Currently in the 40s-50s in ND, more so we desperately need rain. Trees haven’t even began to bud yet.
I'm losing time here since I always start my seeds inside around mid April.
I may have to purchase my tomato plants and cucumbers from a local nursery this year.
I planted a Rio Samba tea rose, a Good as Gold tea rose, some mixed calibrachoa and petunias, geraniums, and sowed some wildflower seeds. Not done yet. Going to visit a “second chance” market to buy veggie starts. Treated lawn for weeds. Collected first compliment.Yay May!
What happend to my May Day Ping?.........It got pulled.........
“May” you all have a good and productive May! :-)
Garden status: 4 Sugar Kiss and 4 Honeydew melons tranplanted outdoors. 3 tomato plants transplanted. Lots of peppers and more tomatoes ready to go out.
Yay...May. I am planting tomato and basil seeds under grow lights today. Here it really is not worth planting anything outsude except usual radishes, greens till about July 4th. I am babying two tomatoe starts outside with water walls.
I have some neighbors here in central coastal Florida that have had lots of tomatoes and some cucumbers.
With unrelenting sun, it’s hard for me to keep plants alive. I’ll rip out my vegetable plants in about a week. I’ve only had a very modest yield of small tomatoes.
The rabbits are thriving. Fortunately, they are sticking to a diet of grass.
Good Morning! :-)
Is there a better month for beautiful flowers than May?
Irises and Henry Ford roses I brought into the house:
Hibiscus "Rum Runner" with geraniums in the background:
A cactus I've had for over 30 years that is blooming for the first time - I didn't know it even bloomed:
Double hibiscus, have no idea of the name, if came off the $1 table - back when Lowe's had a $1 table:
Rose, "Rock and Roll":
Exhausted after helping out in the garden:
Gardeners are God's special (tenth of) 1%!
Rain, rain, and more rain here in the Middle of Misery this past week. Need to mow the grass but I don’t want to make a big mess and/or get the Kubota stuck, so for now I’m just watching it grow an inch every day. Not ideal, but it beats hell out of everything being buried in snow and ice.
My tomato plants are going nuts in the greenhouse. Two weeks ago they were <6” tall. The Brandywines are 2’ tall now and the others are trying to catch them.
I had intended to re-pot the pepper plants I bought last weekend but my supply of 1-gallon nursery pots has been depleted. I didn’t really want to do it, but I need some pots and I need em now, so I shelled out $17 for 60 of them from Amazon. They should be here tomorrow so with any kind of good luck I’ll at least get something worthwhile accomplished in the garden this weekend in spite of the rain and mud.
I’ve got a jug of aquatic-rated surfactant on the way too. Running the weed whacker in the rip-rap stone on my pond dam isn’t my idea of a good time so I’m going to attempt chemical control this summer and see how that works out.
Just like clockwork, the orioles arrived at my feeder today. Three out of the past four years they arrived on May 1st, last year it was on May 2nd. (They must have encountered lots of construction traffic)
HELP!
I have a hodgepodge of garden space at my home. I plant wherever I can and usually get good results. Is there a program that can help me design my growing areas and make note of what I am growing and when I started my plants?
Heirloom Tomato Tart
An easy, elegant summer dish that showcases heirloom tomatoes in flaky puff pastry, w/ buttery brie. Add salad greens for main course or serve small slices as an appy.
Ing 8 oz puff pastry (17.3 oz sheet), 12 oz beefsteak and heirlooms, in ¼" thick rounds K/s/p 2 tbl Dijon 4 oz Brie, sliced ¼ inch thick 1 tbl capers, 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves 1 tbl evo
Directions Preheat oven 400°F, w/ rack in center. On a lightly floured parchment, roll pastry into 9 1/2x11 1/2" rectangle (1/8 inch thick). Trim edges straight. Refrigerate 10 min. Salt tomatoes with salt; arrange on paper towels. Top with more paper towels (to absorb excess liquid).
Score edges of pastry, creating a 1/2-inch border. Spread mustard inside border, then top with cheese, tomatoes, capers, and thyme, overlapping tomatoes slightly. Drizzle with oil, s/p, and bake 15 min. Reduce temp to 375°; bake golden and cooked through, 25 to 35 min. Sprinkle with thyme sprigs and serve warm or room temp, with greens. Originally appeared: Martha Stewart Living, July/August 2021
Tennessee Onions
Must use sweet onions caramelized w/ gooey, melted cheeses. Rich, tasty, comforting Southern side.
