November 21, 2021- the outdoor season is finally over

It is pretty much the end of the garden year. All the plants that need to come inside are inside. All the bulbs I ordered are planted. There is more to do inside than outside. It is also getting cold. 

The end of the year is a time for reflection.  It is also a time of anticipation. When something ends, something begins. 

I want to spend some time this week reflecting and anticipating. 

The garden year 2021- a reflection

The year started, of course, with the pandemic. Katie, Elisabeth, Christopher and Maisie hiked across country in January and lived with us for two months. They arrived just in time to celebrate his fourth birthday.  My memories of the year will always start with that visit. (It was longer than a visit.) I will cherish Christopher being about to experience the beginning of spring. 

Of course there was winter. And snow.

Here is perhaps my personal nominee for picture of the year. It could be in the contest that starts in two weeks, but that would be unfair competition. 

Once spring arrived Christopher would greet us two times each day when we came home from work - for lunch and at the end of the day. He would let us know what new flower had arrived that day. (There might be the first blue flower for example.)

Then there was the wonderful experience of help in the garden. An early task each year is putting out the wood chips around the garden paths.

It was a glorious spring, taking place at about the right time, or perhaps a little early. The snow melt took place in late February. There were many flowers by early March. March. That really does not seem so far away.

These next two pictures were taken on February 27, 2021. February is even closer.

This was March 13, 2021.

This was Christopher's favorite crocus. I love it when a four year old can have a favorite crocus.

A big part of the year-in-reflection was the  back driveway plant sale for the food banks. It was our second year for the sale. There was very little organization, and less than that in advertising. While we had some newspaper coverage in 2020, this year, not so much. On some level we were old news. 

 For those of you who missed it I put plants out on the back driveway, with price tags. People could come by any time of the day. 24/7 was how I described it at times. They would then leave payment in the mailbox on the front porch. I put out many plants. But people would bring plants too.  That was a big part of the fun. People contributed peonies, bloodroot, hosta, orchids, ornamental grasses, anemones, succulents, fancy plants, common plants, house plants,  unidentified plants, and even some egg plants. Near the end of the season someone brought over 100 little bearded iris. It was amazing. 

By the end of the season we had raised close to $7500. It was divided equally between the Iowa City food bank (Community) and the Coralville food bank.

I met and talked garden with so many people. Some people only came once. Many people came when I was not home. But some people came many times. Some came so many times  that I would even remember their names. (I am not so good when it comes to name remembering.)

Some people did not get the message about where to leave the money. In 2020 we at least had a sign sometimes. That meant that this year, sometimes it was like an Easter egg hunt. There would be money under a pot, or in the door, or in the back garage.

The sale lasted from late March to late October. It started early enough that Christopher was able to help. Maybe that was when he and the family were back for a week in June. Certainly some people met Christopher while they were looking at plants.

I have every intention to doing this again in 2022.

The year was not all fun and games. I messed up my back/shoulder in late April. That was a first for me.

I spent two months going to the chiropractor and worrying they would put me in one of those imaging machines in a hospital. I would then not be able to move while they tried to figure out what was wrong.  For a good portion of that time I had a weight restriction which interfered with gardening. When Christopher and Maisie visited again in June I was not able to lift Maisie.

It was a strange garden year as to rainfall. We went stretches when it would not rain for weeks. Then it would rain 2-3 inches in 48 hours. I certainly used the sprinkler more than usual. For the year Iowa City was about 5 inches short of normal. (Normal is about 34 inches.) Other parts of the state, such as Cedar Rapids, ended the year with only about a 2/3 of their annual rain amount.

The lack of rain was certainly a factor in the rented garden plot being sort of a bust. For the second year we had a little 10 feet by 20 feet  garden plot over at Chadek Park, which is about a half mile from the house. What I liked about it was that it was in full sun. (It was also an additional 2000 square feet of space to plant some things. I am mostly out of room.) 

I still summered my amaryllis collection over there. At the same time the cherry tomato plants got away from me. The weeds wound up being plant supports. This is not a good plan.

