Conquering the Jungle

In my previous post I wrote about how my neighbor has left a strip of his property go wild, and how his weeds have invaded my adjacent flower bed.

We have been having a rainy spell here in Ohio, and more rain was forecast for today.  I didn't think that I would be able to do any gardening today.  However the rain held off, and we even had a few peaks of sunshine.  I was able to go outside and tackle the jungle.

I trimmed back the vegetation that was hanging over onto my property, pulled weeds, and dug out some of the plants that had become invasive (such as the gooseneck loosestrife and the ostrich ferns).  Those nasty prickly weeds that I mentioned previously were identified by a friend and frequent reader as a type of thistle.  After working for about four hours, and filling a fifty gallon trash can with garden waste, this is what it looks like now...

I still need to do some more primping and manicuring, but it now looks like a flower bed instead of a weedy mess.  Just in time too, since my red and pink astilbes will be in full bloom in a day or two.

Looking down the length of the gardens along my property line...

Yeah, it's still a jungle, but it's a jungle of my design!

And Now for the Most Daunting Task

I have almost reached the point where I must tackle perhaps the toughest portion of my garden... the flower bed along the property line with one of my next door neighbors.  There was a narrow strip of lawn on my neighbor's property between my flower bed and the fence which surrounds his back yard.  For the last several years he has allowed that strip to go wild... probably to punish me for having called the police several times when his dogs were barking incessantly in the wee hours of the morning.  The strip has become a jungle of trees, brambles, vines and weeds.

Of course the weeds spread into my garden.  The worst is this prickly weed that grows several feet high.  I don't know what it is, but, since it has leaves similar to a dandelion, I refer to it as a "prickly dandelion".  I have to carefully dig each one out by the roots.  Like a dandelion, if it isn't pulled out by the roots, it will simply grow back.  I hate wearing gloves when I do my gardening, but for this task I have to.

In the flower bed I have a very invasive plant called a "goose-neck loosestrife".  I normally would be very meticulous about not allowing my plants to spread into neighboring property, but in this case I happily allow it to invade.

 

 

 

Here's a picture from a couple summers ago of the loosestrife in bloom.  It's a pretty plant, but must be constantly kept under control.

 



The other day as I was surveying the mess, I noticed this vine which was running rampant.  Seeing its three leaves, I immediately thought, "Is that poison ivy?" 

 

 

I went on the internet and read about poison ivy and looked at pictures of it.  In many ways it fit the description to a "tee".  But then I went out and took a closer look at the plant.  The branches have thorns, and poison ivy does NOT have thorns.  So at least I can tackle this job without ending up being covered with a rash!  

Plodding Along

Slowly but surely I am progressing through my flower beds.  Yesterday I finished work on this large section of my shade garden under the black walnut tree.

This garden is largely filled in with shade-loving perennials such as hostas, ferns, and astilbe, so there wasn't much planting to do.  However, under those perennials there were a myriad of weeds sprouting.  Unfortunately, it is not a matter of "out of sight, out of mind."  Those little weeds eventually grow and poke up above the plants that hid them.  So I had to go through and carefully pull them out.  I'm sure that I missed a few, but at least now the number of weeds will be manageable.

Some of my astilbe are now in bloom.  I wish that they would bloom all summer, but at least when they are done, they are still an attractive foliage plant.

.    

Finally Hanging on the Wall

Some time ago I wrote a post about an original work of art that I bought in Mérida, Mexico.  The picture was done in colored pencil by a local artist by the name of Luis Coral, and it portrays a Mayan woman with her daughter asleep in a hammock.  Unfortunately, it has been tucked away in a closet for over five years.  I wanted to get it reframed and re-matted, and finally last month I got around to taking it in to a framing shop.  The beautiful picture is now hanging in my room.

I also found tucked away a couple of small prints by the same artist that I had bought on another trip to Mérida.  I took those in to be framed also, and they are now hanging next to the larger picture.

I also brought out an original watercolor which I had purchased a few years ago from a friend who is a talented artist.  Although the painting is of an Italian scene, it could just as easily be of Mexico, and fits in very well with the motif of the room.  I hung that one also, although I think that I will take it in to be reframed... probably a black frame to go along with the other artwork.

