The Moon and ... the garden

This is a photo of a cardoon flower. You can see how much it is like an artichoke flower. The difference is one eats the artichoke before it becomes a flower. Another difference is the cardoon reaches well over six feet in height. It is the stem of the leaf of the cardoon plant that is the edible vegetable. Next year I hope to learn how to blanch the leaves so we can have something to take to the kitchen. The bees like both flowers.

As you may have noticed, something new has been added to this website. It is a Moon Module. This is courtesy of Mr D Rose at http://www.calculatorcat.com/ who makes this available to websites. Why might we be watching the phases of the moon? For some time now I have wondered about the lore; "plant this in the waning of the moon", "plant that in the waxing of the moon". Why? Two of the best gardeners I know have followed these methods for years. Is that why their gardens are so productive?

Did you ever plant two plants on different days. The plants came from the same source, the ground they went into is the same, everything seems to be the same yet one does well and the other doesn't. Why? Some of this can be explained by a change in weather, or maybe one didn't get quite as much water, or, or... ; you have a million excuses. I am searching for the cause of the unexplainable difference and after some thinking I have decided to investigate the moon phase theory.
I don't know a lot about this yet, but I think I can give you the basic premise. This is a grand oversimplification and I hope to learn a lot more as I go along. We all know the moon influences the oceans' tides. If it can do that why can't the moon also influence the water in the soil of your garden. Is the water where you want it to be when you put those plants or seeds in the ground? Since you can't actually see what the water is doing under the surface there has to be another way to determine that. If one learns how the water works under the surface of the soil one would know more about when to plant.

OK, I admit, I am not totally convinced this will work but I am going to try it and see how it goes. This trying is not as easy as it might seem. On a trip to (one of) my favorite nursery I brought home two four-inch pots of a new plant, Joey, a ptilolus (the p is silent), from Australia. The weather was quite hot when I brought them home. I found a cool, shady spot, watered them well and promised I would get them in the ground soon. For the next couple of days it seemed much too hot to put them in. Suddenly we had a cool day and a promise of a second one. Plants in one hand, trowel in the other, I was heading for the front garden when I remembered I hadn't checked the moon. Stop everything. I checked. this was a terrible day to plant anything, as was the next. Two cool days and the best I could do was work on the new raised bed. Talk about frustration! The two days following that were not good either. Four days when Joey was not going into its new home.

I waited and then came the day to plant flowers.... not vegetables, just flowers. The five peppers my daughter Cee had sent over had to wait. The only problem was the day came with a heat advisory. The day following was the same. I followed the chart. When you are experimenting you have to be prepared for some losses. I soaked them in their pots, filled the hole they were to go in with water and then mulched well after they went in. I went inside and said a little prayer that they would be able to soak up the water faster than they gave it off, transpired.

By the way, while I was waiting I learned from Fresh Dirt http://freshdirt.sunset.com/ that I probably shouldn't have purchased Joey in the first place. It was such an eye catcher I couldn't resist, however its cousin Platinum Wallaby is a perennial and apparently much more attractive. Joey is started from seed and is not a perennial, whereas Wallaby is a tissue culture and therefore a perennial. Well, I can enjoy it this year and by next year I may have found its cousin. Both are distributed by Proven Winners.

After the two days of extreme heat the temperatures started to drop into the 80s and then we had a cold spell, afternoons in the 70s. The peppers waited until we got a day that was, apparently just made for hot things. The picture above shows the Joeys are doing quite well. They are planted in front of a deep purplish Penstemon and next to a Hyssop which is lavender and smells like anise. If anything happens to the Joeys I will let you know.

~~~~~

I hope everyone had a nice Fourth. I think my whole neighborhood stayed home this year. Several neighbors had parties, the music flowed and the grills worked overtime. My contribution to this air pollution was a grilled chuck roast.

Recipe

One of the markets had a sale on chuck roast ($1.49/lb, a good price these days for any protein). We are talking about the 7-bone roast. The 7 refers to a cross section of the scapula which is about a third of the way from one edge. It sort of looks like a 7. The opposite edge has part of a vertebra, like the top of a T-bone, or Rib steak. The roast needs to be about 2 inches thick and measure 9 by 10 inches to 10 by 11 inches. Look for a every compact piece of meat, the kind my Meat Evaluation professor would have loved. Occasionally these sale items are very large and very floppy. Stay clear of those. They must have come from cows, not steers and certainly not an Angus. And do not confuse a thin chuck steak with a chuck roast.




The label on the plastic said "Use moist heat". True, these make great stew meat. I always use chuck roast for stew, but in summer I also use it on the grill very successfully. As you may know, if you cook almost any meat a very short time it can be quite tender. Cook it a little longer and it is very tough. Continue cooking for a very long time and it is tender again ( then you have stew). Not all muscles are equal in tenderness but this is the general progression.



Recipe

There is not much to this recipe, only two ingredients, and a method. Hoi Sin Sauce can be found in a lot of supermarkets and, if not , look in an Asian market. It might be spelled Hoi Sen, or Hoisin. I don't use salt 0r pepper in this recipe and I think you might not need it either.

Grilled Chuck Roast

1 chuck roast, about 2 inches thick

Hoi Sin Sauce, enough to paint both sides of the roast

The roast should be brought close to room temperature before putting on the grill. Paint both sides with Hoi Sin.

When the coals are white hot, place the roast on the grill. If you use a grill that should be covered, do that, if not, it is OK to leave the grill open. When you see the juices have risen to the top of the uncooked side, it is time to turn it over.

Cook the second side until the juices have risen; place on a board, cover and keep warm for about ten minutes. You will have a medium rare roast that should please the rare people as well as the well cooked. Debone and slice on the diagonal, across the grain. The meat closest to the vertebra will be the most tender. The meat on the outside of the 7 bone will be the least tender, but will be fine if you haven't overcooked it.

The next day, the leftovers, thinly sliced, were great on a beef salad. The meat probably would have gone into sandwiches had it been a work day. This cut of meat, grilled, should be a first choice for sandwiches. It is a lot cheaper than deli roast beef or even the cold cuts that hang on the supermarket refrigerator section. And it taste a lot better.

For a great Peach and Lavender Cobbler recipe visit me at http://www.yummyletter.com/cook