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20 Minute Weeding

One very nice thing about the whole 20 Minute Garden concept is that 20 minutes of weeding is about all I can take. Another good thing is that 20 minutes of weeding can make quite a difference, especially if you have adopted a few other practices like mulching, close planting, and periodic weeding blitzes.

Since we try to mulch our gardens as much as possible with whatever organic matter we can get our hands on– including grass clippings, leaves, straw, and even non-noxious or easily spreading weeds– the weeds that do pop up through the mulch layer are usually easy to spot and not deeply rooted. We pull those weeds and leave them on the surface of the mulch where they whither and begin to break down slowly and enrich the soil. Ah, the circle of life in the garden.

Today I spent 20 minutes concentrating on weeding the unknown “ground cover” plant that pops up everywhere in our neighbor’s garden beds. We assume that a previous owner originally planted this vining ground cover on purpose, although we have no way of being sure. Ever since we began gardening on our neighbor’s plot, we have done repeated battles with this plant.

One of my favorite garden bloggers who writes at This Garden is Illegal recently discussed her plan to use the power of her hate to make changes in her garden. If I hate anything about the garden, it would be this plant. Hate still seems like a too-strong word, however, because, quite frankly, I have to admire this plant. The aspects I admire about it as a plant are the same aspects I hate about it as a weed.

• Said plant has a very simple root structure, the kind that breaks off below dirt level when you yank too hard.

• Said plant will grow up and aroundanything including garden stakes, tomato cages, sticks, anything we plant, other stems of itself. It’s the ultimate user.

• Said plant keeps coming back. It’s not easily discouraged.

Small but persistent

I don’t have any idea what the plant is but I’d really like to find out. If anyone has a clue, leave me your suggestion. I’ll tell anyone who doesn’t want a perennial ground cover that will compete with other plants to avoid it. And I can give the ground cover’s name to anyone who is looking for an indestructible garden plant that has the attributes needed to rule the world.

Pulled weeds used as mulch

Posted in • Growing.

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By 20 Minute Jan – June 11, 2010

Tuesday Night at the Movies: Red Raspberries

We plan to begin posting a new feature here at the 20MinuteGarden: video clips from our gardens past and present.

For our first video, a garden walk by the red raspberry bushes. Try the active link above if you can’t see the video below.

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By 20 Minute Jan – June 8, 2010

Mesclun Update

Almost by accident, the raised container bed is turning out to be a great place for growing mesclun. Last weekend, our neighbor had a big family dinner to which we were invited. While we were getting ready to go over, we saw one of her guests outside picking lettuce for the salad. Later she said was really impressed with the mesclun, which was tender and delicate and spicy and delicious, if I do say so myself.

It’s also really pretty.

One little problem is that it’s close to a blooming tree that drops little spent blooms and leaves in the bed. It’s not that hard to pick them out, however. And one doesn’t have to get down quite as far to harvest or clean out the lettuce bed as when it’s at ground level.

Another great thing about growing our mesclun in the raised bed occurred to me this week as I picked our second and third salads. There are no slugs competing with me for my tender greens. Not that they eat all that much, but it does tend to put one off one’s chow when one encounters too many little gooey critters nibbling on what one hoped to nibble for dinner. Slugs don’t seem to be living in the raised bed, which is a definite plus for growing and eating lettuce.

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By 20 Minute Jan – June 7, 2010

DIY: Homemade Spice Rack & Curried Rhubarb Chicken

The Spice Rack– or spice shelf– in our kitchen is among the one-of-a-kind items around our house that I love most. Visitors often notice and remark on how cool and unique and handy it is. I take their compliments as such, although 20MinuteJim tends to interpret their remarks as comments on our home’s eccentricities. Once a friend summed up our home’s “style” as comfortable and lived-in. Later when I mentioned the conversation to Jim, I emphasized the comfortable part: what higher compliment that than someone should feel completely comfortable in my home? Jim thought the lived-in part was most telling, noting that our home is slightly worn about the edges.

On to the spice rack: when we lived in the top two floors in a flat in a house in the Big City, Jim decided we needed to have a spice rack to hang on the wall of our little kitchen and that he could make one to meet our specs. We were city-dwellers back then in our dinky apartment with two small children and one (seriously, one) closet. Did we even have a toolbox? I don’t know. Maybe we had a shoebox with a hammer, a screwdriver, a little saw, and a box of nails. And a piece of sandpaper. When our landlady had some repairs done to our third-floor deck, Jim saw his opportunity to scavenge some free wood for his project.

I should note that the wood was not in good shape by the time it fell into Jim’s hands. It was old, faded deck wood — some with cracks, it was being taken down as unsafe, remember — long ago stained a outdoorsy red. With imagination and initiative, Jim cut and assembled a pleasing three shelf spice rack with 3-4-5 proportions. He painted it with odds and ends from around the apartment, and it turned out great, in my opinion. The spice rack has been hanging in our kitchens — wherever we have been — for the last 22+ years, and it’s likely going to be one of the things the kids will fight over after we die.

Our spice rack is populated mostly with recycled glass jam jars in a slender style. There’s some variation of manufacturer reflected over the years so all the jars aren’t the same size and shape, but they are close. For many years, our herb and spice jars sported taped-on hand-lettered labels, which tended to fade or stain over time. Then we picked up a label maker in the midst of getting-things-done; within the last year, our spice labels have been upgraded to clear and legible, as well as wipe-able.

