AUGUST MASH-UP—PART ONE

30 Tuesday Aug 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in Uncategorized

WITH SUMMER COMES MANY DESIRABLE ACTIVITIES and so the blog posts take a back seat. The photo above is not very exciting, but is of a chore that needed doing. After Grandma T. died, there were lots of plants to be rescued and relocated. These amaryllis belladonna were among them. They have not bloomed for about two years so time to divide. This pile was derived from five or six ‘mother’ bulbs planted in a couple of places and over several years became very crowded. So many bulbs that I gave away most and reset the rest. I also dug up all of the Lenora Pearl (with the help of Simon & Sophia’s hands to make quicker the work and earn fair-going money at the same time) and Saturday Night Live iris and divided them as well. Long overdue!

While the iris were out of the ground and the nasty root-running grass was removed, the groundskeeper (a former cement mason) reset the birdbath on a concrete pad, hoping to keep it level for a few years. Then I reset the Lenora Pearl iris and some of the amaryllis.

Speaking of Belladonnas, that is the name of this beautiful lily that I purchased from B&D Lilies at the flower and garden show. Wonderfully fragrant and sparkling color.

After returning from our last camping trip in July there was plenty of weeding and deadheading to be done in every corner of garden. But, the rewards were visible everyday with an August parade of blooming beauty :

Dahlia ‘Lauren Michele’

Daylily ‘Frans Hals’

Lilium ‘Rexona’ also from B&D

Martagon lilies

Dahlia, variety unknown

And in the vegetable garden:

The brussels sprouts are growing nicely and about 4 feet tall with sprouts forming.

This was a perfect head of ‘Graffiti’ cauliflower.

The flower of ‘Black Bell’ eggplant

A little buttercup squash

Banana peppers

Rescue pears

And, Spartan apples

CHERRIES & APRICOTS—OH MY!

27 Wednesday Jul 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving

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ON SUNDAY MORNING WE WALKED TO THE WEST SEATTLE FARMER’S MARKET in the ‘Junction’ to see what kinds of fruit was available. I found these lovely Gold Rich apricots, bought 4lbs. and decided to put them up poached in wine (using this 2009 NYT recipe; it appeared along with this recipe too ); I had a bottle of Riesling that was deemed too sweet and donated by some friends, so I used it for this recipe substituting 2 cups Riesling for 2 cups of water and left out the brandy. I also added a stip of lemon peel, one whole star anise and a few whole allspice to each jar.

While the apricots processed, I prepared Rainier cherries for a variation on Eugenia Bone’s Cherries in Wine ( she calls for Bings); in place of the red wine I used Rosé and Moscato, and added 1/4 tsp. each of whole coriander seed, white peppercorns, and whole allspice.

They are quite a lovely color. The cherries are late, large and sweet this year.

I might have to make some more zucchini pickles by the weekend–zucchini must be among the fastest growing vegetables!

GARLIC & PICKLES

22 Friday Jul 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in Canning & Preserving, Vegetable garden

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Tags

garlic, harvest, pickles

AFTER 18 DAYS AWAY FROM HOME we returned to garlic ready for harvest and zucchini ready to be pickled.

GARLIC HARVEST was later than normal but there were still plenty of green leaves left on most of the stalks to insure good wrappers when dry and only one variety had started to fall over. I harvested Inchelium (26), two types of hardneck (50), an unknown softneck variety from friends (28), and a dozen Itlaian White, which after three generations are finally to golf ball size. Still left to harvest is Chesnok, (another hardneck type) that looks like it needs another week or so. I lay the garlic on the potting bench for about two weeks to cure before completing the cleaning and trimming for storage. The potting bench is on the north side of the house and protected from rain by wide eaves.

Here’s a look at the vegetable garden; the lettuces and zucchini plants seem to be most vigorous, but everything is doing pretty well in spite of the mixed-up weather.

This is where the zucchini pickles begin. Yesterday I picked enough zucchini from three plants to make the first batch of Bread & Butter style pickles. The variety is Costata, a firm fleshed, ribbed type that held up well for pickles last year.

Step one is the sliced zucchini and onions, salted and covered with cold water and ice cubes for two hours.

This little slicer is the simplest form of a mandoline and is still sharp after forty years of use and a must have to make quick work of slicing zucchini and onions.

I found a use for the garlic scapes: I peeled them and placed one ‘head’ into each jar of pickles.

Five pints of pickles, the first of the season. Now the wait for the cucumbers to really come on so I can make my friend Betty’s dill pickles.

HAVE A GREAT 4TH OF JULY!

04 Monday Jul 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in Celebrations!, July

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ONCE AGAIN WE ARE CELEBRATING JULY 4TH AT LONG BEACH WITH FAMILY & FRIENDS where the greatest 30-mile-long show of fireworks takes place. Hope to capture some great photos tonight and share tomorrow.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SUMMER ROLLS IN

03 Sunday Jul 2011

Posted by backyardnotes in Planting, Travel

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SUMMER FINALLY ARRIVED HERE with fits and starts. One herald of the season is the hatching of tiny yellow spiderlings that bunch up in tight little knots and… then spread out on gossamer threads–everywhere, like the ones above that I captured as the sun was setting.

Another herald of summer is the beginning of the garden tour season. I went to the Wallingford neighborhood on June 6th where I saw something new, the embothrium coccineum, Chilean Firebush (above) a very tall and flamboyantly flowering tree. I was dazzled and saw a second one near the end of the tour and then again on the Whidbey Island Garden Tour at the end of the month!

I saw a couple of interesting garden ideas on the tour.This fence employed a clever use of old garden tools.

And this was an attractive and creative way to recycle old mattress springs.

So dear reader, the garden, garden tours and a bit of travel took precedence over my additions to the blogosphere. I managed to finally plant all my pepper, eggplant and tomato starts after the late harvest of fava beans. The tomatoes went into the ground the latest ever on June 26th!!

Meanwhile, poppies bloomed,