Good Friends and Good Food

Yesterday I was invited to a dinner party at the home of my friends Nancy and Fred.  Nancy is a retired math teacher from the school where I taught.  Regular readers will recognize her and her husband Fred because in 2014 I took them on a tour of the Yucatán.  Also invited were our former colleagues Jane and Carol.  Jane, who taught Spanish with me, was featured in this blog when we traveled to Mérida, Yucatán, and then again, last winter, on our trip to Oaxaca.  Carol, taught French as well as an occasional Spanish class, and was chairperson of the foreign language department.  She also traveled with me to Mérida, but that was before I was writing the blog.

Nancy had received a "paella kit" last Christmas as a gift, and wanted to have the gang over for a Spanish dinner.  We were supposed to get together in March, but it had to be postponed. 

I made "salmorejo", a Spanish cold soup similar to gazpacho.  (I posted my recipe for "salmorejo" in March.)  Everyone liked the soup.  It is garnished with chopped hard boiled eggs and ham.  I actually found a store nearby that sells packages of imported Spanish ham, but it is extremely expensive.  So I used the next best thing... prosciutto.

 

Carol, to the left, and Jane, to the right

 

 

Then came the paella, a saffron-flavored rice dish that originated in Valencia, Spain.  Nancy used chicken instead of shellfish.  (Did you know that the original recipe for paella was made with chicken and rabbit?) 

 

 

"Chef" Nancy with her paella.  It was delicious!!

 

(I just realized that I didn't get a picture of Fred.  He was busy taking photos at the same time that I was.  Sorry, Fred.)

 



It was a wonderful evening, and my thanks to Nancy and Fred for their hospitality and friendship!

 

 

¡Muchas gracias!



Garden Report

After a couple of dreary days of rain and chilly temperatures, the sun has returned and the temperature is beginning to return to normal.  I was able to get out and do some more work in the garden.  The large flower bed in the back is basically done (Well, it's never really done.  I still have to finish cleaning out the maple seeds, do another weeding, and apply Preen, which is fairly effective in keeping new weeds from sprouting.) 

One of my clematis is now in bloom.  Unfortunately it only blooms once.  I have another clematis which blooms repeatedly.

This flower is a variety of primrose, even though the foliage is nothing like the typical primrose.

I still have much to do.  I am still working on another bed which runs along the property line.  It is a shady area with lots of ferns and hostas.  The hostas have recovered from the munching that the deer did earlier this spring.  The deer repellant which I applied seems to be doing its job (fingers crossed).

Recipe - "Fideos al Chipotle"

Yesterday I wrote about my trip to the local Mexican grocery to buy "fideos", a macaroni similar to vermicelli.

I wanted to prepare "fideos al chipotle", something which I have enjoyed a number of times as a side dish at "Buena Tierra", one of my favorite restaurants in Mexico City.  I found a recipe on the internet, but I made a few changes to it.  For example, the recipe called for "chorizo" (a Mexican sausage).  Since the "fideos" I had at "Buena Tierra did not have "chorizo", I omitted the sausage.  It's probably healthier without it anyway.  The recipe also called for 250 grams of "fideos".  The bag I found at the grocery store was only 200 grams, so I reduced the amount of chicken stock in which the noodles are simmered.  Even so, it seemed like a lot of liquid, and I was afraid that it was going to be too soupy.  However, after cooking for a while, the stock was absorbed.  The finished product looked and tasted very much like what I have had in Mexico.

It was a fairly easy dish to prepare.  If you are interested in making it for yourself, here is my revised recipe...

* 200 gram bag of "fideos"  (If you can't find "fideos" I suppose that you could use vermicelli cut into shorter length)

*one quarter of a large white onion, chopped

*one medium clove of garlic, chopped, and mashed into a paste with salt

*two Roma tomatoes

*canned "chipotle" peppers in adobo sauce, chopped (I used 2 peppers.  It was pleasantly "picante".)

*one and one half cups of chicken stock

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onion starts to become transparent. 
Puree the tomatoes, onion and garlic in a blender.
In the olive oil brown the "fideos" over medium heat for about five minutes
Stir in the puree and the "chipotles".  Cook for a few minutes until it is thoroughly mixed with the noodles.
Add the chicken broth, cover, and simmer over low heat for five minutes.
Uncover, and continue cooking until the liquid is absorbed.
Salt to taste.

I ate it plain, but you can also garnish it with Mexican "crema", crumbled cheese and avocado slices.

¡Buen provecho!