July 10, 2022- the garden is open

Good morning on this cool Sunday morning. 

We have had a lovely weekend, after a rather wet week. After another rain of over an inch, I actually rolled up the hoses. It has been perfect... for pulling weeds.

The garden this weekend has participated in a community "open gardens." For about the third year in a row, the community garden club, Project Green, has arranged to have about 30 local gardens open to the public. It was from 4-8 on Saturday, and will be from 10-2 today (Sunday). 

This of course is a rather strange event for me since our garden is always open. Nevertheless we must have had 125 people visit yesterday over the 4 hours. Mostly these were people who had never been here before.

I got to be the host, even if I refused to wear a tag that said host. That did mean I was on my feet for four hours in a row, talking garden. I was really ready to sit down by the end of that time.

This fours hours came after I had already spend probably 7-8 hours before that weeding and staking, and even deadheading. I mention this later task as daylily season has started, meaning for presentation I need to pick off yesterday's daylilies.

Perhaps the star of the evening was this orchid cactus flower. It has swollen in size which these flowers do right before they are going to bloom. By  8 o'clock it had just started to open. It will be fully open, just for today. I will be interested to see if any of the visitors from yesterday come back today to see the full flower.

This weekend was picked for the open gardens thinking that lilies should be blooming. This was correct. The lilies, but the daylilies and the lilium were grand. 

This  7 foot wonder was in the front yard. It did need some emergency staking yesterday morning after some wind had tried to snap off the top. The top does get heavy when all of the flowers are open. The stake must go all the way to the top.

This is Conca d'oro. It is an orienpet. That is a cross between a trumpet lily and an Oriental lily. When given sufficient sun and a few years to grow, it is just about the most solid stalk I have.

The daylilies were good. 

The coneflowers in their many colors are blooming.

You may see this  rather wonderful flower in the contest this coming winter.

There is so much more to write about. Maybe later today, after the visitors have left, I will write more.

I did take this little video of the front yard. I think I really should do more of them. A still picture of a flower is nice. But it really does not give you a feel for what the garden looks like.

Oops. The video was 2 minutes long. That was too long for the upload. I will do better this week.

Julia's recipe

Sablefish with vegetables

I had not heard of sablefish before becoming a customer of the Sitka Salmon people. I understand it is found in the northern Pacific ocean, Sitka Salmon's fishing grounds. It is a nice mild white fish, sometimes called black cod. It is apparently always sold skin-on. This is okay - salmon is also sold skin-on. Those of us who do not like to eat fish skin can peel it off easily after the fish is cooked. This recipe is from Sitka Salmon. They feel a responsibility to help customers learn tasty ways to use the fish they sell and ship to us inlanders, which I appreciate. I posted two recipes last summer (2021) using sablefish, both kind of tomato-y. This recipe is not tomato-based, and it is very good.

The ingredients:

3/4 -1 lb. of sablefish (or cod or halibut);

1 head of smallish bok choy;

8 or 10 small red potatoes (new potatoes would be very nice);

12 spears or so of asparagus (to make 1-1/2 to 2 cups, sliced);

1/4 cup or so of sliced red onion;

1/2 cup or so of olive oil;

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar;

1-1/2 teaspoon grainy mustard;

salt, pepper and parsley (if you have it).

First, I washed the potatoes and cut them in half. I put a saucepan on the stove, with a good pinch of salt. When the water came to a boil, I added the potatoes and turned the timer on for 5 minutes, to remember to test the potatoes for doneness. It actually took about 8 minutes. 

While the potatoes were cooking, I washed and prepped the rest of the vegetables. I cut the onion into thin half-moons and then cut the half-moons in half. I cut the root end off the bok choy; sliced the stem in half lengthwise and then across into maybe 1 inch pieces and then sliced the leaves, also in about 1 inch pieces. Last, I snapped the ends off the asparagus and cut the spears into 1-2 inch pieces. 

When the potatoes were done, I drained them and set them aside. 

With the veggies prepped, I made the sauce: 1/3 cup of the olive oil, the white wine vinegar and the mustard. I whisked that up. 

Next, the fish. I patted it dry and checked for bones. Sitka Salmon does not remove pin bones, on principle. I do not argue with folks who have principles with regard to pin bones. They sent me a tool - kind of beefed up tweezers which work well. 

When the fish was deboned and dry, I salted and peppered it, and I heated about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a non-stick pan. 

When the oil was shimmering, I added the fish, skin-side down. 

I pressed the fish down, to make for good adhesion in order to crisp the skin. For fish skin eaters, this is a good thing. Less important for those of use who will peel it off. I cooked it on the first side for about 3 or 4 minutes.

Then I flipped the fish over (carefully) and cooked it for about 5 minutes more - until the instant read thermometer hit 135 degrees. Time to reach this stage will vary - 135 degrees is the ticket.

One could also do all of the fish cooking in the oven. At 400 degrees, in a baking dish that has been sprayed with no-stick spray. Again until you get a reading of 135 degrees. 

I put the cooked fish in a wide shallow bowl and covered it with the sauce, to pick up some flavor while awaiting final assembly.

The empty skillet still had a nice coating of oil. If that had not been the case, I would have added 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

I added all of the vegetables (including the parboiled potatoes), along with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and stirred everything around on medium-high heat until the green vegetables looked nice and green, the onion had softened a little and the potatoes had warmed up. Maybe 5 minutes.  

Assembly: I divided the vegetables between two plates, then spooned some of the sauce over the vegetables. Next I divided the fish into 2 portions and nestled the pieces into the center of each plate. Lastly more sauce, then I sprinkled each plate with a little parsley I had on hand. 

On the table. A one-pot (sort of) meal. We ate it all up. Followed by salad and melon. 

If you are feeding 4 people, double everything!

The recipe called for sugar snap peas. I have never actually caught sugar snap peas in their season. Out of season (even if just a bit out of season) sugar snap peas are not good eats. So I used bok choy instead which was very nice. 

Odds and Ends

Gardening is not all fun and games. 

This time of year Japanese beetles arrive. 

They will eat the lilum and the hibiscus.

I did have some deer damage Saturday morning. People asked me why the deer leave the hosta alone. I explained that they have tastier things in the garden, like the daylilies.

When you wander the garden for four hours you see things you have overlooked before.

Yesterday it was these leftover pistils from Asiatic lilies. In this first two pictures they are orange.

Who knew.

Kind of interesting. Kind of odd.

I should close and publish this. It will be another long day I think. 

But it is cool and we exist in quiet Iowa City.

Pray for peace.

And reconciliation.

Philip