The finals- Week 17 of the contest March 20, 2022

I  declare that spring is here. 

 Actually I understand that it will be official some time late this morning.

It is finally here.

At least it is here in Iowa City.

What exactly is spring?  

You out there, people reading this, what do you think of when you think/ hope that spring has arrived?

I think it is coming home at lunch and seeing what flowers have opened.

It is the time for aconite and snowdrops and crocuses.

It is a time when there are not many bugs or weeds.

It is the time when, with increasing urgency, I must rake off the winter debris so that more early spring bulbs can shine.

It is doing yard work after I come home from work.  At least I can do that after that daylight savings thing happens. (I do not mind having it only part of the year.)

It is the time when winter is over, other than some last few parting shots.

It is a time when there is less time for looking a garden pictures, as the outside calls.

It is the time to wear just a jacket while working in the garden.

I will work on this list as the day progresses. But seriously, help me out with your own thoughts on spring.

Picture contest

Here in the Mears garden blog world, a world that is now17 years long, we have gotten through another winter. You have selected the three pictures to be in the final finals. Which picture will join the circle of winners? 

The last piece of the final puzzle was...

The pink orchid cactus. Imagine that. For the first time since we have been doing these contests, a wildcard made it to the final finals.

It was the closest vote all year. Literally every picture had a good showing. Every picture got at least 7 votes.

Here are your finalists

 for the picture contest 2021-2022

#1 Purple Pansy

#2 Pink Orchid cactus

#3 Pink Dancing Shirley Poppy

Right now

Spring is the time when there are too many things to do with the garden. I think this might be true even if I did not have a full time job.

The outside garden is out there needing immediate care. Maybe half the garden is raked off, allowing the early bulbs to shine. 

Actually I wrote that Saturday morning. 

I filled up 13 of those bags yesterday. That was in additional to having all three big city cans filled.

I figure I have maybe 15 more bags to go, and then I will be done.

The inside garden sometimes gets forgotten, which, in the case of some seedlings, can be fatal. There are the established house plants that do need watering. The seedlings are still...well they are still little and as such somewhat fragile. If you forget about them for 4-5 days they may be toast. What should really happen is that you have 1-2 days in the week when it is too wet/cold to do much outside. Every little corner of the seedling world needs to be inspected at least every other day.

On the positive note I have 75 nice poppy plants, all getting into bigger pots. Julia reminds me that when they are in bigger pots they take up more room. So some have moved to the garage, as a staging area for going outside during the day. At night it could be cold and there are critters.

Did you notice that some of the plants have buds? Those would be the early Iceland poppies. I had blooming potted Iceland poppies last year. I am not yet cold enough to pinch back the buds to promote plant growth.

Iceland poppies last until late June. What I do not know is whether that is a temperature thing or an age thing.  We shall perhaps see this year.

Let me talk about snowdrops. These wonderful pictures were from early in the week.

I love how each snowdrop makes a little warm pocket, holding back the snow.

The snow did not last long. By about Monday afternoon it was almost all gone.

In this next picture you see a very special snowdrop, one with a real name. Wendy's Gold is the name.

It was discovered probably in some churchyard in England by a person named Wendy. It has a yellow nob at the top of the flower. 

This past week was really rather remarkable. All week it was warm, with Thursday getting to 71 degrees. 

Look at this progression of pictures of one part of the swirly bed in the back yard.

Sunday March 13

Tuesday March 15

Wednesday March 16

Thursday March 17

Change happens quickly, when it is warm. I sometimes want to go out and just tell the garden to slow down.

By midweek the tommasianus crocuses had started to bloom. That brought the bees out. I should really get a few hundred more of those early crocuses.

So many wonderful pictures. I do love the brown background with early spring pictures.

The bees did arrive right after the crocuses opened. 

These lovely little crocuses are planted all along the edge of Fairview Street. I mixed them in with the little iris. They are all blooming now.

By the way, there are two kinds together because I got so many crocuses

Here is an aconite clump. They do clump up after 3-4 years.

Amidst the yellow and white of the aconite and snowdrops, the first blue arrived. These are the early scilla or squill. In another several weeks they will be the dominant flower. They will end just about time for bluebells. I so remember Christopher being so excited about the very first blue flower.

