June 9, 2019 Summer is here

Summer is here.
It is hot... and humid.
(I know it will get hotter. Everything is relative.)
I never would have imagined it, but there are some things in the garden, mostly recently planted annuals, that could use some rain.

The days are long. I am trying to get out to the garden by 6. It is so quiet then.
(Except for the birds, whose shift begins about 5am.)
I can do some work in the garden after supper, unless the bugs are a problem at the time.
At the moment we are having gnats.

The garden is a magical place at the moment.
I planted seeds last Saturday.
The zinnia seeds were up by Tuesday.
The morning glories were up a day later.

We planted a new dogwood tree yesterday.
That gives us three new ones, one each in 2017, 2018 and then now.
The middle one is not doing well. In fact the nursery already said they would replace it.
But it is not, in the words from the movie Princess Bride, "completely dead."
So we have not pulled it out.
We will look for a replacement.


Tradescantia is a new favorite garden plant. It is also called spiderwort. That is the pink flower I showed you last week that  is all over the corner by the pond.
I am now aware of the blue variety, seeing it growing and blooming in the neighborhood.
I just was given a clump which is now back by the pond.
We will see how that does next spring.

Here is one garden gem that bloomed for the first day on Friday. It has more buds. I have moved it (well the neighborhood muscle moved it) to a plant hanger by the street in the front yard. That way it is easier for people to see. There should be flowers for perhaps the next week.






Here you can see the plant where it is now located.














How about a little profile? The pistil is really amazing.

The peonies have been at their peak this past week.
These three get enough sun to grow and make many flowers.
I brought some in for the table. I took one to the office.
I kept wanting to go up to people's houses and tell them to cut those flowers and bring them inside.



This is the single white one I showed you last week.

















This is one of several we got at the peony nursery at Center Point, Iowa, when it was open 20 years ago.
















This peony is like some giant David Austin Rose.
















How about this for a wonderful visual. This is the middle peony of the three above, after the petals were done.

















Speaking of marvelous presentations, how about this?

This is what is left of the white peony after the petals fall off. I think I would like to set some of this seed.

I guess we will wait to see if it was fertilized.

This is also the time for this little woodland anemone. Like the bluebells from a month ago it grows all over parts of the garden. Here is is in the parkway in the front of the house.































I grows with the hosta.
At some point, and that point is about now, I will start pulling it out.
But do not worry. I will pull it out and it will come right back next year.














It really does remind me of the bluebells, adding a nice mass companion to the hosta.













Here are other pictures from the week.

The oriental poppies are wonderful. I really should get some more.
They like full sun.
There is lots of competition in the garden for the full sun.








In playing with images I liked this picture when presented as off center.











I planted this lupine plant in one of the backyard beds which does now get more sun.
Sun comes and goes in the garden over time, as trees grow or die.
This particular location looks like it will support lupines in the next few years.

















This is a Louisiana Iris.
While I like the color
I would like to have some other colors.

Julia's recipe

Pouches

This recipe is a slight adaptation of a recipe from Alton Brown. He had an episode of Good Eats that was all about cooking things (mostly seafood) in pouches of either parchment paper or aluminum foil. I liked this one, although AB made it with ramen noodles and shrimp. I have made the dish with shrimp and ramen, and I have also made it with rice noodles and scallops. He used dried mushrooms but no fresh mushrooms, but otherwise - same thing! The end result is a noodle bowl, soupy and savory with pieces of seafood and a few veggies and noodles. And it's fast.


Here are the ingredients, for 2 pouches which feed 2 people. Feel free to double to feed four. The ingredients: about 2-3 oz. of fine rice noodles (or 1 package of ramen); 8 big scallops (or 10 big (but not jumbo) shrimp, peeled and deveined); 1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I used red onion because I had an open red onion in the refrigerator); 1/4 cup dried mushrooms of any kind; 1/4 cup chopped scallions; 1/3 cup (or so) sliced white mushrooms; 1/4 teaspoons(or more) red pepper flakes; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/4 cup mirin (which you can leave out if you don't have it - it's a Japanese wine- instead add more soy sauce or dry white wine); 2 teaspoons sesame oil (toasted or not); 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar; 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2 - 3 cups of water or vegetable broth/stock if you have that. You will also need a couple of big pieces of heavy duty aluminum foil. 



