July 17, 2022- it is the time after the party

It has been something of a letdown after the open gardens event of last weekend. I worked  hard to have the garden looking good for the many people who had not visited before. 

I do have to admit that after another 4 hours on my feet, talking to people last Sunday, I was mostly gardened out. The weather was great. Another 125 people must have come through on Sunday. For the entire four hours there were always at least a few people wandering through.

Here are some of  thoughts about the weekend.

There were several frequent questions.

Question: How do you keep the deer from eating the hosta?

Answer:  They prefer to eat the daylilies. 

 
As a matter of fact I have had rather persistent nibbling on the daylilies. Fortunately there are a lot of daylilies, and some are deeper into the beds. The deer do tend to stay on the paths.

Question: Do the plants in pots stay out all winter? 

Answer: No. They come inside.

Question: Where do you put them?' 

Answer:  Wherever there is room.

The star of the weekend event was this flower. It had been about to open on Saturday. Even as a swelling bud it was an attraction.

It was open about an inch, about when the event was ending at 8pm. It then opened about 10pm and remained open all day on Sunday. 

Some people came on Sunday after having been told by friends they had to see this flower. Several came back on Sunday just to see the flower open.

It is high summer, and the lilies are center stage.

The daylilies were particularly good.

This is Purify my Heart. This shows I do not get to pick the names.

This is Bela Lugosi.

This is another picture of Ruby Spider, which is not really a spider daylily.

This is Red Ribbons. It is a spider daylily.

This is a double daylily.

This is Robert Batt, which is the colors of Ruby Spider with a little bit wider flower.

Here are some of the lilium.

This is Pizzazz. I have a bunch of this variety.

The coneflowers, in many colors, have been impressive.

The petals had fallen off this coneflower, leaving this.

Julia's recipe

Gnocchi with tomatoes and red onion

This is a variation on a summer pasta salad, without the mayonnaise and with only a handful of ingredients. I did not grow up with gnocchi, and when I had it in restaurants as an adult, it was always smothered in sauce. This is not smothered. It's good as a side dish with grilled or baked fish or chicken. Simple protein with a flavorful side. Corn and a green salad and some summer fruit would make for a delicious meal. This is a NYT recipe - credit where credit is due.

The ingredients:

1 16 oz. package shelf-stable (or frozen) gnocchi;

some cherry tomatoes, halved (I had about 1-1/2 cups);

some red onion in thin half-moons (I had about 3/4 cup);

about 1/3 cup olive oil;

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (not shown, for some reason) or other flavorful vinegar;

some mint;

some parsley;

some salt and pepper.

If you use frozen gnocchi, you need to defrost ahead of time. Shelf stable can go straight into the frying pan.

You will note the imprecision of amounts. The package of gnocchi is the given, and you will need some oil. Otherwise there is room to vary the supporting players to suit your taste.

   

I heated 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a bit non-stick pan over medium high heat. When the oil was shimmery, I added the gnocchi in a single layer. I left the heat at medium high and let the gnocchi cook for a few minutes. 

Meanwhile, I sliced the tomatoes in half and sliced the red onion into thin half moons. 

When the gnocchi started to brown, I flipped them over and cooked them on the other side. 

I put the cherry tomatoes and onions in a nice serving bowl and chopped up some parsley and mint using the herb-cutting scissors that I got as a birthday present. 

I poured the toasted gnocchi into the serving dish and stirred it up. Then I added the vinegar and another 2 tablespoons of olive oil and tossed that together. Then I added some salt and pepper to taste and sprinkled the herbs on last. 

On the table. This is a fast dish to put together, and as I said at the outset, good with simply prepared fish or chicken. We had it with salmon - baked with olive oil and salt and pepper. 

We did not finish all the gnocchi and they were good for lunch. 
 

Odds and Ends

It was good that the garden event last weekend took place when it did.  This past week has been the start of the time when the Sycamore tree drops its bark. It has made for a rather messy back yard.

One person who came to see the orchid cactus flower came back later with a wonderful contribution for the on going plant sale. It is Amorphophallus riviera v. konjac. It is sometimes called the Voodoo lily. 

Here are a few pictures.

Here is the University of Wisconsin article.

https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/voodoo-lily-amorphophallus-konjac/

Jim brought me 6 of these plants for the sale. They were in various sizes and stages. I will buy one myself. The plants looks amazing. They are known for having a big flower...that smells really bad. What a selling point. 

Farm Report- from our little city sunny garden plot

We have a few sunflowers that are volunteers from last year's single plant. (They give you the same space if you want it.) They must be 8 feet tall, with trunks that would stand up to almost any wind.

Everything else is doing quite well, what with adequate moisture for the last three weeks. The pig weed continues to grow. I am convinced that the garden soil at these plots must be about 1% pig weed seed. But they do pull up easily in the soil that is still good from the original tilling in May.

In front is the row of basil, waiting to become pesto at some point. To the left are some mighty big broccoli plants, someone brought to the sale which did not sell.  

The broccoli is starting to produce.

I can say with some assurance that I am the only person in these plots growing amaryllis. One even is going to bloom.

Next weekend we are off to visit Chincoteague, Virginia for a week. Chincoteague is a little island off the part of Virginia over there by the ocean. We have missed going there the last two years. We had visited every year before that for over 40 years. My father was born there and lived there until he went off to college. We stay in the family home, and even sleep in the room where he was born. That would have been just over 100 years ago, in 1921.

We will try to give you something of a blog the next two weeks, but our access to technology may be limited. Do not worry if you do not hear from us for several weeks.

Continue to pray for peace. And reconciliation. And for our planet. And to get those crazies out of government.

Actually, try to do something that will make those things more likely. 

Philip