mears garden: March 17, 2019- The snow is gone

Finally

Wednesday the temperature got to 55 degrees. The sun came out near the end of the day.
There were students in shorts downtown.
The snow receded on the south side of the house.
Where there had been snow and ice on Tuesday, this clump of snowdrops appeared when we looked at noon.
It was one of those out loud "oh my" moments.

These plants are amazing, the more I think about them. This area of the garden had been under a snow cover since mid January. The temperatures had dipped to 30 below at one point.
The snow had turned to ice in many places.
I do not think these plants grew 3 inches on Tuesday. They were not there in mid January, so they did not just go into suspended animation. They were actually growing and coming out of the ground.... while they were covered by that snow and ice.

This next picture is taken about 15 feet further away from the house. That is the part of the garden that on Wednesday was still covered by the snow.
This picture was also taken on Wednesday afternoon when the snowdrops in the first picture emerged. Here the snowdrops are still half in the snow and ice. They would have been completely covered 2 days ago.
Notice how the plants seem to generate enough heat that there is sort of a hole around the plant stem.

I really do think the snow and ice is ending. I drove a little ways south onTuesday for a court hearing. There was much less snow even 30 miles south of Iowa.
The 9 day forecast has many more 50 degree temperatures. There are also suns ahead.
These solitary snowdrops will soon be accompanied by so much more.
It will be overwhelming.

Be we have a picture contest to finish.
Here are the results of week 2 of the playoffs.
In last weeks voting the winner was
The Purple Siberian Iris

The full voting was

Week 3 of the playoffs

In this week's playoff for the final piece in the puzzle we have 6 pictures. With 13 winners and 3 wild cards that did not divide evenly into 3 weeks.

#1 Butterfly weed Week 8 (June 15, 2018)

I love the clusters of flowers in this croup. Each cluster could make its own little flower picture.
The color certainly shows off.
The flower is an asclepias. This is in the milkweed family. All the milkweeds have clusters where the individual flowers look similar.
Please see the pink variety in the bonus section from years ago.

#2 Forever Susan- Asiatic Lily Wild Card from Week 9 (June 18, 2018)

This wonderful Asiatic lily was new to the garden in 2018.
I look forward to how it does in year 2. I have found Asiatic lilies get bigger as the years go forward.

#3 Pink Waterlily Week 5 (May 26, 2018)

Waterlily pictures are certainly wonderful.
The flower is good. I actually like the background a lot. Maybe not more than the flower itself.
But when you think about why you like a particular picture the background is really important.
I look at the background in picture #1, the orange ascelpias, and it is just a contrasting color.
In picture #2 it is a rather busy bunch of other plants. That picture might be better if the background was blurred. I suppose that is technically possible, with the right camera.
But with a waterlily you are always going to have the foliage all around the flower. You can't really clean up the area before you take the picture. So you get whatever is there, whether it is a leaf or a helicopter seedpod.

This past year was a good year for waterlily foliage. It dwarfed and at times overwhelmed the flowers for most of the season. I do not know why. Maybe there was just too much of something, like nitrogen.

But pink is good. The yellow center is good. The green background is good, with all its imperfections.

#4 Lantana Week 4 May 15, 2018

I rediscovered lantana 3-4 years ago. They found a place in the garden they liked. They actually like sun. Sun is mostly in short supply in our garden. But some little corners have enough sun to grow these annuals.

#5 Hellebore the wild card from Week 13 (May 1, 2019)

With the Spring thaw now upon us the hellebores will really take off. I pulled back the dead foliage from one clump. Sure enough there were many nice little fat shoots just ready to explode.

#6 Zinnia with Butterfly Week 11 September 23, 2018

Occasionally I will have a picture contestant with some creature adorning the flower. Sometimes I worry about unfair competition.
But these creatures are a part of the garden.
People even plant certain flowers just to attract and support them.
And butterflies are so photogenic.

There you have week 3 of the playoffs.
Pick a picture.
Bring in a friend.
Let me hear from you.
Enjoy.
Warmer times have almost arrived.

Bonus pictures

2012

One creature that shows up early in the spring is the bee.
Bees and crocuses seem to go together.
I will watch for the first bee.

2008

I mentioned background in commenting on one of the contestants. This picture illustrates one early spring background.

2008

Bees like coneflowers.
Of course I like coneflowers.
They illustrate overlooked patterns in flowers.

2007

Here is a pink asclepias from a ways back in the picture archive.
You can see the similar flower structure.

2007

This spider web remains one of my favorite garden pictures.

Julia's Recipe

Spinach lasagna

Here is the link to the other blog with all of Julia's recipes.

https://mearskitchen.wordpress.com/

This spinach lasagna has no tomato products, making it a white lasagna, like white pizza, with a different flavor profile. This is a rich dish, but somehow lighter for being tomato-free. The recipe is from Cook's Magazine, with a couple of modifications.

There are a lot of parts to the recipe, and after the parts are all prepared, there is an assembly process with several steps. Once the lasagna is put together, however, it only bakes for about 20 minutes, followed by a brief stint under the broiler. It is a good dish to make ahead of time (it will sit happily in the refrigerator, unbaked and covered with foil, for a couple of days). And it is a good dish to serve to a small crowd (say up to 8 folks) where a vegetarian main dish is called for.

Here are the players: 1 16 oz. bag of frozen chopped spinach, which should be allowed to thaw in its bag; 5 tablespoons of butter; 1 cup of chopped onion; 4 cloves of garlic; 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour; 3-1/2 cups of milk; 2 bay leaves; some nutmeg; some salt; some black pepper; 12 no-boil (now called "oven ready") lasagna noodles (I used Barilla); an 8 oz. container of 4% milk-fat cottage cheese; 1 egg; 1-1/2 cups of parmesan cheese and 2 cups of coarsely grated fontina cheese.