What was new this year?

Certainly the new plant of the year was the Shirley poppy. I grew them from seed and they were spectacular.

Here is one of the pictures that is not going to be in the picture contest. Yes, that is coming very soon.

One reason for the reflection is that I am going back and selecting pictures for the contest.

I did save the poppy seed. Planting will begin around January 1.

I got a mail order dogwood tree. That was kind of fun.

We resorted to mail order because the local nurseries sold out so quickly. There was a bad storm in 2020 and many people were replacing trees in 2021.

The mail order tree came in a five foot tall box. 

I am going back through pictures again.

Reflections have to include snow.

I greatly appreciated the shoveling help we had at the time. 

The snow was so much at one point that it completely covered one of my established tree peonies. It actually broke off the stem, causing much anguish at the time, or rather when I discovered it when the snow melted.

What was wonderful was that it grew from the roots. It did not bloom. But by the end of the year it was probably 20 inches tall. I think there is a bud or two that will bloom this coming spring.

Another snow picture, this one with the pink dogwood.

I am starting to repeat myself. 

It is time to move on to anticipation.

I cannot wait until next garden year because:

1- Martagon lilies- I got 4-5 of these lovely members of the lilium family in 2020. They have smaller flowers than their cousins. They can make up for that with quantity.

They did well. 

So I got more this fall.

The ones in the pictures should be bigger.

2- Lupines

I have found lupines to take at least a year to get organized. Between some that I transplanted and some I grew from seed I have a really good crop of lupines growing this fall.  There are maybe 6-8 of them in the swirly bed this fall, still growing. (They do not mind the frost.) 

3- Many more bulbs were planted this fall. Numbers are not necessary. Le me just say many more crocuses and many species tulips for 2022. There of course will be nice clumps of Monsella and Shirley tulips. (I will use the repellant to keep away the deer.)

4- Then there are the many many little dwarf beard iris planted this fall. I must have added 50-100 from various sources. That does not count the 75 in the back garage for the 2022 plant sale. In the bed along Fairview street I put in crocuses in between the iris.

5- Bartzella peony- I got this wonderfully named peony in 2020. It is a special cross between a tree peony and a herbaceous one. It is yellow. It spent this year 2021 getting bigger, without blooming. I look for the bloom next year.

Then there will be the Shirley poppies. You will hear and see many of them during the picture contest, starting soon. 

Julia's recipe

Green Beans with Mushrooms and shallots

Here is  the link to the other blog with all of Julia's recipes.

https://mearskitchen.wordpress.com/

 

I know some people have green beans at Thanksgiving. We switched our Thanksgiving vegetable allegiance to Brussels sprouts some years ago - roasted with olive oil and kosher salt and sometimes tossed with a little fish sauce and sesame oil and red pepper flakes, post-roast. But still green beans are good and traditional. I have a recipe for a version of green beans with mushrooms and fried shallots which is very good. We have had this recipe twice in recent weeks and it is not even Thanksgiving. The recipe is slightly simplified from a recipe in the America's Test Kitchen cookbook. These folks know their stuff but sometimes make things a bit too hard. 

The ingredients:

3 cups of green beans;

2+ cups of sliced cremini mushrooms;

1 cup thinly sliced shallot;

2 tablespoons white flour;

1/2 cup finely diced onion;

1+ teaspoon smushed garlic;

2 tablespoons butter;

2 bay leaves;

4-5 tablespoons regular oil;

1/2 cup chicken stock;

1/2 cup whipping cream;

some salt and pepper. 

A few notes on ingredients: yes, there is whipping cream. Think festive. For chicken stock, I used a bit of better than bouillon in water. I used my own personally blanched and frozen green beans. You could use fresh or frozen. I would not use what is called "French cut", as I don't think they would hold up in the cooking. 

 

I started by slicing the shallots. I don't usually use shallots, but I thought what the heck. 

The two shallots I had gave me 1 cup thinly sliced, which I tossed with about 1 tablespoon of flour and a little salt and pepper. 

