October 6, 2019 The great migration begins

Last weekend was dominated by several office projects. Even when I was at home, my mind was elsewhere.  I worked almost a full day on Sunday.
But then those work projects were completed, and I so looked forward to this weekend. There are so many things to do, getting the garden ready for the close of the season.

Then it rained all day yesterday. When it was not raining it was grey and misting and wet. The rain gauge said 2 inches by the end of the day.

But while I could not do much playing in the dirt, I could line up the next batch of plants to take to the office.
The great plant migration has officially begun. That is the time, usually in October when many plants have to come inside. They go both to the house and to the office.
It can be depressing to think about the fact that they will then have to be inside for almost as much time as they are outside. That is pretty much from mid October to mid April. Wow. That is six months.

Here is a partial list of the plants heading for inside. At some point I will even look at numbers.
Cactus
Orchid Cactus
Orchids
Hoyas
Hibiscus
Bougainvillea
Jade plants
Crotons
Clivia
Amaryllis
Other succulents


What is in the garden at the moment?

There are several orchid cactus buds that are still waiting to bloom.
The are on several of the what I now refer to as the star variety of the Night Blooming Cereus.
They can be special, in the midst of a fading garden.
One tried to bloom in the rain.
Here it was, after the heavy rain.
You can still see the image of what it might have been.
Actually let me promise you I will not leave you with this shot.





In the wet the crotons do show off their late season color.

As they get set for 5 months of inside time, I must get them ready. They must somewhat dry out. Then I need to put them in a staging area like a garage or porch for 1-2 days. This makes sure that no or not many ants have not built mega-cities in the pots over the summer.
Finally I will give them a little anti-bug stuff. They can get some of the usual suspects over the winter season.

I will have to get some of them together for some group pictures.

This is one of my favorites, as it so different. I think its name is Picasso's Rainbow.




They are just all so different
This next one is Sunny Star.
I dream of having all these giant crotons, which go on display from May to October.
They do have to get close to an area with cover, when the frost arrives.
This week it was in the low 40's several days. There are mid 30's coming in a week.



Here is croton Petra. It is perhaps the best known croton. I know this because many of these plants are sold at the HyVee.




This time of year the green leaves of summer are turning all the colors of the rainbow. (Well at least many colors of the rainbow.)
This is the top of Lauren's Rainbow.
That one has been the best grower for me. I have several of these plants that must be 4 feet tall at this point.







What else is blooming?
There are so so many toad lilies.
With this weather they will last for weeks.






A new orchid bloomed. This is cymbidium Yellow Elf. If came inside so as not to be hurt by heavy rain.






The zinnias continue give color. The flower can be so complicated.

Here is the Night Blooming Cereus earlier this week. It bloomed without precipitational interference. You can see the flower and the next bud. One feature of the flowers this time of year, is that they will stay open longer.
This one lasted almost all day. In the warmer weather this variety stays open only until about noon.

Julia's recipe
Salmon with green beans and potatoes

Here is the link to all Julia's recipes that have appeared on the blog. Really- all of them since she started posting several years ago.
https://mearskitchen.wordpress.com/

This is another sheet pan recipe, courtesy of the Sitka Salmon folks, the community-supported fishery from whom we bought a summer share, which brought us about 20 lbs. of fish, mostly cod, black bass and salmon. All good. Plus recipes.




Here are the players: some salmon (I think we had about 8 oz. for 2 people - plan on using about 4 oz. per person unless you're really hungry); 2 cups of fresh green beans, whole (or cut into pieces, or frozen whole or cut up); 1-1/2 cups of cherry tomatoes, cut in half (I used yellow, but red or assorted colors would be pretty too); 3 tablespoons of olive oil; 1 tablespoon smushed garlic; kosher salt and pepper.



Then there's a glaze: 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar (or maybe sherry vinegar, but not regular old salad dressing vinegar); 1 tablespoon honey; and 1 tablespoon dijon-type mustard.




I turned the oven on to 425 degrees.

I cleaned the green beans and snipped off the ends and washed the cherry tomatoes and cut them in half. And smushed the garlic. I put the beans and tomatoes and garlic in a medium-sized bowl and added 2 tablespoons of olive oil plus 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. I mixed them up and then poured them out onto a sheet pan (with a rim) that had a silpat (one of those silicon mats) on it. Parchment would work fine.

I put the sheet pan in the oven and turned on the timer for 15 minutes. Not sure it would take 15 minutes with frozen green beans. Maybe more; maybe less. Keep an eye on the oven if you're using frozen green beans.




While the beans/tomatoes were cooking, I made the glaze. I mixed 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, mustard, and honey in a little bowl. Then I poured the mixture into a small saucepan and put it on the stove. I brought the mixture to a boil; then turned it way down to simmer. I kept an eye on the mixture, stirring occasionally, as I knew it would get sticky. I simmered the glaze for about 7-8 minutes until it had reduced some.







When the timer went off, I took the sheet pan out of the oven and shoved the vegetables to one side. I put the salmon down in the cleared-off space.

I drizzled the last tablespoon of olive oil onto the fish and sprinkled it with a bit of kosher salt and pepper (maybe 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper.)







Next, I spooned some of the glaze over top of the fish. Maybe 2 tablespoons, which I then spread with the back of the spoon. (And then I put that spoon in the sink - not to be used after contact with the raw fish).

Back into the oven for 10 minutes. And then it was all done.

Sometimes I wish we had more professional lighting to take food photos by. Anyway, I put the fish in the middle of a serving plate, and I put the green beans and tomatoes all around.

I spooned a bit more of the glaze onto the fish (with a fresh spoon!) and it was dinner.

We had salad and melon to round out the meal, and we felt very virtuous and low-carb.

I had some of the glaze left over, which I used later as a dressing on some green beans (we eat a lot of fresh green beans in the summer). I had maybe 2-3 tablespoons of glaze left over, which was just the right amount for about 1/2 pound of green beans. Boil or steam the green beans then drizzle/stir the glaze in just before serving.

I can't tell you about leftovers as we ate everything. 

Odds and Ends

It is so dark in the morning. Part of that is the fact it is cloudy all the time.
Part of it is that sunrise is now at 7:07.
It will only be about 7:30 on the solstice.
Of course we have the daylight savings change still to come.
But the days of doing much garden work before work are mostly gone.

Time for special treats.
This is the time to order and then plant spring bulbs.
What better way to give yourself a small treat than to place an order for some spring color.
I have several newly reset garden places that could use some color.
Crocuses? Winter aconite? How about some brightly colored tulips?


Ragweed season is in full swing.
I was reminded the other day that there was one plus for a hard freeze.
That usually puts a dent in ragweed season.
It seems rather bad these days.
The weather people now have the pollen count quantified. Today is suppose to be only 0.5.
Tomorrow is 3.9. I guess that is still lower than it could be. I suppose this is one positive from all that rain.

If you would help with the plant migration let me know. I am looking for winter homes for some of the bigger plants.
I am also trying to sell some of the very large jade plants. They are in the front yard.
All proceeds either go to Democrats or to hurricane relief.

Stay warm.
Philip