March 7, 2021 Week #2 of the playoffs- Spring is really here

We try to hold onto certain memories. I had one of those from this past week. Each day, after work, I came home to a garden that was more and more alive. Upon request I texted my family to let them know I am coming.

Christopher iswaiting when I pull into the garage. He then races around, letting me know where there are new flowers. The little yellow aconite are everywhere. He then runs to show me the bed on the side of the house with lots of snowdrops. Near the end of the week he pointed out a few crocuses that have buds showing some color. He is so excited.  Four is a glorious age.

Yesterday was rather glorious. It was sunny and must have gotten into the mid 50's. I was out in the garden by 7, raking away the last of the winter debris, which was just emerging from the snow. 

The aconite are everywhere, including in the paths. They get transplanted to those areas where somehow there are not many. I had help.

He had quite an outfit don't you think. Julia made the mittens. He wears the tie outside the coat. That, he would explain, is what pilots do.

After an hour romp with the family midday I couldn't figure out why I was so tired.

It seems that much of garden cleanup involves using muscles not oridinarily used.

There is for example stooping. 

Part of that is realizing that because the snow is receding so quickly I have to really work to keep up with the emerging garden.

Please see the "Right Now" section further along for more pictures of the early spring glory.

We are finishing the picture contest, with some really hard choices.

Last Week was the first week of the playoffs

The winner was the red peony. It was a tight race to the end. The pastel Iceland poppy and the Blue Siberian Iris were right there for the first several days. The peony had its lead grow to 3 votes by midweek. As there are so mamy early votes, that lead was enough.

What a great color.

The full vote total was

The red peony moves on to the finals in two weeks.

Week 2 of the playoffs

#1 Banned in Boston

 July 16, 2020

Here is a picture of one of my favortie daylilies, which happens to have one of my favorite names.

Last year I worked hard to identify hosta, matching plants with their missing labels. This year I should try that with daylilies.

In looking at this picture I am attracted to the background of green leaves. You really do not see that at the moment in the garden.

#2 Cactus flower 

July 29, 2020

I still remember about ten years ago when the first cactus flower bloomed. It was exciting watching that first bud develope over almost a month. It got bigger and bigger. Then finally it opened at night, fortunately lasting into the next day.

The magic is still there when one of these plants puts up a bud or two.

The more sun the better.

#3 Orange Coneflower

 August 10, 2020

Coneflowers have come a long way in the last twenty years. This orange hybrid is one of the best. They like as much sun as you can give them. I remember Fred McDowell and his wonderful daylily garden over on Court Street. He would put the occasional purple coneflower in with the lilies. These days I think about entire beds of coneflowers.

I decided to try some coneflowers from seed this winter. I have about 7 little seedlings, now waiting for slightly bigger pots. It will  probably be another 6-7 weeks until I can plant them somewhere in the garden. 

#4 Red Iceland poppy

 May 27. 2020

You liked red last week. Here is another red one. This color turns up every year with Iceland poppies. It doesn't get old. We have a picture of a similiar red poppy in our bathroom.

#5 Pink Bearded Iris

 May 29, 2020

Iris plants are really a big part of the garden. There are so many types, blooming over so many months. There are some varieties of these bearded iris that rebloom in the fall. I should really put some of them on the 'acquire' list.

There you have it. You get to try to pick one of these. That will be no easy task. I have no idea as I write this, which one will get my vote.

Right Now

This was just 8 days ago. 

This was yesterday. Temperatures that had reached into the 40's have given way to the 50's. And...the next 4 days are all to be above 60.

After all that cold, I had so hoped that Katie and family could experience the glory of the garden in early spring.

It is happening.  The big trio will dominate for a few weeks. Snowdrops. Aconite. Crocuses.

Here was the first crocus, opening about noon yesterday. By the end of the day there must have been 10. In the next few days that number will grow exponentially.

I have mentioned how wonderful the background is in these early pictures. 

We seem to be at the point where every hour the garden grows and emerges.

I did not mention that one addition today was the buzzing of the bees. You can just see one in the first picture in this group. That first one went home and told the others the flowers were out.

Julia's recipe

Crackers

One night recently we had avgolemono soup (egg-lemon soup). It's Greek. The recipe is on the Mears kitchen blog, and it is fast and easy if you have cooked chicken and chicken stock on hand. Which we did. So Christopher and I decided to make crackers. Who makes crackers? People who are still kind of house-bound with a child who likes to cook. 

The recipe is pretty much straight from Alton Brown's Good Eats 3: The Later Years cookbook. The crackers are easy to make and taste good. Plenty of reason to make them.   

After watching people at our house take and upload pictures, Christopher thought he would like to do that too. It turned out that a digital kid's camera was quite reasonable and so here is C. aiming to take a picture of the ingredients: about 3-1/2 cups of all-purpose flour; 1 tablespoon regular (not kosher) salt; 1/2 teaspoon sugar (hiding behind the flour); 2/3 cup water; 5 tablespoons melted and cooled butter) and 1 egg (hiding behind the pan of melted butter).

First I melted the butter in a little pan and set it aside to cool. 

I poured the flour, sugar and salt into a big bowl.  Then I mixed the egg and water and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a little bowl. And I poured it into the dry ingredients slowly, stirring all the while. 

I think C took this picture.

When the dough came together, I kneaded it in the bowl a few times (5 or 6 Alton Brown says). 

I made it into 3 little more or less equal-sized balls.

I covered the balls with a tea towel and let them rest for 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, I heated the oven to 375 degrees.

I brushed some of the remaining butter on a cookie sheet and put one of the balls on the cookie sheet. I used a rolling pin to roll the ball out to a thin (say 1/8") layer. And there it is. 

I poked the dough all over with a fork to help the dough stay flat while baking. 

Then I did the same thing with the other two balls of dough, using up the melted butter and using two more cookie sheets. It you are not rich with cookie sheets, you could roll the dough out on parchment and then tranfer the parchment to your one cookie sheet. 

The crackers baked for about 20 minutes. They get crisp around the edges before getting crisp in the middle. 

After the big cracker had cooled for a few minutes, I was able to break it into smaller pieces. 

A bowl of smaller pieces. We had some cheese along with our soup, which went well with the crackers. I don't know how long they would keep - they were gone by dinner time the next day!

Odds and Ends

It is so nice to get up in the morning and have the sun come up before 7. There is light in the sky by 6 (at least on a clear night.) Christopher notices it. We explain about the changing seasons. We do not want to say anything about daylight savings coming to take away the light. There is already discussion about when to lose the hour, so as to make it the least confusing. Right now losing the hour about 10 in the morning seems right. 

Christopher did dicovery the little fairy house that really did magically appear several years ago at the base of the elm tree. Its origin still remain a mystery.

He has made additions.

I did reup my garden plot this past week. I can get in about April 1. Of course I remember last year. It had been so warm that I put in peppers before the last frost. 

But lettuce will certainly be on the menu for early starts.

Some of the seedlings did get to enjoy the sun yesterday afternoon. Some will even stay out overnight as the lows for several nights will be above 40.

 

That is it for this week.

I almost forgot. Julia and I got our second shots. Spring is really here.

Of course, I am exhausted. That is not from the shot.

There is so much to do.

Be safe.

Philip