We buy most of our spices in bulk, usually from the People’s Food Co-op, of which we have been proud member-owners since 1982! The prices are good, we can buy however much we need, and the variety and freshness of herbs and spices is wonderful.

I love our spice rack. I love looking at the spices and herbs displayed on the shelves. I love grabbing a jar or two whilst I’m cooking and making the kitchen smell good. Jim tends to look at the spice rack and, even while admiring its ingenuity and proportions, he ponders the ways it could have been better. Those are also things I love about Jim: his ability to create wonderful things and at the same time maintain his critical edge.

******

Today I used a lot of spices from the spice rack because I wanted to make this recipe for Curried Rhubarb Chicken the minute I read the headline on annarbor.com. I’m excited about the possibilities for using rhubarb in more recipes, especially savory ones. Because I’m a hands-on, mess-with-the-recipe, spice-loving cook, my version follows below. For a milder version, reduce the spices or view the original recipe.

Curried Rhubarb Chicken

2 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon + 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 cayenne pepper
1 small onion, halved, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound rhubarb, trimmed, cut into 1/2” pieces
juice of 1 orange or 1/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 lb boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 325F.

In a medium saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, coriander, turmeric, cumin, ginger, curry powder and cayenne; sauté 1 minute. Add onion and garlic and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion and garlic softens. Add rhubarb, orange juice, brown sugar and 1/2 cup water; cover and cook 10 minutes. Stir, then re-cover and cook 10 more minutes until rhubarb has broken down into a sauce.

Meanwhile, season the chicken strips and place on a baking sheet. Bake until no longer pink while the sauce is cooking, about 15 minutes. Place chicken into a greased 9”x13” baking dish, and pour rhubarb sauce over it.

Place baking dish into the oven and bake chicken for 25-30 minutes.

Serve over rice. We used brown rice.

Place the rice onto a serving platter and place the chicken on top. Pour the sauce over, and serve immediately.

Curried Rhubarb Chicken was a really good dinner, if I do say so myself. I’m planning to make 3 or 4 batches of the curried rhubarb sauce to freeze for future meals.

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By 20 Minute Jan – June 2, 2010

A Quick Mint Harvest

(20 Minute Jim) Following my new mantra, I got up this morning and harvested a paper bag full of mint before coffee and even before the dew was off the lawn. Yes, yes, yes – technically this is a case of “do what I say, don’t do what I do” because it’s best to wait until the dew dries before touching plants. It’s just too easy to transmit soil-borne diseases to the leaves where the dew can help them stick and help them grow. In the cool of the morning, feel free to take walks through the garden, to appreciate the new wonders and perhaps to map out the work you’ll accomplish later. Just don’t get dirty until things dry off.

Unless you’re deliberately trying to kill off something, say, like a rogue patch of mint. A few roots of mint and another few of lemon balm escaped when I “transplanted” the major planting a year or two back to make room for more asparagus. I say “transplanted” because I’d kept the mint growing in a bucket that I cleverly submerged in the soil with the intent to KEEP it from spreading. Silly human. Now there’s a luxurious patch of mint and lemon balm underneath the asparagus right near the rhubarb.

I’m almost ready to play along with this spontaneous grouping, at least for a bit. This trio of the tall ferns of the asparagus, the broad elephant-ear leaves of the rhubarb and the wily opportunistic shoots of the mints seems like a good match of height, leaf and growth habit. After these three are done sucking up the sunlight, I bet there will be very little left for any weeds to grow. But at the moment, there are lots of weeds mixed in and to get at the weeds, I had to harvest some mint.

I used normal kitchen scissors – don’t let 20Mintue Jan know, OK? – and I dropped the sprigs cut end down in a standard paper grocery bag. The kind of bag I used had handles which will be handy to hang for drying. Paper bags are best because they’re porous and will allow the leaves to dry without molding and they’re also opaque. A weird thing I learned about mint is that it must be dried in the dark or the leaves will turn black. They’ll still taste and smell like mint but they’ll be black instead of green. I snipped for 20 minutes and then retired back inside for coffee.

Looking at that bag of fresh mint reminds me of my mother. She was always so eager to make everything into a celebration. I remember growing up she’d take a deep breath of air on a particularly beautiful day and say, “We should be sipping mint juleps on a porch somewhere.” So after Jan and I were married, one day when my Mom and Dad had helped us all day painting and working around the house, we told them to have a seat out on the porch, that we’d be out in a minute. Jan and I had researched the recipe for authentic mint juleps – which are basically sugar, mint… and bourbon! – and we made some for Mom and Dad. One sip and Mom’s eyes nearly popped from her head. She was a life-long teetotaler and had NO idea what actually went into a mint julep. They appreciated the gesture, I think, but Mom never spoke about mint juleps again.

Mint Julep
for each serving…

4 sprigs of mint
1 teaspoon
finely crushed ice
1-1/2 jiggers

1. In a 12-ounce highball glass or tankard (perferably silver or aluminum), place 3 sprigs of mint and sugar. Crush mint with muddler or handle of wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes.
2. Fill glass to brim with ice; pour in bourbon; don’t stir. Add more ice to fill glass. Set in freezer.
3. Just before serving: Garnish with mint sprig. Serve with long straw.

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By 20 Minute Jim – May 31, 2010