Ing 1 tsp ea dried thyme/parsley, garlic powder 1⁄2 tsp dried oregano, 1⁄4 tsp mustard powder 1⁄4 c unsalted butter 3-4 lge sweet onions (Vidalia) 1 cup ea sharp cheddar, mozzarella, shredded 1⁄2 cup Parm
Steps Mix thyme, parsley, gar/powder, oregano, s/p, mustard powder. Set aside. Slice peeled onions into 1/4" thick rounds. Separate into individual rings and add to bowl withspices. Toss to coat, then arrange in Buttered 9×13" b/dish. Cover onions w/ thin slices or small cubes butter; sprinkle w/ cheddar, mozzarella, and Parm. Bake 350 deg for 35-40 min; onions are tender and cheese is melted, bubbly, starting to brown on top. For an extra crispy finish, broil 2-3 min. Remove to counter; cool 5 min.
Notes Okay to overlap onions; distribute ing evenly on top. For best taste, use real butter. Shred cheese from block for best melty finish. Try Gouda or Gruyere. Add red pepper flakes for heat.
Potato Gratin Stacks / made in Muffin Tins
Potatoes, cream, cheese, garlic and butter; great as a side, OR party finger food.
Ing 2.4 lb starchy large long potatoes 2 tbl butter 2 minced gar/cl, 1/2 c h/cream, 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or 3/4 tsp dried) 12 gruyere slices to fit muffin tin 3/4 c gruyere (or other melting cheese), shredded
Instructions Melt butter on med; lightly brush muffin tins. (rest butter is for sauce) Cream sauce: Into butter, add garlic; 20 sec. Add h/cream, salt. Simmer 30 sec, then hold offheat; keep warm.
Peel potatoes. Trim base flat. Then cut cylinders to fit muffin tin; get 1/10" slices using mandolin or sharp knife. Place slices into tin halfway up sides; make neat stacks. Drizzle each w/ 1 tsp cream mixture – use 1/2 mixture.
Top w/ cheese slice then more potato slices so the height is about 1/3" above rim (they sink once baked). Drizzle w/ rest cream; sprinkle w/ thyme (reserve some thyme for topping). Bake 350 deg 40 min loosely foiled; potato is cooked through. Test w/ sharp knife tip. Remove from oven, sprinkle with shredded cheese; bake sans foil 10 min til golden. Sprinkle w/ thyme. Set 5 min then plate. Use tablespoon to scoop them out.
Recipe Notes: use starchy potatoes; they breakdown when cooked, get nice and fluffy inside. The layers won’t stick w/ waxy potatoes. Get long large ones that cut into cylinders. Any melting cheese works, though gruyere's flavor and melting qualities are best. Swiss is a close second, followed by Colby and Monterey Jack, then cheddar; no mozzarella because it doesn’t have much flavor.
Make-ahead. Bake, then freeze (defrost before reheating) or refrigerate; heat thru reheat 350F 10 min.
#1 Marine Daughter came over and we set up some temporary electric fencing so we can manage the horses' pasture grass a little better. After that we hung a 16' pipe gate that's been leaned up against the arena fence for way too long.
I made a lap around the pond dam with loppers, saw, and Tordon RTU - cut/treated all of the woody sprouts/blackberries/etc. that didn't need to be there.
Yesterday I got the tractors out and did some work in the new garden patch. Hauled some more soil in from my stockpile to level out some spots that had settled a bit, then ran over the whole thing with the tiller. I set the last ten asparagus crowns and covered those. Most of the 40 that I planted a couple weeks ago have sprouted. I added a couple or three inches of compost on top of those.
I moved the tomato plants from the greenhouse to the garden Friday evening and was able to get four of them in the ground yesterday. I tied a couple cut-off cattle panels to the perimeter fence to serve as a trellis and stuck some pole bean seeds in the dirt along that. Still have a dozen tomato plants, a dozen peppers, and eight eggplant that need to go in the ground. I hope to get a good bit of that done after I'm released from salt mine detail this afternoon.
Mrs. Augie planted this clematis three or four years ago. It didn't do much for the first few years but this spring it decided the time was right to put on a proper display. I'll need to replace the trellis it's growing on with a larger one after it goes dormant this fall.
