April 12, 2020. It can still be cold.

What a week. What a Spring. What a world.
This week we had 2 days where it was almost 80.
One night we even had the windows open.
There was a bird awake and singing at 5:15 in the morning.
It was still completely dark.
The hosta grew several inches during those two days.
You now see trees with their wonderful fresh green leaves.
The magnolias have burst open, including the tulip trees.
I saw an early cherry tree as we drove to the woods yesterday.
And in the background there is the pandemic.
There are hard freezes coming soon. The forecast calls for temperatures in the mid 20's for 4 nights in a row. Starting tonight.
I guess we will see how hardy some of those new plants will be.


We have been doing classic garden contests to get us through this next month.

In last week's voting we looked at the finals from 2012.

The winner this time in looking back at the 2012 finals was...the pink poppy.








In 2012 the winner was the white waterlily.

This week-  The classic finals  from 2008.

#1 Blue fall crocus

#2 Calla Lily

#3 San Ignacio Daylily closeup

#4 Pond jumper

#5 Pink waterlily

#6 Blue Siberian Iris

Reality or what is happening now

This week was all about so many things. I hope you have a few minutes.   I guess the place to start is with the bloodroot. We had seen a few in the woods last weekend. Well the first ones bloomed in the garden last Sunday.

This first amazing flower was a mutation. Those pink petals are not usual. I have marked the plant to see if it comes back next year, with the mutation.
This bloomed during the time when it was hot. It lasted one day.





The double bloodroot were all over the place. I have them planted at this point in about 5 places. The double bloodroot are sterile, propagating by runners. Perhaps for that reason they actually will last 3-5 days, pending on the temperature.























This picture shows a special variety from the Joe Pye Weeds people. The variety is called Snow Cone. It has many more petals but all on the same plane.





Some of you may remember that we like spinny things in the yard. He is a new one.

The star magnolia is open.

Julia's recipe

Baked Pasta with Spinach, Artichokes and Cheese

This recipe is from the NYT recipe website, and I have made it twice - once as the NYT said and then once more changing it up some. The changed version is given here. This is kind of fancy, but also satisfying in the way that a vegetable plus pasta dish can be, especially when it's chilly outside.



Here are the ingredients: about 1/2 lb. of pasta (we used penne. Other shape pasta would be fine; not noodle-y shapes or orzo); a big (1 lb.) bag of frozen chopped or cut up spinach; a 14 oz. can of plain artichoke hearts (that is, not marinated); 1 cup heavy cream; 1 cup half-n-half; 1-1/2 teaspoons smushed garlic; 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 3 tablespoons olive oil; 1 cup grated or shredded parmesan; 1 cup grated mozzarella; some salt and black pepper.







I started by smushing the garlic. Then I put the olive oil in a big skillet and turned the heat on to medium (not too hot). Then I added the garlic and red pepper flakes.

While that was cooking (for a minute or 2), I put a big pot of water on the stove with about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt for the penne.

And I turned the oven on to 400 degrees.










When the garlic started to smell good, I started adding the spinach. It was frozen, and that's just fine. I added the spinach in handfuls and cooked it until it melted and mixed in with the oil.














After the spinach was all mixed in, I added the artichokes, which I had drained and cut in half. I let the artichokes and spinach mixture cook for a minute or two.

At that point, the pasta water had come to a boil and I added the penne. I set the timer for 8 minutes, as I wanted the pasta slightly underdone.  (It continues to cook in the oven, see below).







Next, I added the cream and half-n-half to the skillet and brought the sauce to a simmer. I let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Then I added the parmesan cheese and stirred gently while it melted.

I tasted the sauce and added a bit of salt - maybe 1/2 teaspoon and a bit of black pepper - maybe 1/4 teaspoon. Taste for yourself, as the right level of salt and pepper is a matter of individual taste.

I left the sauce on low heat and drained the pasta.





Then I stirred the pasta into the sauce and took the skillet off the heat.

It was a bit soupy but I was not worried as the dish would finish cooking in the oven.

While the pasta mixture was resting quietly, I lubed up a casserole dish. It was a gift from our old friend Mrs. Davis. It is brown and I do not know what it is made of. Probably some kind of pottery, but not ceramic. It has a pig-face handle on one end and a pig-tail handle on the other. Antic.






I dumped the skillet contents into the casserole and finished the dish by sprinkling the cup of mozzarella cheese on top.


It baked for about 20 minutes, after which it was bubbly and spotted with nice brown bits.













Here it is out of the oven. We served it with green salad and plain baked salmon (that is, salmon with a thin coating of mayonnaise mixed with Dijon mustard). Plain baked chicken or steak would be nice, emphasis on plain. The casserole should be the centerpiece in terms of flavors.

The original recipe called for all heavy cream and a lot less spinach. I don't think 2 cups of heavy cream are required, so I used heavy cream and half-n-half. The next time I make it, I may go with all half-n-half.  And I think the larger amount of spinach is a good balance with the pasta and the rich sauce. But feel free to vary the proportions, or the ingredients. The kale lovers among you may want to go that route. Or you could use Fontina instead of mozzarella. Or more artichokes or frozen artichoke hearts.

We did have leftovers, which reheated nicely.

Odds and Ends

With help I was able to start getting my little garden plot ready. It was grass last year and only disked before it was given to all of us. It needed rototilling and more.



Thank you Elisabeth.








Here are some of the plots. I wonder if the people with the black plastic are trying to kill the grass.








Here is my little plot, after I worked up one little piece. It will become a daily exercise.

















Be safe.
There will be warmer and better days ahead.
There will at some point be a Spring like no other.
Happy Easter.
Philip and Julia