April 2, 2023- a wild ride- Hello April

We certainly had a wild ride in Iowa City at the end of this week. Actually, as I think about it, Friday was the end of the month of March.

There were tornados in the area Friday. Iowa City was spared but there was damage to property in Hills (10 miles south of town) and Coralville. These had been predicted for days. The public schools even closed several hours early, in anticipation. (The storms arrived about 4:30.)

I think everyone in Iowa still has the derechio imprinted on our brains. This made storms all the more immediate. (The derechio was in August of 2020. Julia and I can remember that year easliy. Maisie was born on the fourth day we were without power.

But when the storms were through the area, there was this faint rainbow. (Rainbows are mostly not allowed at this point by the Governor, at least to be viewed by children under the age of 15.)

Then Friday night there was basketball. The University of Iowa womens team won their game in a stunning upset. They played in the Final Four. The other team was the top ranked team from South Carolina. Iowa now play for the national championship today.

I stayed up and watched the entire game, which was rare for me. However Iowa only gets that far every 30 years. I figured if I missed it there would not be a next time for a long time. 

One last vote

Before I talk about the garden, I thought I would give you one last voting opportunity. 

These are all winners from past contests.

#1 Pink Waterlily from 2008

I have started to clean the pond. That is a constant task each spring. It accumulates leaves over the winter and the water is rathy icky. actually it becomes good water to use with new plants. I assume it is filled with some sort of nutrients. It needs to be cleaned so I can add the fish and tadpoles.

#2 Orange Coneflower from 2021

The coneflowers remain mostly asleep at the moment. So many things are showing up every day. Yesterday I saw some trillium that had just emerged. Do deer like trillium? So many garden subjects lead back to the deer question.

Pink Shirley Poppy from 2022

Shirley poppies will be a read centerpiece in this year's garden. I started them from seed about the first of February. I must have 2 dozen good sized plants at this point, along with maybe 150 little ones. I must remember that I cannot really put them in the ground until May.

The five that are listed as being "gray"  are nice sized and look good at this point.

I take the larger ones outside during the day, returning them to the garage each evening.

#4 Monsella tulips from 2020

The Monsella tulips are up a few inches at this point. I sprayed them the other day. 

#5 Red Poeny from 2021

I have not seen this peony yet this spring. I have seen some of the peony seedlings, must will be entering their third spring at this point. 

Which of these past winners do you like best? 
I guess I like voting because it tells me that someone out there reads the blog. I do so appreciate the comments. 

Right Now

The garden is exploding. What can I tell you. There is something new each day. You just have to look for it.

The first daffodil bloomed yesterday.

In that daffodil picture you can see the little blue silla, or squill. They are appearing everywhere.

This picture does not do them justice. I will try this coming week to say more about this wonderful flower.

Blue is good. The scilla will be followed by bluebells. I have seen them this last week. In fact I potted some up yesterday for the back driveway sale.

There are other little spring bulbs showing up this time of year.

This is a late blooming crocus, which was Christopher's favorite when he met the spring garden in 2021.

Another late blooming crocus.

A purple iris reticulata.

This is the pink chiondoxa. Those are little dwarf iris next to the flower. They look pretty good for later this month.

This is a puschkinia, sometimes called white squill.

This crocus has perhaps the best color.

Julia's recipe

Spicy Pork Chops

This recipe comes from Better Homes and Gardens, which is not always a good resource, but then again sometimes it is. This is a one-pan-in-the-oven recipe. The prep is straightforward and fast, although there is a bit of marinating time. We like pork, we like fast and we like spicy; this recipe delivered.

The ingredients:

2 boneless pork loin chops, 8 oz each;

4 cups or so spinach;

1/2 cup (or more) sliced onion;

1 apple (or two), cut into 1/12s (wedges);

3 tablespoons gochujang sauce;

1-1/2 tablespoons ketchup;

1 tablespoon soy sauce;

1/2 tablespoon smushed garlic;

1 tablespoon salad oil;

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil; and

salt and pepper. 

No idea how the salad oil got into the picture. No-stick spray, on the other hand, is useful here. 

First I made the sauce/marinade by mixing the gochujang, ketchup, say sauce, smushed garlic and sesame oil in a bowl. I added the pork chops and flipped them over so they were coated with the sauce. 

They needed to sit for 30 minutes. The recipe said marinate for 30 minutes to 10 hours. Weird range.  

A word about gochujang. It's a Korean  fermented chili paste. It's kind of sweet and kind of hot. I think it is available in commerce. If you can't get it and still want to give this recipe a shot, try another kind of chili paste and maybe a bit more ketchup. 

While the meat was sitting, I cleaned and sliced the onion (into wedges) and washed and cored the apple, which I also cut into wedges. 

I turned the oven on to 400 degrees. 

Next time, I will use more onion (the while onion rather than 1/2 of it) and 2 medium apples. Any kind of good eating apple will be good, but I would not use Granny Smith because they take too long to soften. 

After the marinating time was up, I took the pork chops out of the marinade onto a plate. 

Then I added the tablespoon of salad oil to the marinade in the bowl and stirred it up. After that, I added the onions and apples to the marinade for a few minutes. 

I sprayed a 9" x 13" pan and put the onions and apples into the pan with all of the marinade. Then I put the pan into the oven for about 15 minutes. At that point, I took the pan out of the oven and plopped the pork chops down in the middle of the pan. I sprinkled each chop with about 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.

I put the pan back in the oven for another 15 minutes. I used an instant thermometer to check the chops and took the next step when the pork read 135 degrees. 

I pulled the oven shelf out and piled about 4 cups of spinach on top of the pork and veggie/fruit. 

The spinach wilted some pretty quickly and then the dish was done. 
 

We served the dish with orzo to serve as a base to put the pork and vegetables on.  Plus salad and berries with yogurt.

If you want to feed 4 people, double everything and use a rimmed baking sheet. 

As I said above, I think more onion and apples would be good, and I will use more next time. 

The BH&G people suggested using carrots. If you like carrots, feel free. I don't, so I used onion and apples instead. The BH&G people also said to use bone-in center cut pork chops. I think butterflied (that is, boneless) loin chops are better because they cook faster and are more tender. I don't know how this dish would keep (as in leftovers) because we ate it all up. 

Odds and Ends

March is done. It went out as a lion.

It actually was a good month, as the early spring garden seemed to last a long time. Here are the temperatures for March for the last 3 years.

When you compare the years, 2023 stood out as not having days over 60. It is those early 70 degree temperatures that really accellerate the garden.

0 days over 60 in 2023

8 days over 60 in 2022

7 days over 60 in 2021

2023

2022

2021

That is the end of the blog for today. It is such a busy time. Outside I am finishing garden cleanup. (It really never ends.) I am potting plants up for the garden sale. (We have already raised over $400.) Yesterday I potted up hellebores, bluebells, cypress spurge, and pulmonaria. I just wander around looking for prospects. It is the time of year when you can through plants in a pot. When you give them some nice pond water, they are just fine.

Inside, even before it is light out, I have to tend to the seedlings. I have some coleus growing. I discovered last year that they will start from seed easily. 

We survived the tornado scare. Others were not as fortunate. That always puts a little damper on ones relief. 

So we forward, trying to do a little each day to help this world.

Pray for peace, and reconciliation. The rainbow may be faint, but it was there, in Iowa. It was a promise of better times. 

Philip