Ewwww

Today I took on that big sharp weed about which I've posted earlier. I was worried about the sharp leaves at first, but once I realized the stem bases were clear of spines, I thought is would be easy going. Then I cut into the first stem...




With each stem I cut, a sticky, milky substance started dripping out. With this disgusting feature, I'm pretty sure this is the most annoying plant in Seattle. It's even more annoying then that rotting-meat flower the botanical garden had last month.

What the hell is this plant?

Truman Enjoys his Yard

To update one of Chris's previous posts, Truman is starting to enjoy hanging out in his yard. This is particularly true during the day, when the other option is to hang out inside and listen to me curse as I study for the boards (first one on Monday, woo-hoo!).
And also from a previous post, he found a favorite spot in the corner; this was the one for which I wanted a ground cover to keep him from getting too muddy. I took June's advice on sedum....well, actually, I said, "what's that?," looked it up, and realized that was the stuff growing around the backyard retaining wall. But it seems ideal - soft but durable, easy to grow, and needs little water. I planted a few starter sedums in that spot last week.
A couple days ago, after Truman had a long session in the backyard, I walked out to find:

Well, this picture was after partial repair of the damage. The hole he had dug was deeper, and the dirt covered the rock that is in the bottom left. You may see the small bit of sedum left at about 3 o'clock. Little bastard.

I actually have mixed feeling about this. As Truman is a former lab research animal, he wasn't very well socialized, and we keep joking that he forgot how to be a dog. We had never seen him dig anything before, but I guess he never had much of a chance. But why does he have to start now?

My theory is that he was trying to find cooler soil as he sat in the sun, as the hole is about Truman-sized.

Meanwhile, when he is inside, he has found a new place to hang out:

The bathroom has radiant heat floors, and he has even figured out when the timer turns it on.

On an unrelated topic, I have softened my stance on weeds. This is the vegtable garden:

These plants were already growing when we moved in, and we wondered what the previous owners had left behind for us. They didn't appear to be weeds, and were flowering in July. We met the old owners at the block party, and much to our surprise they said they hadn't planted anything this year. They did rattle off a list of plants they had the year before, includes squash and tomatillos.

Uh oh...could these be weeds? Last week, the fruit started to appear, and confirmed that these are indeed tomatillos. Personal experience and research have confirmed two things about tomatillos: they are delicious in salsa, and they are classified as an invasive weed in Washington.

Pie!

Yes, it's off topic, but I figure that part of the intent of this blog is to show our love of being homeowners, and making pies have been the method of choice for my exploration of our kick-ass kitchen this summer.

It's great living some place that gets plenty of fresh produce. So far, I've made a pie each week, usually some variation of blueberry, peaches, plums one week, and now that we're moving into raspberry season, well, raspberries. (There was also a foray into the world of creamy pies using nectarines, whipped cream, meringue, and gelatin with this lovely nectarine cloud pie.)

I'm using dough recipes found in Joy of Cooking and a variation of their basic covered fruit pie filling. Here's what I've learned, in case any of you expert gardeners want to be pie masters:

• The addition of cornmeal to a pastry recipe is surprisingly delightful! I was apprehensive at first since it felt kind of gritty to me, but after it's baked, it really does "lighten" up an otherwise, potentially heavy crust (the deluxe butter recipe from Joy of Cooking).
• However, I think the cornmeal somehow makes the dough much more pliable, if that's the word I'm looking for, than when it's a full 2.5 cups of flour. At least, that's been my experience-- the last pie, John could hear much swearing because I had to re-roll my dough at least 3 times because it kept falling apart on me when it would stick to my rolling surface despite liberal flouring. Good news though? That means it's very forgiving and doesn't get tough when over floured like other pastry doughs might.
• Plums, while tastey in an uncovered tart or crostata-- covered pie? Not so much. I think it didn't add much flavor to the mix with blueberries. Not to mention, pulling the pit out of them was much more difficult than pulling them out of peaches. The lack of flavor to the pie did not make it worth the preparation effort.
  
