Digging RI

A small sphynx moth feeding on tiny verbena bonariensis flowers

We gardeners notice the little things. As I was weeding  my vegetable garden, I saw some tiny insects hopping around. On closer inspection, I realized that they were tiny baby crickets. I love that!

We also look for little pests, not only on the ground, but on our plants. If we’re being thorough, we are turning over the leaves to catch things like sawfly larvae lurking under there. I like to toss them out in the open so the robins can eat them.

Often, the nicest garden vignettes start as seedlings that volunteered – just showed up in the perfect spot. If the spot isn’t perfect, we move those seedling where they will be happier or work better.

Sometimes smaller is tastier. The tiny fruits of this Chocolate cherry tomato are packed with huge flavor.

Chocolate Cherry: as delicious as it sounds.

I love looking for tiny white monarch butterfly eggs on the leaves of milkweed plants – which I allow to grow freely in one corner of the garden.

Of course, there’s always the thrill of seeing seeds germinate – those cotyledons pushing up through the soil. Inside, I enjoy seeing my miniature orchids, especially the diminutive Haraella Retrocala odorata, flower with as much power as the big guys.

So many small, everyday garden occurrences, but I appreciate each one.

Salt and Pepper cucumber

As some of our loyal readers may recall, my  friend and frequent contributor to this blog, HerbDoc, had a stroke some months ago. Imagine my delight when I received this post from her in my email this morning. Welcome back, Kathy. You were missed!

It just dawned on me that in a few short weeks we’ll be perusing the seed catalogs for next year’s orders!  Where did the time go?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t report on the overwhelming success that I had with the Salt and Pepper cucumbers I ordered from Johnny’s Selected Seeds last spring.  As you recall, this was the first white-skinned pickling cuke to be developed with powdery mildew resistance.  Since that disease plagues my cukes every year, I didn’t care if the color was international orange!

The seeds were planted in an Earth Box with an attached trellis and germinated in a record two days.  The first fruits were indeed white with tiny black spines, but as the summer wore on, the harvest became a light golden color.  We picked hundreds of them right through mid October, and they were delicious on salads and as pickles.

Interestingly enough I planted zucchini in another Earth Box right next to the cukes.  I knew they shouldn’t be in such close proximity, but this was an experiment.  Sure enough in mid summer, the zucchini plants were attacked by the dastardly powdery mildew and by late August, they succumbed to the disease.  The cukes were untouched…nary a spot was seen!

Now I’m excited to see that the new Johnny’s catalog is offering Dundoo zucchini. This F1 is also spotlighted as a first in mildew resistance.  That adds at least 2 seed packages to my must haves for 2012!

Cirrhopetalum Bulbophyllum Longissimum: say it fast three times!

The strange-looking plant in the photo is the newest addition to my orchid family. The name is a real mouthful: cirrhopetalum bulbophyllum longissimum. (Even if I didn’t have one of these it would be fun to learn the name, just to impress people…)

This shade-loving orchid is from Thailand. The flowers are very long, growing up to 18 inches.

When I first brought it home, I hung it in an east facing window, but it didn’t seem to like it there, because one of the leaves began to turn yellow. So I listened, and moved it to a north window in my kitchen. Here’s a close-up of that incredible flower.

These pendulous flowers need a lot of room to hang.

It’s always difficult to find exactly the right spot and watering routine for a new orchid. There are books, of course, but they tend to be rather rigid in their rules. I prefer asking the wise growers who are members of my orchid club, the Ocean State Orchid Society. Their rule of thumb is: if it grows and blooms for you then it’s happy, so leave it alone, already!

An example of this philosophy is the vanda I told you about last year. These are reputed to be nearly impossible to re-bloom unless you have a greenhouse. Well, I just have a very sunny window, and guess what? My vanda is in spike! I’ll post more and include pictures when it flowers.

A window box in Wiscasset with historic buildings reflected in the windows

Why do we love to drive up to Maine when we live on the RI coast? It’s different, that’s why. And that means that it’s also refreshing, mentally as well as physically. The lobster boats are different, the coastline is rockier and in my opinion, more interesting, and the air even smells different. Lobsters are cheaper there, too – just $5 each!

Speaking of lobster, I took a stroll on a dock in a beautiful coastal village called “Friendship,” and watched the lobstermen, still hard at work and making the most of  it before the cold weather sets in. This guy was preparing bait for the traps.

We took our time and strolled around the different towns’ historic centers, often without seeing another tourist. Bliss!

A "gift shop cat"

Early November can be a wonderful time to visit – IF you get good weather, which we most definitely had. I don’t have any garden-specific tidbits to share with you from this trip, but I thought you might like to see some photos of the towns we visited.

Late afternoon in Belfast

Belfast is an interesting and artsy town. Check out this amazing trompe l’oeuil on somebody’s door!

My neighbor's maple

I have written extensively about Tropical Storm Irene and the damage it inflicted on our gardens and our trees. Most of the trees here on the RI coast lost their leaves. The salt spray turned them from green to crispy brown, and a few days later, we saw abscission: the leaves just fell off the way they do in the fall – only this was late summer.