I heated 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet on high heat. When the oil was shimmering, I dumped in the floury shallots and cooked them (having turned the heat down a little), stirring frequently, until they turned golden brown - about 5 or 6 minutes.

I put a paper towel on a little plate and scooped the fried shallots onto the plate. 

I turned the skillet down for a minute or two while I finished with the mushrooms. 

While the shallots were frying, I washed and trimmed and sliced the mushrooms. I had something like 2-1/4 cups of slices.  

Here is a picture of the afore-mentioned fried shallots.

I put 2 more tablespoons of oil in the skillet, turned the heat up and when the skillet looked hot, dumped in the mushrooms, along with a little salt and pepper. 

I turned the heat down a bit and let them cook for about 7 or 8 minutes until they were nicely browned. 

The mushrooms did not require constant stirring so I diced the onion and smushed the garlic. 

When the mushrooms were done, I put them back in their bowl (which I dried - the mushrooms had been a bit damp from being washed) and put them on the counter next to the shallots. 

Next, I melted the butter in the skillet and cooked the onion for 2 or 3 minutes, then added the garlic and the other tablespoon of flour.

This picture shows the onion and garlic nicely browned with the flour just having been added.

After the flour had been stirred in, I added the green beans. Cooking time at this stage will vary depending on whether you are using thawed, frozen or fresh green beans.

After I stirred the green beans in, I added the chicken stock and cream and the bay leaves.

I cooked that set of ingredients for just a few minutes and then added the mushrooms.

After I added the mushrooms, I simmered the stuff for about 5 or 6 minutes to reduce the sauce some and cook the beans through. 

I had thawed frozen beans. Actual frozen beans would take longer as would fresh.

Lastly, I poured the beans into a serving bowl and sprinkled the fried shallots over the top. 

Before sprinkling, I removed the bay leaves. 

On the plate. We served with baked chicken, green salad and berries with yogurt. Philip has not yet offered to eat the leftovers on toast - his highest compliment, but he does say this is his favorite green bean dish. 

Odds and Ends

I got the last of the bulbs planted yesterday. I accomplished this twice due to a late arrival of 8 big allium bulbs that  Katie sent me. They are all in the ground. Waiting.

Actually one of these days I should look for the few bulbs that pop up late in the year. That has happened over the decades. One time there was even a snow drop on NewYears Day. I am not sure if it was late or early.

I think this happens after the ground freezes and then thaws out. We have had some freezes this fall, but I do not think any of them has been long enough for the ground to actually freeze.

Of course how could I tell. There are leaves everywhere. The sycamore tree has started its very late leaf drop. The linden tree is just about done, having dropped all its leaves in about the last week.

The sound of lead blowers in the neighborhood is as bad as the lawnmowers during the growing season. I do understand the attraction of those noisy machines. But they can go on for so hours, much longer than lawn mowing. 

Orchids do fill a vacuum. This is Maxillaria variabilis. This picture is from this last week. It is the smallest orchid I have. It is one of my favorites. I have had it for at least 6 years. It is reliable. It is cute. It blooms like crazy when it comes inside for the winter. It has its special place over the kitchen sink, with the tillandsia.

Here is a little video with that orchid.

I am finishing the picture selection for the winter contest. It starts again in a week. I have 72 pictures selected at this point. I need to get it down to 65. That would be enough for 13 weeks with 5 pictures each.

David, in a comment last week, asks about betting. I do think the preoccupation with betting is remarkable. Our local newspaper has the odds each day for sporting events, without actually then publishing the scores.

Well, as to betting on the contest, maybe next year.  I am open to suggestions. Certainly as the pictures get posted on Sunday morning the first few votes establish a trend. 

How do you make something an early favorite when you haven't actually seen the pictures. As I think about it, a sports  team can be an early betting favorite when you do not know exactly what that team will look like at the beginning of the season.

So one could say that the early favorite could be a crocus or a poppy or perhaps something really red. Or blue. What about an iris?

Be safe. 

Find some quiet time away from the leaf blowers.

Philip