• The basic fruit filling from JoC calls for the following:
• 5 cups of fruit (combos are good!)
• 1 tbsp of lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2-3 tbsp of tapioca or cornstarch
• 1-2 tbsp of butter, cut into small pieces to dot around your filling once in the shell
  
• Mix in a bowl; let it sit for 15 minutes
  
• I vary it by substituting 1/4 cup of brown sugar for some of the sugar added to the fruit and also add about 1tsp of freshly grated lemon zest. It adds a nice slight tartness to the fruit filling. Also, if you're lucky and have pretty sweet fruit, lessen the sugar, but definitely try throwing in some brown sugar in combination with the regular sugar. (When it comes to apple pies, I just use brown sugar for a nice, kind of molasses like taste to the filling.)
  
• Peaches and blueberries have been the best combo so far, but then again, we haven't cut into this peach and raspberry one yet!

Oh, and if it isn't grossly apparent yet-- I LOVE OUR KITCHEN!!!

Unwanted Bits of Nature

Critter!

I found this hole a few days ago in the front yard, and I know it wasn't there when I mowed a last week. I have no idea what animal it is. I included my boot for a size reference (which is, conveniently, about a foot long). No critter has been spotted, but now I'm on the alert. It's also a little too close to the retaining wall for my comfort.

Hopefully it isn't one of those freaky rat things that migrated this way from Texas.

You may remember this from a previous post:














We have since discovered they are both weeds. June was right about both. While I still like the look of the one on the left (it adds a punk rock feel to a stuffy garden, no?), it is rapidly taking over and offspring are growing in the sidewalk cracks. I still have not found a name for it, though, and digging it up will be a pain. It's one sharp MF.
The one on the right is a type of sage, like June said. However, it's an invasive, nasty kind of sage. It's easily removed, but I let it go to seed before I realized it wasn't a good thing. My suspicions were raised after the garden had a week of good watering, and suddenly they were three feet tall.

Herbal Buddah Belly

It's finally happened! We planted our herb garden, or at least, got it started. Clockwise from the left: cilantro, peppermint, Italian Oregano, and English Thyme.

Eric D. will yell at me for the negative thinking, but I had a little mantra for each plant: after digging a hole in the rocky soil, then carefully setting the plant in place, I would fill in the hole with the dug up soil then say, "Here you go, Mr (insert plant name here). I'm sorry if I killed you." I promise more positive thoughts towards the herbs in the future, but it's an application of my worst case scenario approach to challenges: Expect the worst, and every other result is much better than you expected; or, you savor the right to say, "I was right all along" if the worst comes true.

But anyway, what else should we plant? I'm thinking the following:

• Dill
• Flat leaf parsley
• Sage
• Rosemary

Would it be cheesey to have "parsley, sage rosemary, and thyme" if all those are planted?
Any other suggestions?

I'd like to plant basil too, but I fear it's too late in the season given the sad state of the basil plants we saw at the nursery yesterday. Besides, I'm rather partial to keeping basil as an indoor plant.

An interesting view into the minds of the people from whom we bought this house. When John was digging up the old plants in there, he found this:


I asked my parents if there are any Asian superstitions about burying a Buddah statue in your garden. They had no idea, and we fear to move it, ala Pele or something. Also, why not turn to alternative deities (for lack of a better term... alternative philosopher?) to help green our thumbs? I kind of like keeping him above ground though, an interesting alternative to those St. Francis of Asissi statues. But if anyone knows if there's a legitimate reason to bury him, I'd be curious to hear about it.

One last question: does anyone know how to dry herbs? I've frozen basil leaves in the past, but have been unhappy with how it changes the texture.

I Hate Lavender

I've mentioned before how the lavender is taking over the sidewalk. Attempts to trim it back on the south side of the house have gone well so far. But on the front (north side) of the house, it seems the upkeep of the lavender has not been as rigorous. My research sources tell me to keep the plant trimmed back, espsecially if it starts getting woody. Well, after about half an hour squatting and trying to work through tough, woody branches, we end up with this:

Doesn't it seem like I should find a gnome house somewhere in there?

There is always the possibility of ripping this out and starting over, but that seems like even more painful work after looking at this mess.