This was not a death sentence for our deciduous trees, because at that point in the growing season, they had stored enough nutrients and didn’t depend on their leaves so much. So I assumed that the branches would remain bare until next spring.

I was surprised one morning about three weeks later, to see new, green leaves emerging on the neighbor’s Norway maple. The Japanese maple nearby still clung to its dead brown leaves, but there were new, red ones coming out on this tree, too. I started looking around at other trees and shrubs, and many of them were also putting out new foliage.

These young leaves don’t seem to be showing any autumn color, though, and my guess is they’ll probably just fall.

I came across some very useful information on how to help trees prepare for and survive hurricanes. It’s put out by the University of Florida Extension, and you can access it here.

I had resigned myself to another fall without One Pie canned pumpkin. It was absent from store shelves last year and until a few days ago, it looked like there wouldn’t be any this year, either.

Imagine my surprise and delight when strolling through my supermarket, I suddenly came across a huge bin of One Pie. I bought 10 cans and I intend to stockpile more.

Yes, I know it’s just pumpkin, but it’s the little things that make life better…..

PS: Why do these shortages even happen at all? Isn’t this 2011?

We didn’t get more than a dusting on the  coast, but in the interior, it was a different story. We hopped in the car and drove to Wachusett, MA to see how wintry things were. They got 20 inches! Here are a few shots from our little outing.

The lifts weren’t running but that didn’t stop people from digging out their skis and sleds and “earning their turns.”

These guys were psyched!

It was a bit strange to see all that snow next to the fall foliage, but hey is there any “normal” anymore?

I will leave you with some funny-looking snow-covered chairs. The snow almost looks like people sprawling, doesn’t it? Can’t wait to ski!

Snow people!

You asked for it, and I try my best to give my dear readers what they want, so here’s the recipe. Make sure you serve it right out of the oven for maximum dramatic, puffy impact!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups maple syrup – the darker grades like amber are best for this because they have more flavor

4 egg whites

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons brandy

1 tablespoon butter

Have ready an 8-inch soufflé dish, a pan that will hold the dish and about 1 inch of hot water.

I am assuming you know how to make a soufflé – no greasing the dish! I don’t bother with a collar for this one, though.

Preheat oven to 300F

Measure 1 cup maple syrup into a saucepan and boil until it has reduced to 3/4 cup. Cool this.

Beat egg whites until stiff.

Sift powdered sugar and baking powder together, and beat into the egg whites a little at a time.

Fold in cooled syrup.

Pour into soufflé dish, set in pan of hot water and oven poach for 1 hour.

Shortly before soufflé is ready, combine 1/2 cup syrup, brandy and butter and heat, stirring until hot. (This sauce is optional but adds a nice touch. Serve it beside the soufflé.)

Please write me if you make this. I would love to hear what you think of it!

A maple sugar bush in fall

People in Quebec are crazy about maple: maple trees, maple wood, maple leaves, and, of course, maple syrup. The latter is a gift from Indigenous peoples, who showed the European settlers how to collect maple sap in the spring and boil it down into syrup.

I have watched people from an Algonquin community harvest sap by hand using traditional methods, and I have seen the modern operations which involve miles of plastic tubing which has largely replaced the quaint buckets that hang on the trees.

Old sap-collecting buckets

On my recent trip to Quebec, I visited the “Maison Amerindienne,” which features and exhibit on Indigenous maple syrup making. Good syrup requires cold nights and warm days. Those conditions occur in early spring when there is still considerable snow in the woods, so Aboriginal peoples wore snowshoes (just one more of their amazing inventions) to get around in the woods and carry the sap buckets back and forth to the fire. Check out these cool snowshoes, made completely of wood.

Antique snowshoes

I bought several cans of syrup to bring home. We insist on the real thing when we have pancakes or waffles. I also have a recipe for a killer maple syrup souffle –  which, come to think of it,  I haven’t made in a while. If you’re interested in the recipe, let me know and I’d be happy to post it – if you promise to use only real, pure maple syrup.

I am writing from Quebec, where I am spending a few precious days visiting my family. The weather has been gloomy and dark with frequent rain. What saves the landscape from total bleakness is, of course, the colors of the leaves. Most of the reddest ones – the sugar maples – are down now, but there are a few left.  I also love the salmon and yellow colors. They light up the streets and the forest and make everything seem so much brighter.

Who needs the sun?

See those sticks in the photo below with telephone numbers on them? They belong to snow clearing contractors, who mark the edges of their customers’ driveways with long sticks so they don’t wreck the lawns when they plow the snow. They always print their names and phone numbers on them – free advertising.

Nearly every driveway has these.

Here, you pay for snow removal monthly, or you don’t get any at all. Your options are: hire somebody or buy a snowblower – and not one of those dinky electric ones, either. There hasn’t been a hard frost yet, and I miss the usual late October nip in the air. But it’s coming…..