Cleo's first birthday on Saturday, to the farm after that. Bitter cold weather all weekend and drizzles on and off.
- My main activity for Sunday was pruning roses. It was so cold that the tips of my fingers would start to ache. Inside to warm up, back outside to prune roses.
- I managed to prune my Franziska Kruger (which needed a lot of pruning) and my Archduke Charles and Marie d Orleans (which required very little pruning) before I retreated back into the house. Brr! All of those roses are in flower beds around the house.
- After lying on the couch for twenty minutes trying to relax, I popped up and decided to plant the roses I brought with me. Cold be damned!
- I filled the wheelbarrow with compost from my compost pile and planted four Perl d' Or roses along the front of the house. I got rid of the shrubs that were planted there. Bert wrapped a tow strap around each of them and pulled them out of the ground with the cadet. He did several last weekend, and he pulled out four Sunday morning. I had one more spot in the bed on the left side of the house to plant and I planted three in the bed on the right side of the house. I filled each of the holes with compost and mixed it in real well - there is a lot of clay and sand in those beds if you dig down a foot or so because they are so near the house. I have enough space to put in two more Perl d'Or roses or maybe I will do something different. I haven't decided. Very shortly I will order my Strawberry Candy Daylilies to plant between the roses.
- I had some compost left so I wheeled it over to the Vegetable Garden. I planted my Yukon Gold seed potatoes sitting in scoops of compost. I have never planted potatoes so early, but I think they will be fine. Even if we have another freeze and they have sprouted, it won't kill the plant.
- I went out to the Rose Garden and fertilized roses until I ran out of fertilizer. There are still a dozen or so roses in the Rose Garden, several in the Star Garden, the roses in the front beds, and the roses in the Orchard that I still need to fertilizer. I also need to fertilize my fruit trees. And I always throw fertilizer on everything else. Spring is an expensive time of year for fertilizer, but necessary. Certainly, if you're going to grow fruit trees and roses, and you're going to care for them all year, spring is not the time to blow off that tender loving care. Two years ago I bought a huge pile of compost, and I side-dressed everything. That is really good too, but a heck of a lot more work.
- While I was there I pruned my Belinda's Dreams, several of my young roses (lightly), Mrs. Dudley Cross, Heritage, La Vesuve, Cadenza, and Graham Thomas. I might be finished. The old roses don't really need pruning, but I like to take off a little every year - at least to neaten up their shape. And definitely I always remove dead wood and crossing branches.
- I walked around the Orchard. The day lilies are coming up. I love their little green pointy sprouts. The roses are loaded with leaf buds. And my three-in-one apple tree has lots of flower buds. So now is the time I begin hoping we have no more freezes or I lose all my fruit. The branches on my Lider #9 Satsuma are still green even though all the leaves have fallen off. Looks like it might have survived our sustained freezes several weeks ago.
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