October 2, 2022- closing it down and keeping it going

This week we closed down the "farm." That is what we call the city garden plot we have now rented for three seasons.  We closed it because the city kicked us out as of September 30. They needed to turn it over to the contractor who was going to make "improvements." It was an arbitrary date but sometimes dates have to be picked. Actually they are going to run a water line or two into the fenced in area. There were probably 100 plots within the fence, being maybe 12 feet by 20. 

By the way here is why there is the fence. There were three of them, just wondering what was on the other side of the fence. 

In the fall closing a community garden before frost seems wrong. That is just the time when certain vegetables are doing their best. Our peppers were doing well, even without much rain this year.

It made quite a display.

I knew someone who complained about his garden being boring this September. I have made it my mission over the next month to show how that does not have to be the case. Yesterday (Saturday) we visited the Chicago Botanic Gardens. My sister had a booth at a Crafts show there. So we went to Chicago for a short weekend roadtrip. As picture transfer on the road is hard, pictures from Chicago may have to wait. The following two weekends we will be in Maine, see Katie and family. I trust a visit to the Coastal Maine Botanical gardens may be planned.

Between those two place I should find many ideas.

Caladium

These are pictures from past years. I have not grown caladium for some time.

I do know that in my garden next year I will grow caladium. They are colorful right up until frost. I used to get 100 jumbo bulbs each spring. This became a chore as you do have to start the plants indoors in April. And there is the question of where to put them. 2 ideas. First eliminate or move about 1/3 of the hosta. A number can go live in the parkway. In the spaces where there were hosta, go the caladium. In addition the caladium can go the places where tulips. If tulips are considered annuals, then their place can be taken by something else- such as caladium.

Here are pictures of caladium from the past. I need to look at these pictures in February, when it is time to order the bulbs. I would get them about April 1, planting them in 2 quart pots. They would sprout inside. They will not sprout unless the soil temperature is 70 degrees. That can mean June 1 outside. Even 50 pots would take up a lot of space under the lights.

Just a few garden pictures this week.

This sunflower head was from the farm. The City garden suggestion was to put these old heads, with all their seeds, into the garbage, not the yard waste. Apparently the seeds would survive the composting process and yield lots of seedlings.

The bouganvillea always perk up in the fall. 

Epiphyllum hookeri blooms until frost.

One pleasant addition to the garden this year were a few larkspur plants. Some of them bloomed all season long. They are definitely on the "keepers" list as well as the "more" list.

This clump of colchicums just continues to bloom.

My neighbor Bob commented that with a sunrise about 7 it is much more visible. Yesterday there was just this wonderful color of blue with orange and pink.

Julia's recipe

                                   Sweet potato praline pie

Sometimes an odd piece of produce is the incentive to try something new. Sort of a variant of necessity is the mother of invention. In this case, I had 2 nice organic sweet potatoes with no purpose in sight. I had intended them to go with roasted salmon, but then I roasted some tiny farmer's market potatoes instead and that was that. I remembered that I have found that pumpkin and winter squash and sweet potatoes are pretty much interchangeable in desserts, which got me to thinking about sweet potato pie. I found a recipe (in an old cookbook from 1964, called The Spice Cook Book) for sweet potato pie with a praline topping and again, that was that. 

The ingredients:

1 9" single pie crust store-bought or home-made or in my case Philip-made;

1 cup mashed (and/or riced) sweet potato;

1/3 cup white sugar;

1/3 cup brown sugar;

2 eggs;

3/4 cup hot milk;

1/4 teaspoon regular salt;

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger;

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon;

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg; and

1/8 (scant) teaspoon cloves.

And for the topping: 1/2 brown sugar; 1/4 soft butter; and 3/4 cup medium-fine chopped pecans.

First I dealt with the sweet potatoes, baking them in a 350 degree oven for maybe 30 or 40 minutes. The sweet potatoes are done when a skewer goes in and out of the yams with no resistance. I peeled them (the skins just slipped off in strips), mashed the pulp with a manual masher and then riced them. A lot of fussing, but easier than peeling and dicing and steaming. I mash and rice sweet potatoes because if you take a mixer to them, they get gluey. Believe me. Something about the nature of the starch in sweet potatoes. I set the sweet potatoes aside. Two normal sized sweet potatoes yielded just about 1 cup. 

Then I measured 3/4 cup of milk into a little saucepan and heated it over medium-low heat, keeping an eye on it so it didn't boil. 

Next I mixed the 2 kinds of sugar and the spices and salt in a big bowl. 

And I heated the oven to 375 degrees.

Then I whisked in the eggs and the sweet potatoes, followed by the hot milk.  

When the mixture was smooth, I poured it into the pie crust, and put the pie in the oven for about 30 minutes.

While the pie was in the oven, I chopped up the pecans with this monster cleaver. I creamed the butter and brown sugar and then added the peacan bits. 

After 30 minutes in the oven, the pie was partially done - set around the outside and kind of jiggly in the middle. 

I sprinkled the pecan topping over the entire surface of the pie. 

More sprinkling. 

Sprinkling accomplished.

Back into the oven for another 30 minutes. At the end of that time, the pie filling was completely set and the topping had sort of melted together.  

Pie with a bowl of shipping cream because all pumpkin-ish pies taste better with whipped cream. All desserts taste better with whipped cream, actually.

Here it is. The pie sets up and slices nicely. The filling is less sweet than typical pumpkin pie, and the topping is sweet and a bit crunchy. 

The only downside: in order to have this pie for dessert on Saturday night, you need to have made it on Friday or at the latest on Sautrday morning. Hot sweet potato pie would not work. 

But it is worth the effort. And it does deal with any unwanted sweet potatoes you may have lying around. 

Odds and Ends

One reason the garden has not been at its best this fall is the lack of moisture.

We had one good rain 4 weeks ago. There was a decent rain 2 weeks ago. None since. We were less than average for September, falling further behind for the year. 

I water a little but at some point you give up parts of your garden that are beyond the reach of the regular hose.

Speaking of hoses, I just got a 50 foot length of that new to the market magic hose. I will try to get you a picture. It is black and you can wade it up and store it in a bucket. It then expands to full length apparently without crinkling. I am not ready to get rid of the ones I have used in the past, however.

It does occur to me that next year I could put it in the car and take it with me to the "farm." I could attach it to the new water sources and keep the farm watered. The last 3 seasons I have had to use watering cans and carry the water from 100 yards away.

There are lower 30's in the ten day forecast. Next weekend. I think some plants will need to come inside before we leave next weekend for a week in Maine. I think the orhids and hoyas will get that special inside trip first. I need to remember that a 32 when forecast for Iowa City refers to those "low lying areas."

Sorry for being a little late with this post. We are on the road, were up past out bedtime and slept in a little.

Pray for a better world, and think about what you can do towards that end.

Philip