.

These pictures are in chronological order. The first daffodil in 2018 was on April 21. The last pictures were from May 6. As I have previously said Spring was really compressed/delayed because of March and April snow.

Blackberry lilies are now growing all over in the garden. Here are some pictures of the different colors.

Julia's Recipe
Meat loaf

My mother made meat loaf, without the shredded vegetables, but otherwise close to this recipe. She made it in the fall and winter, when it was nice to have the oven on. Meat loaf can be put together pretty quickly, and it's tasty and makes a nice sandwich later on if sliced thinly. I think it's deep winter comfort food as much as chicken noodle soup or macaroni and cheese.

Here are the ingredients: 3/4 lb. (or so) ground chuck; 1/4 lb. ground pork; 1/4 cup finely chopped red pepper; 1/4 cup grated carrot; 1/2 cup finely chopped onion; 1 egg; 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs; 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce; 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.

I started by putting the meat in a biggish bowl and then prepping the vegetables.

I turned the oven on to 350 degrees and then added the vegetables, egg, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to the bowl. Then I took off my watch, washed my hands, and stuck my hands into the bowl.

I confess that I do not much like mixing meat loaf by hand, but there is not another way to do it. Squish the mixture through your fingers, working to get the vegetable bits mixed in. They will, for some reason, resist amalgamation. Don't overdo the hand mixing, lest the meat loaf be dense.

After the mixture was mostly mixed, I poured in the panko, mixed a little more, and then shaped the meat mixture into something of a ball.

I plopped the ball into a shallow baking dish and shaped it into a rounded loaf. No need to lube the pan. Meat loaf is self-lubing. Ready for the oven!

I have a remote thermometer (you stick the probe into the meat and the internal temperature reads out on a LED display) and I used it. I set the thermometer's alarm to go off when the internal temperature hit 150 degrees. I like my meat loaf well done (although I prefer my hamburgers medium rare).

I do recommend using a thermometer for all kinds of meat cookery. You can buy one at the hardware store. I have one made by a company called Taylor, and I think it cost less than $20. I have had it for probably 10 years and it continues to work just fine.

I think the meat loaf took about 45 - 60 minutes to reach 150 degrees. I should have paid more attention, but I relied on the thermometer and its alarm.

Right after I turned the oven on, I put 2 medium-sized russet potatoes (there were just the 2 of us for dinner) on a pie tin so they would get something of a head start. By the time the meat loaf was done, the potatoes were done too.

Near the end of the meat loaf cooking time, I put on some broccoli and everything hit the table at the same time.

It is good to let the meat loaf rest for 10 or 15 minutes after it comes out of the oven. It will slice more easily.

By the way, you can use ground lamb instead of ground pork or both with about 1/2 lb. of ground chuck. Ground pork has a neutral flavor. Ground lamb has a more distinctive flavor. Don't use ground turkey or ground chicken in any proportion. They have different fat content, among other things, and it won't work.

Use green or yellow or orange peppers instead of red if you like. Or leave them out. Use more carrot or leave it out. Smush a clove of garlic if you like. Don't omit the onion. And don't omit some kind of starch. If you are gluten averse, use oats. If you don't have panko, use bread crumbs or crumble up some crackers. If you use cracker crumbs, reduce the amount of salt to maybe 1/2 teaspoon to compensate for the salt on the crackers.

This recipe would feed 4 hungry but not ravenous people. If you are feeding more than that, the recipe works just fine doubled all the way around. A bigger meat loaf will take a bit longer to cook.

Some people put ketchup in their meat loaf. I am not one of those people. Some people drape raw bacon slices over their meat loaf on its way into the oven. Not me. Some people put a glaze of ketchup and brown sugar on their meat loaf. I am not of that community either. I prefer to have the ketchup on my plate.