I found this cluster of coral mushroom a couple weeks ago while I was in the woods looking for morels. Corals are safe for human consumption and quite delicious, but they're so doggone fragile that it's almost impossible to get home with them intact. So I always leave them alone to do their wild mushroom thing.
Outrage at Kamala’s trip to ritzy Polo Bar flanked
by tax-funded cops after trashing Trump on economy
Polo Bar Menu-—A Ralph Lauren NY Restaurant-—dinner $150 per person
Starters
Oysters* Choice of Kumamoto or Montauk Pearls
1/2 Dozen $24.00
Shrimp Cocktail
with Bombay Cocktail Sauce
$25.00
Crudités
Fresh Vegetables with Homemade Ranch
$17.00
Pigs In a Blanket
with Spicy Mustard
$14.00
The Polo Bar Crab Cake
Thinly Crusted & Served with Mustard Bell Pepper Sauce
$22.00
Tuna Tartare*
Avocado, Mustard Greens & Crispy Shallots with Soy Ginger Dressing
$22.00
Crispy Calamari & Zucchini
Pickled Jalapeño Tartar Sauce & Roasted Tomato Sauce
$20.00
Caviar & Fingerling Potatoes*
1 ounce Golden Osetra with Crème Fraîche
Soups & Salads
Gazpacho
Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Onion, Watermelon & Cucumber
$15.00
Watermelon Salad
Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, Onion, Mint, Jalapeno & Feta with Vinaigrette
$16.00
Kale Salad
Freshly Grated Pecorino & Croutons
$16.00
Chopped Vegetable Salad
Cucumber, Tomatoes, Avocado, Asparagus, Green Beans, Hearts Of Palm, Radishes, Black Olives & Vermont Creamery Feta with Lemon Oregano Dressing
$15.00
The Polo Bar Salad
Greens, Avocado, Tomatoes, Cucumber & Shaved Radishes with Mustard Vinaigrette
$18.00
BLT Salad
Iceberg, Cherry Tomatoes, Grilled Berkshire Bacon & Oregon Blue Cheese with Herb Yogurt Dressing
$18.00
Grilled Lobster Salad
Arugula, Green Beans, Avocado, Fennel & Citrus Vinaigrette
$32.00
Summer House Salad
Heirloom Tomatoes, Red Onion, Spicy Arugula & Rogue River Blue Cheese with Sherry Vinaigrette
$18.00
Classics
Ralph’s Corned Beef Sandwich
Melted Swiss & Horseradish Coleslaw on Marble Rye
$24.00
Veal Milanese
Arugula, Fennel & Cherry Tomatoes
$42.00
Roasted Chicken
Mashed Potatoes, Traditional Au Jus & Roasted Garlic
$32.00
Chicken Paillard
Arugula, Heirloom Tomatoes, Fennel, Asparagus & Shaved Parmesan with Lemon Vinaigrette
$28.00
Loch Duart Wild Salmon
Romanesco, Sugar Snap Peas & Green Beans with Meyer Lemon Butter Sauce
$34.00
Dover Sole
Pan-Seared with Meyer Lemon Butter Sauce
$62.00
Golden Osetra Caviar
$87.00
Grilled Branzino
Heirloom Tomatoes, Shallots, Capers & Olives
$38.00
Bucatini, Garlic Pomodoro & Grilled Vegetables
Zucchini, Peppers, Pesto, Basil & Fresh Ricotta
$22.00
Grilled Fish of the Day
Choice of Romesco, Spicy Parsley-Garlic Sauce, Herb Vinaigrette or Roasted Tomato Sauce
$34.00
Steaks & Burgers
USDA Prime Angus. Choice of Peppercorn, Spicy Parsley, Garlic or Horseradish Cream Sauce
The Polo Bar Burger
Tomatoes, Lettuce, Onions, Pickles, Cheddar & Crispy Bacon with Hand-Cut Fries
$28.00
Prime Filet Mignon—Onion Rings
10 ounces $51.00
Bone-In Rib Eye—Hand-Cut Fries
22 ounces $66.00
Sides
Hand-Cut Fries
$11.00
Sautéed Garlic Spinach
$11.00
Sauteed Green Beans with Shallots
$11.00
Green Asparagus with Lemon Zest
$14.00
Roasted Hen-of-The-Woods Mushrooms
$16.00