Weekend at the Farm August 24-25, 2013

I thought several times throughout the weekend that it might rain, but alas no.  It's really dry.

• I spent a lot of time in the Rose Garden on Saturday morning.  I watered all the roses and many of the plants in the Long Border with the hose.  I pruned all the roses too.  Cutting them back at the end of summer will encourage a good flush of flowers for the fall. Weeded.  I also used the blower and cleaned out all the debris in the Rose Garden.  That looks good! I usually rake the Rose Garden, but my husband suggested I use the leaf blower, and it is a huge improvement over raking.  
• Deadheaded zinnias.  
• Trimmed the wisteria.  I used the ladder to trim around the entire arbor.  I had to use hand clippers because I waited too long and the vines were too thick to use hedge clippers.  This was an involved project.  Move the ladder, climb up the ladder, cut a foot of vines, climb down the ladder, move the ladder.  Looks good, though.
• I put tomato cages around the two Spicebush shrubs, the two Althea starts, and the Pearlbush.  An armadillo had dug up one of the Spicebushes - it wasn't dead, but I decided to I had better try to protect them.  Last weekend I found my Veilchenblau completely dug up and possibly dead.  I stuck it back in the ground, but I'm not sure it will survive.
• Ran the hose over my hurricane lilies and all the shrubs in the Circle.  The hurricane lilies are popping up out of the ground, and a few are blooming. 
• Picked up bluebell bulbs that had been been turned up by the armadillos.  Replanted them in the Shade Garden.  There must be 100 of them exposed on the ground.  I need to get around to replanting all of them.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Vegetable Garden, the Rose Garden, the Star Garden, around the front of the house, around the pool, and in the Orchard.
• Watered the Cigar Plant.  It isn't getting much water since we changed out the soaker hoses around the pool.
• Watered the Mexican Buckeye trees and the azaleas in the Greenhouse Garden.  
• I'm going to have to buy a new sprinkler timer set for the Greenhouse Garden. One of the valves won't open.  
• Deadheaded the Cockscomb in the Vegetable Garden and threw them in the Star Garden.  Hopefully I will get some seedling starts.
• Watered all the shrubs in the Star Garden and the Greenhouse Garden.
• Trimmed the Indigo Spires salvia.
• On Sunday my husband and I cleared some more of the land across from the Circle.  You can see most of the Rose Garden from the front porch now.  This involves cutting yaupon, pulling vines out of the trees (that have extremely large stickers) dragging dead trees and branches out of the woods, loading all of it into the back of the cub cadet, hauling it to the burn pile about twenty times.  We are about one third complete.  Whew!  It's going to look good, and I think it will allow more breeze into the yard.   Got poked in the eye with a branch.  Painful for a long time.
• Weeded, weeded, weeded.
•  Swam after dinner on Saturday night. 
• Came home Sunday afternoon with scratches on my legs, arms, and four of my finger pads throbbing from stickers broken off under the skin.