June 17, 2018 I have no complaints

It was just a week ago that I was complaining about the lack of rain. I was spending too much time watering everything.
Well...
I have stopped complaining. Actually for the third time in the last month, we had a good rain while I was completely asleep.
It was last Saturday night, after the blog had gone to press.
I got up on Sunday morning to find out we had a very good rain that night. It then continued to rain for quite some time into Sunday. We had a church picnic scheduled for Sunday. That probably must have made it rain.
We had a good time at the picnic nonetheless. We were in the Coralville City Park shelter, watching the baby ducks perform in the rain.

Thursday we had another prolonged rain. It was one of those gentle rains gardeners and farmers dream about.

Between the two rains, according to the weather data accumulated by Iowa State University, we had over...count them up...5 inches of rain. As measured by my buckets I do not think it was quite that much. But even I think it was over 3.5 inches for the week.

So the only use the hose had this week was to sprinkle Christopher, on Saturday when the temperature got above 90.



Between getting the garden ready for the Project Green show next Saturday, and having Christopher and family visiting, I will sleep well tonight.
Actually I will probably be up at 4:30 to be out in the garden by 5:15.
The other reason for that early start to the garden day is that it is hot again. 95 is the ballpark for the last two days and then next two. It is suppose to cool off somewhat for next weekend,
Yesterday we went and found some discounted coleus. My they can be the splash you need in some areas that are lacking of color.

Actually the Asiatic lilies have started and the first daylilies opened. I think it is going to be a splendid year for daylilies. I do not think the Green people will see it. I will make sure they know to come back in two weeks.



Here are some of the Asiatic lilies. I do appreciate how they can stand up by themselves.

This lovely lily is at least related to the tiger lilies. It has those spots and makes seeds up and down the stem.

The butterfly weed is blooming, adding a wonderful touch of bright orange to places in the garden.

I got a flat of quite nice moss roses. They are now in with the short iris and various succulents.

Here is a section with various succulents and those moss roses

This is the first daylily to bloom. I am not sure of its names. I am trying to get my hosta labeled. I will work on the daylilies after that.

Here are more Asiatic lilies. These are called Lollypop.

There were three waterlilies blooming today. Two were hiding.

Julia's Recipe

Chicken Pasta Pesto

I am not sure where this dish came from, but we have been making it for quite a while. It is very easy if you have pesto on hand, either some you made yourself in the summer when there is fresh basil all around or some you bought. Apparently Buitoni is the ticket for store-bought. Of course, I am not a purist (although I make my own pesto) because I freeze it, and it loses its vibrant green color when frozen. So take your pick: store-bought or homemade and frozen.

Here are the players, mostly: baked chicken breasts (grilled would be fine too. Or poached/sauteed skinless boneless for that matter), 1 lb. of bow tie pasta, 1 cup of pesto, and some olive oil. Not shown: salt, pepper, parmesan cheese.

First, I baked the bone-in chicken breasts (sprinkled liberally with salt and a bit of pepper), in a 375 degree oven for about 1 hour. The chicken breasts weighed in at more than 2 lbs total! Some kind big well developed chickens at my local co-op. Grilling or poaching would be faster.

While the chicken breasts were cooling off, I brought a big pot of water to a boil and added some salt and then added the box of bow ties. I cooked according to the box, but really you just taste.

I heated up the pesto in a little skillet with some olive oil, so it was not cold.

When the pasta was done, and before I drained it, I ladled out some pasta water in case the pesto was too thick (which it was, as it turned out).


Next I cut up the chicken into biggish bite-sized pieces, about 1" square.

After I drained the pasta, I put it back in the pot, added the chicken, added the pesto and stirred. Pesto (at least in my experience) is sometimes gloppy and uncooperative in terms of spreading around and coating everything. So I added a little pasta water until the consistency was where I wanted it to be.

Stirring.

Then I turned the pot's contents out into the attractive serving bowl and that was it.

I will warn you: you will probably need to salt the dish on the plate. Somehow it always seems to be under-seasoned.

Here it is, on the plate, with some extra parmesan.

This recipe makes a lot. Feel free to cut the recipe in half.

Odds and Ends

I am still waiting for most of the red caladium to sprout. I have two spaces waiting for them. In a few places in the garden I think I might post signs saying "future home of red caladium".

The night blooming cereus has some very tiny buds at the moment. I think maybe in about a month. Set your watch.

After supper I was checking something on the front porch. Some movement caught my eye, over between the houses, right off the porch. I looked and there was a midsize deer. It was not in our yard but in the neighbors path, next to our yard. I went around behind the house. I certainly did not want to chase the deer into your yard. Coming up from behind the house I chased it back to the street and away the deer went.
I will put out more deer repellant tomorrow.
Whew...
Philip