I do like to look closely at any square foot of garden. I look to see how many different plants are growing so close to each other.

Julia's  recipe

Baked white fish with scallions and cucumber sauce 

The link to the website with all of Julia's recipes is

https://mearskitchen.wordpress.com/

I have a lot of fish in my freezer. It is high quality, and it is good for you (me). I do like to find new ways to prepare mild white fish, and here is one from NYT. As usual, I switched it up a bit to reflect what I had on hand. 

The ingredients:

1 lb. or so white fish (I had rockfish);

1 bunch scallions;

3 tablespoons olive oil;

1-1/2 teaspoon soy sauce;

1 teaspoon fish sauce;

1 cup good plain yogurt;

1 cup diced English cucumber;

1/2 teaspoon smushed garlic;

1 lemon (for zest and juice);

salt and pepper;

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes.

I turned the oven on to 450 degrees.

Then I started, as always, by prepping the vegetables. I clean the scallions and cut an inch or two from the tops of the green part and sliced those green stems into little rings. I ended up with about 3 tablespoons.

I sliced the scallions in half lengthwise and then cut the long halves in half again.

I put the long sliced scallions into a bowl and poured 1 tablespoon of olive oil plus some salt on top. 

Next I attended to the fish. I cut it into 3 pieces (Maggie joined us for dinner) and put the fish pieces on a lined rimmed baking sheet.

Then I mixed the fish sauce and soy sauce together and brushed most of it over the fish. Then I sprinkled a little salt and pepper on top and put the fish in the oven for about 3 minutes.

After the timer went off, I took the pan out and spread the scallions pieces onto the pan. 

I poured the rest of the fish sauce.soy sauce mixture onto the fish.

In future, I will brush all of the mixture onto the fish at the beginning.

I put the pan back in the oven and set the timer for 8 minutes. 

While the fish and scallions were cooking, I made the yogurt sauce by dicing the cucumber and smushing the garlic and zesting the lemon.

I plopped the cucumbers into a bowl, followed by the yogurt, the garlic and the lemon zest. I juiced the lemon and added the juice as well. Maybe 2 or 3 tablespoons of juice. It was a small lemon.

I did not add fresh dill or mint to the sauce because I did not have fresh dill or mint. I am not a big fan of fresh dill anyway. 

When the timer went off (after 8 minutes), the fish was opaque and the scallions were beginning to brown. I put the fish and scallions on a serving plate, dolloped a dollop of yogurt sauce onto each piece of fish and finished with the scallion bits and some red pepper flakes. 

It may take you a little longer if your fish is thicker.

We served it with couscous and asparagus and salad and berries with yogurt. There was extra sauce in a bowl, which was spooned onto couscous and asparagus.

I don't know about leftovers because we ate it all. 

Next time, I will use more scallions. Scallions shrink when cooked, not as badly as spinach but still. I had rockfish. Cod would be good or flounder or halibut or sole. Any mild thin-nish white fish. 

Odds and Ends

Julia is away in Maine this week, visiting Katie and family. Spring has not yet come to Maine. I do not   quite understand why.  It does not seem colder than Iowa. If one had to travel I think going from place to place where Spring had just arrived would be the best. You would go to the South in February and then go to Maine in late May.

Bob sent me this link to someone's favorite Botanical gardens. 

https://www.thediscoverer.com/blog/10-botanic-gardens-you-cant-miss-in-the-u-s/XvHyVpKgiwAG5ath?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1475452965

We have been to the one in Denver, the one in Washington, and the one in NYC. The list left off Longwood gardens outside Philadelphia and the one in Chicago.  I do so look forward to getting to some of those places once traveling happens.

When I work in the garden I try to mix up the things I am doing. I give myself a break from raking to do something else. Yesterday I transplanted the first aconite. I move the ones that grow in the path to someplace without that color.

Perhaps in any garden micro climates exist. In our yard the backyard is on the south side of the house. It always is a week or two ahead of the front yard. 

That is it for this week. It is still dark. Today promises to be a nice day.

Perhaps you know my closing thought. It is an every present thought, even as we find the glory in  flowers.

Pray for peace.

After you are done, pray some more. 

Philip