First I cut a piece of foil 18" square - no skimping or you will risk disaster - puncture or spillage. Then I put 1/2 of the rice noodles (or ramen) in the center. Next I sprinkled on 1/2 of: the dried mushrooms, the onion, the scallions, and the fresh mushrooms. I topped it with 1/2 of the scallops cut in half (or with the shrimp). I had a little stack as pictured in the photo. Last I sprinkled the stack with the red pepper flakes and salt. Then I did it all again and turned my attention to the liquid.

Meanwhile, I heated the oven to 400 degrees.

I whisked together the water (I used 2-1/2 cups), soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar in a 4 cup measuring cup. I ended up with about 2-3/4 cups of liquid.

Then the slightly tricky part. I gently bent the corners of the foil toward the center. Be careful or the rice noodles/ramen may poke a hole in the pouch.  I molded the foil into a sort of cone shape with an opening at the top. I transferred both pouches to a big rimmed baking sheet, and then 1 poured 1/2 of the liquid (which I could gauge because I was using a measuring cup) into each pouch.


This is a picture of a pouch just before going into the oven. You will note the little stack in not orderly anymore. An inevitable consequence of pouring in the liquid.











Here they are in the oven. They bake for about 20 minutes. I sneaked a peek after 20 minutes to see if 1) the seafood was cooked and 2) the noodles were soft and 3) the vegetables were softened. This took 20 or maybe 25 minutes in my 400 degree oven. Your results may vary.








Here is a pouch out of the oven. Now comes the second tricky part - getting the food into a bowl. I prefer to cut a hole (carefully) in the bottom of the pouch (while the pouch sits in a bowl) to let the liquid and some of the other ingredients flow out. The I turn the pouch over and pour the rest into the bowl.








And here it is, in the bowl, noddles and soup and seafood and some savory vegetables. Try it in the gluten version or the gluten-free version.

Odds and Ends

The waterlilies are growing nicely with the warmer weather. We might have flowers in the next few weeks.

The fish are fine. I remember last spring when a family of ducks wanted to make the pond its center of operation. There were many Farmer McGregor moments. (How is that for a literary reference before 6 in the morning.) I really would run out of the house when I would see them in the pond, yelling and waiving my arms.

We are experiencing a seed drop, as the Linden tree litters the yard with its helicopters.




I am repotting things that have come outside for the summer. I have grown hibiscus plants from cuttings. I actually have 3 little ones at the moment. But two of the little ones have grown to 3-5 feet. (I am trying to turn them into standard plants.) I repotted one so it would stand up better. The second one promptly fell over twice in one day. It was if it wanted to remind me that it wanted to be repotted too.

I organized the cactus shelf yesterday.
When they start to bloom they put on a show.











The woodchip path project is just about complete. We have replaced the chips in most of the garden. The chips break down over time, turning into nice compost.
The broken down chips are going into some of the garden beds.
I will be glad to have the pile of chips gone from the back driveway.

I am still waiting for the Sycamore tree to provide the backyard shade.
It is just about the very last type of tree to leaf out.
I will put the smaller orchids in that area, but need to have the direct afternoon sun mostly gone.

When I put a houseplant on the ground in the garden, I really should put something under it. Bricks can work. But there are so many houseplants. The problem is that sometimes ants decide that the houseplants are great new apartment complexes. I will not want to bring those inside in the fall.
I moved one such plant yesterday, only to find my hands covered with ants. Yuck.
We always are making these garden memories.

Cooler weather is coming this next week. It will be good sleeping weather.
Stay cool.
Philip