Carefree Beauty January 31, 2016

I planted Carefree Beauty this past fall, so she is not very big.  Dark pink, semi-double blooms, and from what I've read, this rose is a good bloomer. I purchased Carefree Beauty from the Rose Emporium who sold it under the name of Katy Road Pink for many years assuming it was a found rose.  They discovered years later that it was a Griffith Buck rose.  So, it has an interesting history.

I planted this rose many years ago when I first built the Rose Garden.  That first season I killed about 10 roses by over-fertilizing them, and Carefree Beauty was among them.

Weekend at the Farm January 30 - 31, 2016

 The left side neighbors' dog and the right side neighbors' cat - making themselves at home.  I should discourage it, but I don't.

Arrived Friday afternoon.

• Walked all around the place looking at things.  Set all the sprinklers to water over night because it looks pretty dry.
• Bert and I sat in the cub cadet watching robins flying overhead in groups of twos and fives and tens, their red breasts glinting like bright lights in the waning sunlight.  So pretty.  We wondered where they would sleep that night and hoped they would return in the morning and sip water from our bird baths.
• Went to bed early, I was asleep by 7:30!
• Saturday morning, woke up at 7:00, took a walk around the perimeter of the place which is about 1 mile.
• Drove into Carmine to see if the feed store had cottonseed meal to fertilize my fruit trees, but no luck.
• Cut away some ginger debris in the Greenhouse Garden.  Raked in there as well.  
• Bert and I messed with the hoses so I could have a really long hose that reached the farthest area of the Orchard.  The young trees and the new trees really need to be watered with a hose in the summer.  I watered the Crabapple, 3 in 1 apple tree, the Jujube, the Mayhaw, and the four roses I planted a few weeks ago.  
• The day was so beautiful, I sat in the Orchard for a long time enjoying the weather.  Sunny and cool, perfect weather.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Shade Garden, the driveway, the Rose Garden, the Star Garden, the Medicine Garden, and the Orchard.
• Cut away ginger and canna debris in the Star Garden. 
• Watered in the Star Garden.
• Cleaned some of the furniture around the pool with some bleach water and a scrub brush.  It was in serious need of attention.  I'll do the rest tomorrow. 
• Rode around the property with Bert at dusk enjoying the cool evening air.
• Sunday morning took a walk around the property with Bert.
• Cut away more canna debris and carried it to the burn pile. I don't like those thick canes in my compost pile.
• Cleaned 3 more pieces of pool furniture with the scrub brush and bleach water.
• Cut back my morning glory tree down to the ground and hauled the dead branches to the burn pile.
• Cut away dead salvia. Cut off some dead canes on my roses.
• Jeff and Amy came by to show us their new dog.  Beautiful red and black shepherd puppy.  She quit her job and went back to school to get her masters in some sort of program related to landscaping / land management.  She is very interested in Texas natives, and she is returning her pasture land back to a native grassland.  Fascinating.  She just bought some hay bales of native grasses and spread them around her place.  They live just up the road.  
• Collected morning glory seeds off my dead vines in the Star Garden and spread them along one of the fence lines in the Orchard.
• Cut back the Castor Bean plants in the Star Garden.
• Fed the bees some sugar water. The hive looks pretty good to me.  Lots of activity.
• Cleaned the rest of the pool furniture.
• Took one last walk around the property and headed home.

Weekend at the Farm January 23 - 24, 2016

Arrived Friday night, Bert was already here.  Very cold, 27 degrees when we woke up on Saturday morning.  Brrr!  Left early on Sunday to grocery shop and cook.  Josh, Blake, Max, Nathan, Will and their spouses and kids came over for dinner.

• Bert and I went for a walk early Saturday morning, met up with our neighbor Ray and Hank the dog walking our trails, so we walked together.
• Made suet for the birds and put it in the freezer to harden:  Melted bacon grease from our grease can, corn meal, peanut butter, oatmeal, chopped pecans, sugar, and coconut left over from some long ago dessert.
• Turned over more of the beds in the Vegetable Garden so that the elbon rye will die before spring.  Almost finished with that task.
• Raked for a bit in the Star Garden and the Rose Garden. 
• Watered the Jujube that I planted last weekend and the four roses that I planted the week before.
• I've had all the water turned off so none of the sprinklers have been running.  But I ran all the zones this weekend.  It rained a little last weekend, but not enough to make a difference.
• Pruned my grape vines which took a couple of hours.  It's very absorbing work.

Weekend at the Farm January 16 - 17, 2016

This is White By The Gate Camellia.  It has a very long bloom season.  It blooms for about 4 weeks in the winter.  It is the whitest white I have every seen in the garden.  Beautiful.

