September 20, 2020- Leaves have started to fall

I have mentioned in the past that we have wonderful mature trees in the yard. They are still there, even if part of them are in a different place. (Part of the sycamore tree is still wedged into the crabapple trees in the back yard. ) These trees drop their leaves in sequence. The  buckeye tree goes first.  It has started. Each day I sweep up buckeye tree leaves off the back driveway, almost in an effort to hold off time. 

Planting annuals is now sort of a race. I still have 50 rooted cuttings that need to be planted. Most of the impatiens are in the ground. I do pronounce the front sidewalk bed plantings a success. In case you missed it, I started planting impatiens cuttings around the end of July. There must be 75 plants at this point. I have planted about 10-20 per week.  I have almost filled in the entire bed by the front sidewalk.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. I went over to the farm (rented garden plot in full sun) first thing in the morning. I had planted lettuce there on Monday. It had sprouted in less than a week which was encouraging.

Actually I watered the newly sprouted lettuce. After all that rain two weeks ago we are back in a dry pattern. No rain now for 9 days with none in the 10 day forecast. The annuals will need watering too.

Here are some of the little hot peppers that are growing like crazy at the moment.

I remember that peppers are one of those plants that are doing their best right when the frost comes. 

Pictures from this week.

The third variety of Japanese anemone has started to bloom. 

The white one is doing well too.

Early in the week the cactus bloomed. As it was cooler (50-70) the flowers lasted into a second day.

Epiphyllim hookeri bloomed several times. I have 4-5 plants of this variety, most of which have at least one bud.

Some of the late planted zinnias have started to bloom. They do add a sparkle of color. Next year with more sun in the back yard I will plant more zinnias.

Here are more pictures.

Julia's recipe

Chana Masala

I recently found myself with some leftover canned chickpeas. I will post the recipe that used some but not all of a can of chickpeas later. As it happened, a new issue of Cook's Illustrated arrived at about the same time with a recipe for chana masala. I thought of it as chickpea dal, but having looked up all of the relevant words, I now know different. "Dal" refers to the kind of legumes ("pulses", really) that can be split - peas and lentils. Not chickpeas. The Indian word for chickpea is "chana". "Masala" is a spice mixture, which can vary. So chana masala is chickpeas in a spice mixture. The recipe below is a slight simplification of the Cook's recipe.   

The ingredients: 1-1/2 cans of chickpeas (actually the recipe called for 2 cans, which would be great, but as I said, I was Using Things Up); about 3/4 cup red onion; about 1 tablespoon garlic chunks; about 1 tablespoon ginger chunks; about 3 tablespoon hot pepper chunks; 2 cups (or a 14 oz. can) crushed (or pureed) tomatoes; about 1/2 bunch of cilantro - stems and all (no good way to quantify); 3 tablespoons regular oil (I think coconut oil would be fine too); 1 teaspoon paprika; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon turmeric; 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds; 1/2 teaspoon salt (kosher or regular); 1-1/2 teaspoon garam masala and 1 tablespoon of lime juice.  

I prepped the onion, ginger, hot pepper and garlic, setting aside about 1/4 cup of the onion for later. I put the onion, garlic, ginger, hot pepper and cilantro stems (!) in the food processor.

I had 2 hot peppers - one an orange ghost pepper or maybe a habanero pepper from Philip's little garden and a jalapeno from the co-op. I used the orange pepper at this point and saved the jalapeno for later. 

I zizzed this stuff up for maybe 30 seconds until it was pretty thoroughly ground up.  








Next, I heated the oil over medium heat in a pan and added the onion mixture.

I cooked the mixture for about 5 minutes over medium heat until the onion was soft. 















Next I added some of the spices: the paprika, cumin, turmeric and fennel seeds.  I stirred the spices in and cooked the mixture until I could smell the spices (maybe 30 seconds).

















Next I added the crushed tomatoes and the chickpeas including the liquid from the can. 

I cooked the mixture for about 10 minutes. Then I added the garam masala and the salt and cooked for another 10 minutes or so. 

While the mixture was cooking, I chopped up the remaining red onion and about 1/4 cup of the jalapeno. I put them in an attractive dish (see below) along with all of the cilantro leaves. 

Then I turned off the heat and stirred in the lime juice. 





Chana masala in a bowl. 



















Chana masala in a bowl with the garnishes in a nearby bowl.

If you can't abide cilantro, I think parsley would work - same procedure, stems in the blender, tops for garnish. Garam masala (an Indian spice blend) is more essential. You should be able to find it in the spice section of any reasonably well-stocked grocery. 

We served this as a side with baked chicken and rice. It would be been just fine as a main course - and vegan too!

Odds and ends

We know it is fall because Iowa City's leaf sucking schedule has just arrived in the mail. Iowa City does an organized leaf pickup, in the fall. Crews come around and have giant vacuum machines that literally suck up leave piles that are along the parkway. It is a community event. 

The actual schedule is a yearly intelligence test. I will show you. We are in zone 3.

We have no part of the parkway that does not have garden. We could make a pile at the end of the driveway if we wanted. Mostly we put our leaves in trash cans for the Wednesday regular pickup of yard waste and compost. I suppose that is one good thing about the fact the trees drop their leaves sequentially.

I am so old that I can remember when we could burn leaves in Iowa City. That was probably 30 years ago.

The morning glories celebrated the mild temperatures yesterday by blooming all afternoon. One resolution for the off season is to figure out why morning glories do not bloom very much. I suspect it is fertilizer. 

I divided 3 daylily clumps yesterday. I did it the right way. After digging the clumps I started by knocking off the dirt that would come off with some blows with the trowel. I then hit it with a hard stream of water from the hose. It was adult water play. I got all the dirt off, and was able to pull out the intertwined weeds. 

Of course I wound up with about 30 little plants. 12 are presold for the driveway plant sale. Speaking of which we passed $3500 yesterday, all going to the local food banks.

In these troubling times I struggle to make a small difference. I believe that many small differences add up.

If you are in the neighborhood come by. 

Philip