February 11, 2024- Week #12- The Aconite has arrived

It is difficult not to write about the weather.  It has been remarkable. Nice with a dose of concern.

This is from this week.

February 8, 2024

February 8, 2024

It begins to look like we had a winter that lasted 2 weeks. If you look at the temperature maps in the Odd Section at the end of the blog,  maybe winter lasted 10 days.

Wednesday of this last week was sunny and the temperatures set records most places. In Iowa City we officially got to 68 degrees. That was something like 35 degrees above normal. (The normal high is about 32 degrees.) It cooled down so that this weekend it will only be 15 degrees above normal. 

There is as much yardwork to do this weekend as I have time for. And of course the energy.

When I write this on Saturday night I am tired. I raked. I picked up sticks. And I even potted by first plants for the sale. Pots of aconite. I made the first sale for the foodbanks. Year 5 for that venture.

Parts of the yard get cleaned first. Those would be the places with the most aconite and snowdrops. It is such a joy to be out with those new flowers. It is that magical time when something new could be anywhere.

For example...

We saw a crocus on our walk Saturday.  Then in the afternoon I discovered this in the backyard. I think it will bloom on Sunday.

This time of year I am aware of the different zones within a garden. The backyard is south of the house. It warms faster as it gets more sun. There is actually a little bit of snow left in the front.

Last week in the contest for Week 11    

the come back winner was...the Bird of Paradise. 

The picture was 3 votes back after Tuesday. By then usually most of the votes have been cast. But sure enough, the BOP captured most of the last 5-6 votes and edged out the daffodil.

Here was the full vote

This week is Week #12. 

One week more before the playoffs.

#1 A different bloodroot- Snow Cone 

April 15, 2023

This is a hybridized bloodroot. It is called Snow Cone. It was developed by the folks at Joe Pye Weed Garden. 

#2 Black Shirley poppy 

June 1, 2023

You saw the gray Shirley poppy in week #1. This darker one came from that same set of seeds, but is  blacker.

My Shirley poppies, planted on 2-1-24 are coming up. As poppy seeds are so small I have close to 10 seedlings per cell. I started them a month later than in the past. I did that so they will not get to be planting size much before May 1. 

#3 Little yello orchid

  December 12, 2023

This is Dendrobian Regal Vista. This orchid has reliably bloomed now for 2 years, right about the same time.

#4 Fading Cattleya Orchid 

 February 18, 2023

How will this artsy picture do this week. 

This is Artic Snow, after its bloom is done. The flowers  turns brown, and fall off. This one fell off and landed in some interesting sun/shade.

My daughter Maggie liked this picture so much it is in the calendar she makes every year. It was for the month of February. That is a month when normally there is not much going on outside.

#5 Spring composition

 March 15, 2023

The early crocuses, which would be the tommasinianus, or tommies, are just about ready to bloom, now, in 2024. It seemed appropriate to include this picture in the contest. They bloom with the snowdrops and aconite and make some wonderful combinations.

Early spring pictures are good with the brown background. You do not get that in June. Sometimes the leaves and twigs add a nice touch.

Bonus Time

This week I will show you some pictures that did not make the contest.

This next picture was last February 15, 2023.

This year we are a good 2 weeks in front of normal.

However there have been years....Next week

No matter how early spring wants to come, it can be slowed a week or so with a little snow. 

March 25, 2023

Right Now

With the snow gone, the kale is back. It hardly missed a beat. Some were bent from the extra snow from the snowplow. We will see if they straighten out. This one was back from the curb so did not get the extra snow from the plow.

Soon. I do think a second bud may be coming. That of course has to do this whole waiting thing. Maybe that will bloom in May.

This next picture is my orchid that went to the orchid shows 2-3 weeks ago. Next week I will tell you how it did. Hint- it did well.

Julia's recipe

Chard and pasta

I was in the winter blahs, and so I started looking at cookbooks for something new. I came across this recipe in Josh McFadden's Six Seasons cookbook. An unusual set of ingredients (at least for me) plus prep time of less than an hour made it a winner. I think this is the first time I have used swiss chard as a major player in a main course dish. It exceeded my expectations. 