•  Last week I ordered a stand with a grow light and a heating mat.  I bought 2 seed starting flats (each of them has 72 peat pots).  Before we left for Burton I planted some thyme, chives, pink coneflower, and white swan coneflower seeds in the peat pots and set up my grow light and heating mat.  I put the light on a timer so that it is on for bout 13 hours a day.  I only seeded one of the flats because I have seeds coming in the mail.  Three seed flats can fit under the light stand, so I will buy one more seed flat.  I ordered Panorama Mix bee balm, Gruppenblau salvia, Anise Hyssop, and Cheyenne Spirit Coneflower seeds to plant in the flats.  I have tried to grow seeds inside in peat pots before with no luck.  But this year I'm really doing it right with a grow light and a heating mat.  In the long run it will save a lot of money.
• Saturday I cleaned house while it rained all day.  Vacuumed the whole house, mopped everywhere, put down floor shine, vacuumed the base boards, above the door frames, the vents, cleaned the kitchen cabinets, cleaned the bathrooms, dusted, cleaned all the glass tables, etc.
• While it was raining I fertilized one of my banana shrubs behind the house.  It was looking kind of yellow. 
•  Took a long nap.
• Sunday morning I woke up to the sound of three gun shots.  Bert killed a skunk by the barn.
• We took a walk around the perimeter of the property.  
• Yesterday Bert went into Giddings and bought a huge bag of sugar.  I'm going to have to feed the bees a few times this winter.  Last spring was very hard on bees because it rained almost ever day.  They don't forage in the rain.  A few feedings will get them through the winter.
• Fed the bees.  I dissolved sugar into water with a one to one ratio (I eye-balled it) and poured it into a feeder that I set on top of the supers.  
• I turned over most of the beds in the Vegetable Garden so that the grass can begin to rot.  I can see that I will have to do it more than one time in order for all the grass to be turned under and rot.  
• Spent some time on the Boardwalk cutting back Mexicali Rose stems.  Mexicali Rose grows many long, single stems about 4 feet tall.  All the leaves drop off in the winter.  They look pretty interesting in the winter with their skeletal structure, actually.  But they take away from all the Spanish Bluebells that are beginning to emerge.  I have about 500 bluebells growing along the Boardwalk, and I didn't go to that much trouble just to have them obscured by the dormant Mexicali Rose!  The bluebells go dormant in the summer just when the Mexicali Rose starts to get really lush.  They are good companions as long as the Mexicali doesn't inhibit the bulbs from emerging.  I think if I could reverse time and never have planted one plant, it would be Mexicali.  It is unbelievably invasive.  But it's here now so I will work to control it.
• Weeded in the Orchard.
• Chased Rocky around for a while.  He likes to take one of my gloves and have me chase him around trying to grab it from his mouth.  It's our little game.
• Cut back a couple of Castor plants.  One of them was casting shade and crowding out one of my dwarf flowering almond shrubs. 
• Transplanted Moss Verbena seedlings growing in paths to various beds in the Rose Garden.
• I saw a huge pile of earth next to one of my roses, pushed there by voles as they dig new tunnels.  This newest tunnel they dug was the result of water that I poured down their tunnels last weekend.  So I ran water throughout the area and mushed down the earth to collapse their newest tunnel because if they create a den around my rose roots they will kill the rose.
• Headed home about 4.  

The Bark of the Mexican Plum Tree January 17, 2016

 

 Above, the Mexican Plum is the one in the background.

The Mexican Plum tree, in addition to producing wonderfully tasty plums, is a beautiful tree.  In particular, its bark is quite beautiful.  It is silvery-blue in color, and after a few years begins to peal in a very attractive manner.  I have three varieties of plum trees growing in the Orchard:  Black Plum, Beauty Plum, and Mexican Plum.

Day at the Farm January 10, 2016

 This is my new Joey avocado.  I have surrounded it with some cover to protect the green trunk until it develops some bark. 

Arrived Sunday morning.  Saturday I babysat the sweet Koy at the lake house while Josh and Amy went to tailgate and then attend the Texans playoff game.

• Friday I took the day off and went to the Arbor Gate.  I was hoping to buy my fruit trees there so that I would not have to attend the annual fruit tree sale at Urban Harvest.  Those big fruit tree sales are a nuisance, if you can avoid them that's great.  You arrive an hour early and stand in line in the freezing cold just so you can get the best trees before they sell out.  Last year I went to the fruit tree sale with Bert and I bought a 3-in-1 apple tree.  That was worth it because you cannot find a 3-in-1 except at a fruit tree sale.  
• I bought a Joey avocado tree.  Avocado trees are interesting.  The trunk has to be protected from the sun the first year or two because it is not woody for several years.  It is recommended that they be planted in pots the first year and protected from freezes.  I put mine in a pot in the Vegetable Garden in the shadiest location.  Then I drove 3 re-bars into the pots and tied a sheet around the re-bar with rubber bands.  If it does more than just dip below freezing this winter I will probably have to do more than that to protect it.
• I also bought a Sugarcane Jujube  Jujubes are described as being similar to dates.  Sugarcane is considered to be one of the sweetest.  I planted the Jujube in the bed where the Sam Houston peach was planted.
• Harvested rose hips.
• Transplanted 10 or so clumps of Moss Verbena seedlings growing in the paths to various places in the Rose Garden.