I now want to go to my neighbor the lavender picker and thank her profusely for helping her keep things under control! Just stay away from the hydrangeas, lady.

Meanwhile, in the backyard:

This is after a couple of weeks of thoughtful watering (no, not overwatered, you Utah lawn Nazis). I think I will have to concede defeat on this one. A lot of people have told me about the typical Northwest lawn that turns brown in the summer and recovers in the fall. But this lawn isn't just Northwest Lawn Brown, it's mostly dead. I will have a lot to ask about when we make our next trip to the nursery.

You can also tell where Truman has left his mark.

Garden Auto-Pilot?

One of the gardening books says that August is the boring month for gardeners, as everything is on auto-pilot and there is very little to do.

Perhaps that is true. I've deadheaded everything we have to deadhead, and most of my energy in the yard is devoted to watering. I'm still not sure about this myth of rain in Seattle, as I have yet to see it rain here. A few days ago, the ground was wet when I went to get the mail, but I never actually saw the rain fall. And the sky was perfectly clear an hour later.

So now the thoughts turn to what things to change. The perimeter is still being debated, although I like the idea of rasberry bushes growing over the fence. There is another patch of land that needs some attention:

This is part of the parking strip (or tree lawn, depending what part of the country you are from) that is cut off by our sidewalk. It has an unfortunate looking bush in the center that requires more water than I feel like giving it, what with it being so far from the hose. The rest of the strip is a magnet for weeds. Chris was supposed to come up with an idea for this space. However, she got her new laptop today, and the wireless internet means she can use it in front of the TV. This blog may be the only way we will communicate from now on!

Any other thoughts? It is a lowly piece of land that seems like it deserves more.

Also, Truman has found a comfortable spot:

But now I want to find a durable but soft ground cover for this area, to prevent him from getting too muddy with the mythical rains finally come.

Another flower to identify...this is actually an old picture, as the blooms fell off weeks ago:


And did I mention this is the view from our front porch?

Sure, you can do better, but not a bad thing to look at as you drink your morning coffee, eh?

The Books Have Arrived

The books that were on hold at the library have arrived. One in particular was very helpful, "The Washington & Oregon Gardener's Guide." It was formatted with prominant pictures, so you can basicly leaf through it and say, "Hey, I have that one..." I was able to identify or comfirm several plants, including this one:

This hosta finally flowered, redeeming itself in my eyes at least. The Guide cautioned that "Slug management is vital with hostas." We honestly haven't seen that many slugs here, which is surpising for the northwest. But on closer inspection:

Pet-safe slug bait is now on the shopping list. There is now a tell-tale slug track on the doormat in the backyard.

Some new flowers have bloomed this week, ones not found in the book:


On the whole, this book has reassured me. Almost all the identified plants are perennials, will do fine with good watering (except the lavender, which get root rot), and just need to be deadheaded to keep them flowering. Whew.

But..back to the lawn. I mowed for only the second time this month, mainly to keep the weeds under control. I'm beginning to think this whole thing about rain in Seattle is a myth. At any rate, when mowing the backyard, I was getting fustrated with the slope down to the fence, and with ramming the mower into the fence that is barely holding itself together.

I then had an epiphany. Why not tear up the grass around the fence, put down some mulch, and plant some hardy shrubs around the perimeter. This would keep me from having to buy a weed whacker. Plus, the shrubs might block tennis balls from rolling under the fence into the street, which confuses the dog and annoys me.

But what to plant? Someone may have had this idea before, as there is one as yet unidentified but ubiquitous shrub planted behind the fence, facing the alley:


On a side note, have you ever wanted to mow the lawn one morning, but were worried the noise would bother your neighbors (that is, the unemployed ones like yourself)? If at all possible, try to arrange to have the Blue Angels practice over your neighborhood. Your mower will sound like a purring kitten in comparison.
They were practicing for Seafair today, and were buzzing over the house close enough for me to see the pilot's face. And were UNBELIEVABLY LOUD, enough to rattle the house, set off car alarms, and send the dog under the bed. But, when 4 fighter jets do a slow roll in tight formation over your backyard, that's REALLY FREAKING COOL.