A lot of ingredients, I know. More than I usually have, but this is a tasty dish. By the way, I think 2% or skim milk would work, as would low fat cottage cheese.

I let the spinach thaw out, and then put it in a sieve (you could use mesh colander, not with big holes) to drain. I used a spatula to press on the spinach to remove as much of the liquid as possible, and then I set it aside in a bowl.

Next, I chopped the onion and smushed the 4 garlic cloves. I put the garlic in the 1 cup measure with the onions. Then I grated the fontina cheese and put it in a 2 cup measure, and I measured out the parmesan (I bought shredded parmesan) and put it in a different 2 cup measure.

Next, I put the 8 oz. container of cottage cheese in a blender with the egg and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I blended the mixture until it was smooth, and put it in another little bowl.

Next up, the white sauce. I started by melting the 5 tablespoons of butter in my saucier (saucepan with a rounded bottom and thus no corners!). I added the onions and garlic and cooked this mixture for about 4-5 minutes over medium-high heat until the onions were soft. No browning, please. Then I added the 1/4 cup of flour and cooked the mixture for about 1-2 minutes more. Next the milk, adding it kind of gradually. I cooked the sauce over medium-high heat until it came to a boil

Next, I added the 2 bay leaves, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and about 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. I use fresh nutmegs and a microplane, which does not make for exact measurement. I expect I had between 1/4 and 1/2 teaspoon of grated nutmeg. I stirred these things in, lowered the heat so the sauce was simmering and let it cook for 10 minutes, giving it a stir every once in a while.

The last prep was the no-boil noodles. I put 12 noodles in the 9" x 13" pan that I would later use to bake the lasagna, and I poured hot tap water over the noodles. Odd, I know, but bear with me. I let the noodles soak for 5 minutes, then I took them out of the water and placed them on a clean dish towel. I blotted them with another clean dish towel. There they sit, all pre-soaked and towel-dried.

Also present are the bowl of spinach, the bowl of cottage cheese slurry, the parmesan, the fontina and the sauce. One last step to the sauce: I added 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese and took out the bay leaves.

It was time to assemble. I dried out the 9" x 13" pan with one of the noodle dish towels and then threw them both down the laundry chute to get washed. I lubed up the 9" x 13" pan with cooking spray. And I turned the oven to to 425 degrees.

I used a 1/2 cup ladle to portion out the sauce, to reduce guessing. I started with one ladle of white sauce in the bottom of the pan, tilting the pan and using a spatula (with a light touch) to spread it around.

Then I put 3 noodles on top of the sauce. Then I stirred all of the spinach into the remaining white sauce, turning it into spinach-y white sauce.

Next, I ladled 1 cup (two ladle-fuls) of spinach sauce on top of the noodles. Next I sprinkled on all of the parmesan (the 1 cup that did not go into the sauce). Next, 3 more noodles. And then another cup of the spinach sauce. And then 1 cup of the fontina (leaving 1 cup behind, which would go on top of the whole thing).

Then 3 more noodles, another 1 cup of the spinach sauce (actually at that point, I used one-half of what was left in the pan), and then all of the cottage cheese-egg mixture.

As you might assume, I used a spatula to spread the fillings around so they were in relatively even layers.

Then it was time for the final layer: the last 3 noodles, the last of the spinach sauce, and the last of the fontina.

The dish was fully assembled, and it was time to bake and to do a bunch of dishes.

I covered the dish with aluminum foil, and I baked in at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, at which point it was bubbling.

Then I took the foil off and turned the broiler on. I broiled the dish for about 5 minutes, until there were brown spots all over the top.

And here it is. It needed to cool for about 10 minutes after coming out of the oven. Way too hot.

The Cook's Magazine recipe called for 20 oz. of fresh curly spinach (not baby spinach), to be blanched and then chilled in an ice water bath and then drained and then put into a dish towel (this is a dish towel forward recipe) and squeezed out and then chopped. I have made it that way, and it's very good. But it is also just fine with thawed out frozen chopped spinach, and then you get to avoid all that spinach prep. Also Cook's Magazine says to use imported Italian fontina. I don't. The cheese is an accent in this dish, and expensive imported cheese seems silly.

I note for the gluten-averse that there is flour here, and I assume it could be readily replaced by another thickener like cornstarch. A substitute for the no-boil noodles is a bigger challenge. I have not found most gluten-free pasta palatable, with the exception of De Boles which makes a fine corn macaroni. I suppose one could use macaroni instead of no-boil noodles, but of course, the macaroni would need to be cooked first.

This recipe makes a big pan of lasagna, and I think it would feed 8 easily, with some nice bread and a big green salad. The leftovers can be heated in a covered skillet with a little water. It also freezes nicely for use on a day when something pre-made from the freezer would make everything better.

Right now

Here is another snowdrop on Wednesday. It has fully opened.

Here are a few aconite that opened with the sun Wednesday afternoon. Their faces are not yet accustomed to looking up. There has been a weight on top of them for months.

This was Tuesday.

This was Wednesday.

Odds and Ends

I think about the garden and then reflect on how busy I am at work.
How will I continue with my work and still garden.
Then I remembered the energy that comes from the garden.
The smells and the sounds alone are as good as a cup of coffee at waking up a person.
Soon I will be able to go out before work, or even find that 30 minutes after we get home.

As the snow melts downtown, a winter's worth of garbage emerges from the snowdrifts. It is almost like an archaeological dig as layers dissolve.
Actually it is rather unattractive.

We have been in the Chicago area with family this weekend. We went to Hausermans, the orchid place yesterday afternoon. It is really an amazing place.