The ingredients:

1/2 box (8 oz.) spaghetti;

1 bunch of swiss chard;

1/2 cup raisins;

1/2 cup pine nuts;

1/4+ cup parmesan cheese;

about 1 tablespoon sliced garlic bits;

2 tablespoons olive oil;

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes;

1 teaspoon wine vinegar of some color;

some salt;

2 tablespoons butter (not shown!)

I cleaned and sliced the garlic and put it in a little bowl.

I put the raisins in a slightly bigger bowl, along with the teaspoon of vinegar and enough warm/hot water to cover the raisins. The raisins need to sit in the water for 15 or 20 minutes to plump up a bit.

Then I cut the ends off the chard and cut the ribs out, separating the ribs from the leaves. 

I cut the ribs into thin slices. My bunch of chard ribs yielded about 1 cup of rib slices. 

Then I sliced the leaves. I gathered up a few leaves at a time and sort of rolled the leaves into messy logs and sliced across. I ended up with  4-1/2 (or so) cups of chard leaf ribbons. 

I put a big pot of water on the stove to boil, adding probably 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt. 

After the vegetable prep was done, I started to cook.

I heated the olive oil in a no-stick skillet and added the garlic and pine nuts. I turned the heat to medium-low so that the pine nuts and garlic would slowly get some color. 

When the garlic and pine nuts were beginning to have a golden color, I added the red pepper flakes and maybe 30 second later, I added the raisins, which I had drained. 

I am betting this is a video of the garlic and pinenuts cooking. Maybe including the excitement of adding more ingredients to the skillet.

When the red pepper flakes were fragrant and everything was mixed together, I added the chard. 

First I added the sliced up ribs and cooked them on medium for maybe 3 or 4 minutes until they had softened a little.

In the meantime, the pasta water had come to a boil, and I cooked the spaghetti until it was just done (I think 7 or 8 minutes for thin spaghetti). I drained it, but first I set aside about 1/2 cup of the cooking water. 

I knew my skillet was not big enough to hold everything, so after I drained the spaghetti, I returned it to its pot and added the butter, cut into little pieces. 

Back to the chard. I added the leaf ribbons. Then I added about 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water, put a lid on the skillet and turned the heat down a bit. 

When the chard leaves were wilted - just a couple of minutes, I added the contents of the skillet to the pot with the spaghetti and mixed it all up. Finally I added about 1/4 cup of the parmesan and mixed again.

I turned dish out into a nice serving dish and sprinkled a little parmesan on top along with a drizzle of  olive oil.

We served the spaghetti with salmon - roasted with a topping of mayonnaise and sambal oelek (a spicy mixture that makes mayo a tasty sauce in an instant). 

Josh McFadden suggests using any leftovers as the basis for a frittata which we are going to do. I bet it will taste very good indeed.

This dish is vegetarian, and it would be fine as a main course. It can be vegan if you substitute margarine for the butter. I think the parmesan could be omitted entirely and no one would notice. I would not omit the raisins or the red pepper flakes. I think you could use other buttery nuts like chopped macadamias or cashews. Not walnuts, which can be bitter and not almonds which are too hard and not peanuts which would be too distinct in flavor. And I don't like hazelnuts in any form.  

Odds and Ends

Here are the temperature maps for Iowa City in January and February, 2024.

First January. 

Here is February

Here was February, 2012. That was the year that most closely resembles this year. We will see how the month plays out this year.

My mother is the person who taught me a lot about gardening. In the early spring she would cut branches of forsythia, and bring them inside. They would then bloom, much earlier than the plant outside. I found a piece of the rhododendron in the front yard that had been broken. The leaves and buds looked fresh. It is now in water over the kitchen sink. We shall see.

In gardening sometimes you just have to try stuff.

The world continues to be nuts. In Iowa City we escape with the University women's basketball team. They have this great player named Caitlin Clark. We have a connection with her which is the Coralville food pantry. For several years she has had a fundraiser for the CFP. 

Pray for peace, and reconciliation. And to get rid of the Republicans in government. 

If you are in Iowa City, come by the garden. Aconite in the spring, which will bloom by the thosands, is something to behold.

The garden is always open. 

Philip