Four Days at the Farm December 31, 2015 - January 3, 2016

 This is my Vegetable Garden.  I planted Elbon Rye grass seed in all the beds and black plastic pots.  Elbon is supposed to trap and kill nematodes in its root system.  And in February I will turn over the soil and the rye grass will act as a green manure and replenish the soil.  Nematodes do not like rich soil.

New Year's Weekend.  Josh and Amy were in Anacoco, Mom, Dad, Nancy, and Lisa spent New Year's evening together, Josh and Blake stayed home with Sam, Max and Chelsea were partying somewhere.  Cold and wintery weekend.

• Thursday.  I did some raking, but mostly I picked up leaves that Bert blew into drifts.  I carted them in the wheelbarrow to the compost pile and the leaf pile.  I dumped quite a few loads into the area across from the Long Border.
• More of the daffodils have begun to pop up, mostly the ones I planted in previous years.  Established daffodils tend to emerge before daffodils planted in the current year.
• I spent some time cutting the remaining Philippine Lily seed heads off the dried stems and spreading the seeds around in half a dozen or so flower beds throughout the Star Garden.  It is supposed to rain over the next several days, so they should get a good start.
• I removed my Double White Angel Trumpet from the pot in which it was planted, and I set it in the ground.  Last spring I bought a tiny plant at the Round Top herb sale.  I had it in a pot by the pool for a while, but I could see that would be too dry.  So I moved it to a place where it could get some regular water.  I've been meaning for a while to transplant it directly into the ground, finally did it.  It is quite tall now, but it never branched out, and it never bloomed.  Next year will be a good year for it, I hope.
• Friday, New Year's Day.  Spent some time in the Orchard raking leaves into the blackberry beds.  I also spent about an hour cutting away dead blackberry canes.  Weeded.  My wildflower seedlings are coming along nicely.  Grey Boy kitty was on my back a lot of the time which slowed down my progress.  
• I have decided to plant four or so roses in the Orchard.  They take up space and I love them.  Too much to weed down there.  I'm thinking about planting G Nabonnand (an orange and pink blend), Baronne Henriette de Snoy (pink blend), Madame Berkley (apricot pink blend), Rubens (also a blend), and maybe McClinton tea (which is orangey and therefore different from most old roses). 
• I raked around the arobor where Bert had blown leaves into drifts, dumped them in the compost pile. 
• Raked out the Vegetable Garden.
• Loosened the soil along the walkway in the Infinity Garden and spread three packets of curly leaf parsley seed that I had soaked overnight.  If it sprouts I will have a very pretty green border along the walkway this spring and early summer - longer if I am conscientious about cutting it back when it goes to see.
• Saturday.  I went to Antique Rose Emporium and bought four roses.  Baronne Henriette de Snoy, a tea rose introduced in 1897, light pink fully double with a dark pink reverse.  I planted her in the bed with the 3-in-1 apple tree.  G. Nabonnand, a thornless tea rose introduced in 1883 with flowers that are a blend of salmon pink and yellow.  It is described as having an open growth habit which usually means it is scrawny looking.  But I'm interested in the blends, so I bought it.  I planted it in the bed with the plum tree.  Georgetown Tea is a "found" rose.  The flowers are fully double dark salmon pink.  I planted it in the bed where the peach tree used to be.  I left plenty of room for another fruit tree which I will replace probably this winter.  Finally, I bought Maggie.  Maggie is another found rose, although the rose experts think it might be the old Bourbon Eugene E. Marlitt.  I planted her in the long bed between the Southern Crabapple and the plum tree.  There was a Maggie rose blooming profusely at the Rose Emporium this morning, about a dozen dark pink flowers. 
•  I dug up some blackberry lily growing in a bucket in the Star Garden.  Not a moment too soon.  The soil in the bucket had very poor drainage, and the lily tubers were all rotting.  I salvaged a few and planted them directly in the ground.  Hopefully they will survive.
• I raked up some pine needles in the usual spot next to the Rose Garden and bunched them up around my new roses.  When we finally get a hard freeze they will need some protection.
• The Urban Harvest fruit tree sale is January 16.  I have 3 spots that I need planted.  Two of them are where my two peach trees were, and the other is an open spot that will share space with my Mayhaw.  They offer about 8 varieties of avocados.  I always thought avocados were not cold hardy, but I was wrong, in fact they are evergreen into the low 20s.  I'm also thinking about getting an Asian pear tree.  They are semi-self fruitful which is what I want because I only want one tree, I don't want to grow two pear trees.  And, if I can get to it before it is sold out I think I'm going to try a Sugarcane Jujube tree.  This one is self-fruitful with a very upright growth habit, perfect for planting in the big bed with the Mayhaw.
• Sunday.  Decided to transplant some double Tiger Lilies from their pot since the blackberry lilies were rotting.  But after some digging and feeling around, they seemed okay so I left them.  But I did move all the Philippine Lily seedlings that were growing on the top.