A Weekend at the Farm July 14, 2013

I thought it was going to rain on Sunday, but alas, no.

• Sprayed herbicide in the Vegetable Garden, the Shade Garden, around the pool, in the Orchard, in the Medicine Garden, and in Max's Garden.
• Fertilized the Sweet Olives and the purple Vitex.
• Weeded in the Orchard.
• Spent a long time in the Long Border on Saturday.  Hauled away a lot of debris, watered individual plants with the hose, weeded, weeded, weeded.  Looks a lot better.  It was really weedy.  The althea that I thought had died is alive and green!  So glad, I hated to lose that pretty shrub with the blue flowers.  
• Watered all my shrubs with the hose and the watering can.  
• Watered most of the roses in the Rose Garden with the hose.  A good, deep watering.  
• Watered in Max's Garden.  I think I lost my passion vine.  Too dry.  We'll see if it comes back.  Passion Vine is basically a weed, so it might be forgiving enough to come back.
• Spent a long time on Sunday cleaning up in the Medicine Garden - trimming mint away from the flower bed edging, raking, watering shrubs, cutting back unruly growth, pulling weeds.  Looks pretty good.
• Sat on the front porch and watched birds with the binoculars for a long time on Saturday and Sunday.  Bluebirds, Painted Buntings, Cardinals, Hummingbirds, Tufted Titmouses (Titmice??), and Black Capped Chickadees.  So pretty.
• My husband and I went into Carmine to buy some beer.  I brought my shovel with me because right next to the little store is a clump of irises under a live oak that I have been looking at for quite some time.  I suppose at one time there was a house there.  But all that is left is that oak tree and a clump of bearded irises.  I don't know what color they are.  But I dug some up, brought them home and planted them in the Star Garden.  I'll have to wait until the spring when they bloom to see what color they are.  I'm a very patient person.
• Brought three shovel fulls of Ox Eye Daisies to my neighbor on Sunday morning.  Seedlings had sprung up in one of the paths.  I also moved some of them to a flowerbed at the back of our house.  I will spray herbicide on the rest of them.  
• Watered the La Marne roses.
• Scrubbed out all four bird baths and filled them with clean water.  When conditions are extremely dry as they are now, the birds really use the bird baths a lot.
• Soaked my feet in cold water on Saturday and Sunday.  I guess that officially makes me about a hundred and thirty-seven years old.  What can I say, it felt good!  And my feet get filthy icky dirty wearing sandals and digging around in the dirt all day.  Actually, all of me gets pretty dirty.  Smears of dirt on my face and neck, sweat, dirt under my finger nails and toe nails, dirt and muck on my clothes, covered in Off and suntan lotion.  I'm really gross at pretty much every moment when I'm at the farm. 
• Picked eggplants from the Vegetable Garden and fried some eggplant for my lunch on Saturday.