May 16, 2021- time for the next thing

The garden is turning the page, to something different.

The last of the spring flowers is just about finished.

The danger of frost is over.  Actually, when I went to plant a few things at the little garden plot midweek I would have sworn there was a frost on all the grass. 'Weather data' says it was 33. I think that was about right. Now we just have to wait for the soil temperature to warm enough for the tomato plants. That does not happen when the high for the week was yesterday, and that was only 71.

I do not really grow tomatos. But I do send the tropical plants outside for the summer. Most are wisely still staying on the front porch.

It is about time for annuals to appear. We bought several flats of impatiens yesterday. Now I just have to start planting them. Perhaps I should first plant the 11 new hosta that are all living in rentals at the moment. (That means pots.)

The Iceland poppies are motly planted and are putting on a show.

I also grew Shirley poppies this winter from seed. I am waiting for the first one of those to bloom.

The Siberian Iris are next on the schedule. They should start any day now.

What else is new?

The hosta are wonderful. Look at the size of this Liberty.

This is Earth Angel.

Some hosta, despite some effort, remain unidentified.

The lupines are starting. You cannot have too many lupines. They love cool weather.

You should have plants that do well in cooler weather, and some like it hot. That way no matter the temperature, some will be happy.

This is spiderwort.

This is a silene called ragged robin. You look at the flower and say 'that is unusual.'

The dogwood is fading, but still interesting.

Julia's recipe

Kale salad

I decided to try kale salad again. Several years ago, when Katie and Elisabeth were visiting, they made kale salad which involved massaging the kale. The salad was delicious, but the technique did not appeal. This kale salad is more or less straight from Joshua McFadden's Six Seasons. Apparently, he is the Father of kale salad, or at least of this kale salad, which is delicious and does not involve any massaging. 

The ingredients:

1 bunch of kale (see below);

1 clove of garlic;

1/4 cup plus a bit more pecorino romano cheese;

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes;

about 2 tablespoons oilve oil (not shown, not sure why); 

2 tablespoons lemon huice (fresh or nice bottled stuff); 

maybe 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and a bit less black pepper;

some croutons or toasted bread crumbs. 

 

The kind of kale matters. Don't use curly kale. You'll see why below. Lacinto would be okay, but the flat wide kind I used is the best. Also buy a chunk of pecorino (or asiago) for this dish rather than pre-grated or pre-shredded (which I use a lot - but not here). 

Philip made me some little croutons - small cubes of artisan-ish bread sauteed in a tablespoon or two of olive oil over medium heat. Keep an eye on them as they can get to the burned-on-the-bottom point faster than you might think. Philip is a master so the croutons were just fine. 

I cut the ribs out of the kale. I did not wash at this stage because the washing would come later.

I took maybe three leaves (a total of six half-leaves), rolled them up as tightly as I could and then sliced across to make thin ribbons (like 1/16" to 1/8" wide).

After all of the kale was in ribbons, I put it all in a salad spinner with cool water and let it sit there for a few minutes. 

Then I dumped out the water and salad-spun it (certainly not "salad-spinned it") twice, dumping out the accumulated liquid each time. 

I put all the now-dryish ribbons in a shallow wide bowl, and I turned my attention to the dressing. 

The dressing is mixed up in a little bowl:

the clove of garlic smushed as thoroughly as possible, the red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper, 1/4 cup pecorino cheese (freshly grated), 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. 

I whisked to combine, poured over the kale and mixed gently.

I sprinkled the top with some of the croutons and grated on some extra cheese. 

A nice looking salad, don't you think?

 We had the salad with roasted mushrooms and panko-crusted cod. Probably really good for us, but so tasty we didn't notice the health benefits. 

No leftover salad. 

Odds and Ends

The dirt shortage continues. There is no compost available from the City. Maybe there will be more after June 1. In the meantime I am sceambling to find the potting mixes for the many plants I am potting for the food bank sale.

I went and got some sifted dirt this week. I just put it in some 5 gallon buckets. That would not be too heavy. Have I mentioned I have done something to my back? Well carrying those buckets did not help. The chiropractor is helping some. 

Julia did finish one of her all time best knitting projects. She made this sweater for Christopher.

Here is a short seed report.

These are red crane ornamental kale. Given proper sun for the next 3 months they should be spectacular.

I have some fattening at the 'farm'.

I can report close to 100% germination of zinnias. Some germinated in 3 days.

That is it for this week.

I look forward to more great color coming to the garden soon.

Be safe. 

Philip