Blooms in my garden, rum in my salad

It's been a blissfully lovely last couple of weeks here. Highs have been in the mid 70's to 80's, and the humidity has been low (at least for Minnesota). It's hard to be indoors, knowing that this gorgeous weather is going to be all too short-lived.

This morning I took advantage of the weather to do lots of transplanting. Last year I started coreopsis, rudbeckia and other perennials in a nursery bed. Today I transplanted several of them into the beds at the back of our lot where the plantings were pretty thin and anemic looking. It made a huge difference.

The big garden story of late, however, is the back corner.

The mess we started with... an old, icky sandbox, piles of old branches and yard waste, and views into the neighbors back yards.

This neglected spot of our yard has been the "this is the year" project for the last several years, but somehow we never got around to it and it just kept getting messier and more neglected looking. Finally, we spent some time on it (less than I imagined it would take, frankly) and now it looks like it belongs with the rest of the yard.

We cleaned up upwards as well, culling out crossed and low-hanging branches and dead wood from the trees along the property line. It's amazing how much more open the space feels.

It's a little premature to call it finished, but it looks so much better now that we've taken out the old sandbox (it was a great thing to have when the nephews and niece were little, but for the last four or five years no one has used it but local cats). We also made a firewood holder using cinder blocks and the recycled 2x6's from the sand box. In addition, we pruned trees and put up reed fencing.

The beginning of (work) day two: still a long way to go.

We're planning to put in pavers, a fire pit and seating area, and adjust the plantings to bridge the area better, but most of that will likely have to wait until next year. For now, I'm just thrilled to have it cleaned up. We had Jane and Nancy over last weekend and enjoyed a fire after a great dinner. It was so nice!

With a light reed fence, the corner still feels airy but more private. Still more to do to make it "lovely," but at least it is tidy now instead of being the corner I'm embarrassed about.

We fixed the sun-dried tomato burgers that were in last year's cookbook as well as a Mojito Salad from the New York Times Country Weekend Cookbook (2007). It was fantastic! The recipe says that the rum is optional, but but I would really recommend you use it. Also, the recipe makes a very big bowlful and does not keep well ~ the fruit gets mushy after it sits in the fridge overnight. It should be served within an hour or two of mixing together.

MOJITO SALAD

For the salad:

1/2 cup red onion, halved and thinly sliced crosswise
Juice of 1 lime
1 medium jicama, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 seedless hothouse cucumber, sliced 1/4-inch-thick crosswise
1/2 seedless watermelon, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise
1/3 cup packed fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced

For the dressing:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 1/2 limes)
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
3 tsp light rum

1. To make the salad: marinate the onion in the juice of 1 lime for at least 2 hours or overnight. Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl.

2. To make the dressing: whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad*. Toss. Serve or transport to a picnic.

Yield: 12 servings.

* I used about half the dressing on the salad and saved the rest to be served on the side. It was delicious on the left-over watermelon a couple of days later.