August 30, 2020- a long month

I was going to try to say something each day. That did not work once the week started.

Last Sunday.
We had a first for birdwatching in Iowa today. We saw two hummingbirds, at the same time. They were actually at our red hummingbird feeder, hung on the metal tree in the middle of the backyard.
It was about 4 in the afternoon. But I saw them both. Julia saw them too. I had no idea how hot the stuff was in the feeder at that point. In the evening we changed the food, which is some red professional hummingbird feeding mixture.
It figured that we did not see any more hummingbirds.
Maybe the mixture that attracted them had gotten alcoholic, which made it attractive.

I went a little over board with the cuttings. I raised the number of jars over the sink from 27 to 40. At this point I am making cuttings from impatiens, 2 different coleus, and a broken piece of Persian Shield. Did I mention the 3 African violets that are rooting there too?
I now have a few jars on the front porch, with coleus cuttings in them.


Monday
It was hot today. Lots of plants are really wilting during the day. I ran the sprinkler in the backyard this morning and the front yard in the evening. What I need to figure out where are the places that the sprinklers do not reach. I will then need to reach those plants with the hand sprinkling tools.

Rest of the week-
It stayed hot. Gardening after work was not really an option. Here is are those charts from the Iowa State Extension service.
You should not believe those low temperatures during the week. It really did not get much below about 73.



To go with the hot it was dry. That half of an inch of rain came with the deracho.
The last real rain was 1.5 inches on July 30.




I will not put up the other charts we have been watching in Iowa this last several weeks. Let me just say the students are back, the bars were open, (they were ordered closed Thursday at 5) and the numbers were spiking on those charts.


But the garden does show the promise of providing a lifeline to survive the next 2 months.


Saturday
It actually cooled off last night. The windows are open. I could enjoy doing a shift in the garden mid afternoon. That would not have been thinkable earlier during the week.

Pictures from the week

Persistence has paid off. All that extra watering has keep the morning glories alive. They have started to bloom. Heavenly blue is the color.  That variety has been around for decades.
Once year I had the idea to plant morning glories in hanging baskets and grow them up the ropes. That did not really work.

This flower in the orchid cactus group bloomed this week.
It is actually epiphyllum hookeri.
What is nice is that it blooms from August to October. I have a number of plants. Several others have buds coming.

Over at the "farm" as we call out little sunny garden plot, everything is really dry. These profusion zinnias are holding their own against the drought.
I took two watering cans over on two mornings this week. You have to haul the water from a pump about 40 yards away. 6 full cans seems to help. My amaryllis look good. Once again this year I will have too many hot peppers.

Here are some of the early peppers. The ones that are sort of scrunched up are two different varieties of ghost peppers.

There are now 7 of these clusters at the bottom of the rope hoya. There are no flowers further up the plant. Who knows why that is.





The bees do like theses flowers.





This is my mother's hoya which is also blooming at the moment.



I did get another hoya last Sunday. The Reha's greenhouse people came to the outside farmer's market and they had one I could not resist. I now have seven in handing pots. One more should go in a hanging pot before winter.

I did have one of those 'oh my' moments, sort of in the garden this morning. Actually it was on the front porch.
I had planted a clivia seed 6 months ago. I put it on the window sill on 3-1-2020. It did nothing. I would water it every week. And nothing.
So it went out on the front porch behind the porch swing. I had not noticed it forever.
Well this morning I noticed that it had sprouted and was now about 3 inches long.
In 4 years when it gets its 13th leaf it will bloom. That bloom should be yellow.

Over a month ago we got a little variegated abutilon. Those are little flowering plants in the mallow family. We have never been good with these plants.
Well, I am discovering that many plants are doing better in the back yard, where they now get more sun.










Look at these two leaves.



Kind of interesting, don't you think?

But then there was this leaf.
It is like there is most of a leaf and then this other thing grew out of it.
Maybe it is just a mutated leaf.




Let me just say that the leaves on this plant are something else.

Someone brought this cactus to the plant sale. It made for a rather great plant joke.



People wondered if this were some sort of weird flower.























Well those are tiny beads.
What an effort.
What fun.
















One more look.

The leaf of the week award did go to this croton. It is new to the garden this month. I do not know the name. It is growing quite well. Maybe I should go back to where I found it and get the bigger plant.

All of the crotons seem to be reacting to the shortening days by putting out new leaves.

Julia's recipe

Another chicken curry

This recipe is from the Milk Street Kitchen magazine, which I sometimes find annoying. It is international in focus, but oddly patronizing to both the international folks and to the Americans reading the magazine. But this recipe is a winner - quick, easy and tasty.



The ingredients: about 1-1/4 lb. of skinless boneless chicken breast (skinless, boneless chicken thighs were called for but not available at the co-op when I was there - chicken breast worked fine); 1 cup thinly sliced red onion (white or yellow would be fine);1/3 cup olive oil plus 1 more tablespoon; and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. And spices and such: 2 tablespoons curry powder; 1-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin; 1-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano; 1 teaspoon ground coriander; 1 teaspoon paprika;
1 teaspoon smushed garlic;
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and some parsley or cilantro if you are so inclined as a garnish.





I started by putting the 1/3 cup of olive oil into a biggish bowl and adding all of the spices except the fresh parsley.



















Next I cut up the chicken into medium-sized chunks and the onion into thin slices.

I cut the chicken breasts in half lengthwise then across.

















I whisked up the spice mixture and then added both the onions and the chicken and stirred them around. With a spoon, not the whisk.


I let the chicken and onions sit in the spice mixture for about 10 or 15 minutes while I started the rice and thought about green beans.












I took out the biggest skillet (12") and poured in the additional 1 tablespoon of olive oil. I heated the oil over medium heat for a few minutes until it was kind of hot. Then I dumped in the entire contents of the bowl - onions, chicken and spiced oil. I cooked the mixture over medium-high heat until the chicken was done and the onions were soft - maybe 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

It's done with the onions are softened and when the chicken is no longer pink when you cut a piece in half.








I took the pan off the heat and stirred in the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, then poured the mixture into a serving dish and sprinkled with the completely optional parsley.

Very tasty. Pretty simple and straightforward. We had it with rice and green beans with garlic and walnuts and salad and melon.

Our daughter Maggie joined us for dinner, with social distancing, which was a treat.

Odds and Ends

The backyard plant sale continues. We are over $2800. More people came on Saturday since the weather was good.

Now if only it will rain.
Maybe there will be rain on Tuesday.

Garden cleanup continues.
Plant orders should start coming in a week or so.

September is around the corner.
I keep telling myself that better times are coming.
Philip