Days at the Farm July 23 - 24, 2015

This a pretty mallow flower.  They only bloom for a day and then they close.  You can pick them and bring them in the house or use them as a decoration on a present or a hat.  They don't need water.  They will stay fresh all day and close up and die at dusk.

Took Thursday and Friday as vacation.  Bert and I baby sat for Ollie and Wes Wednesday evening.  I arrived at Burton Thursday around noon.  Stayed until Friday afternoon.  Went to see Motown  with Bert, Nan, and Lisa Friday evening.

• Stopped at Arbor Gate on the way to Burton.  I wanted to ask about a Catalpa tree.  I've been looking for one for a while.  Southern Catalpas are native to the southeast.  They grow to about 40 feet.  They have large leaves and they bloom orchid-like clusters of white flowers in June / July.  What makes Catalpas interesting is that they are the larval food for the sphinx moth.  The larva of the sphinx moth are called  catalpa worms.  They are used in the south for fishing.  Sometimes the tree is call fish bait tree, also called cigar tree because the pods are long and thick like a cigar. So it is a pretty interesting tree.  
• Pulled up weeds around my sassafras tree.  Sassafras needs acidic soil which I do not have, so mine has gotten really yellow.  I spread fertilizer and mulched with a bag of grass clippings that I brought from home.  That should help.
• I cut away lot of hoja santa that was popping up in my paths.  Hoja santa has huge leaves.  I lay the leaves down in various places in my flowerbeds.  They do a pretty good job of killing the weeds underneath them as they decompose.  And the decomposed leaves are good for the soil as well. 
• Weeded in the shady part of the Star Garden.  
• Swam for a while.
• Pulled up the last three tomato plants and threw the tops in the compost pile.  I threw the roots in the trash pile - the roots were as thick as my fingers and knobby - nematodes had completely infested them.  
• Harvested all my peanuts.  That was a lot of fun.  I've never grown them before.  I'm drying them out and I'm going to roast them. 
• Up early Friday morning.  Laid down some mulch in the Medicine Garden where I weeded last weekend.
• Watered the pots by the pool.
• Noticed the sprinklers didn't come on in the Rose Garden, so I twiddled around with those for about 30 minutes.  Finally moved the timer from the Greenhouse garden over to the Rose Garden.  The Rose Garden is in full sun, so it needs water more than the Greenhouse gardens do.  I will have to buy a new set up before I come back.  
• Worked in the Vegetable Garden for awhile.  Sprayed herbicide.  That fungus is all over the paths in the Vegetable Garden, so I am battling that right now.  I pulled weeds, loosened the soil in the big bed and a few of the smaller beds and planted Cleome and marigolds.  I also planted some Hyacinth Bean seeds so I can get some pretty flowers on the arbor for the fall.
• Went down to the Orchard and spent about an hour cutting away dead blackberry canes.  It looks worlds better in there.  I have spent time in the Orchard for the last 3 weekends cleaning up.  Big improvement.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Star Garden paths.
• Weeded in the Star Garden.
• Watered my young roses in the Rose Garden.  
• Fed the bees which involves putting on the bee suit, opening the hive, putting the feeder in the hive, pouring sugar water into the feeder, and putting the lid back on the hive.
• Headed home to get ready for the theater.