My Paw Paw Harvest and Baking Paw Paw Bread August 27, 2020

 

This year I had so many paw paws on my tree.  This is only about a third of them.  The rest are higher up in the the tree than I can reach.  Paw paws taste a little like bananas, so I thought I could make banana bread with them but substitute paw paws for bananas.  They have a lot of large seeds for such a small fruit.  I peeled them and then I pressed the mushy fruit through a sieve in order to separate the seeds from the pulp.  All in all a pretty painstaking effort.  But at least I can say I have harvested my paw paws and eaten them. 

At the Farm During the Pandemic August 24 - 30, 2020

 

Above, this is butterfly ginger, poke salad and colocasia.

• Monday.  Worked.
• I planted several of the lantanas in the Rose Garden that I bought on Sunday.
• The voles ate the roots off of one of my Milkweed plants in the Rose Garden.  I ran the hose down into the soil in four places trying to chase them off (drown them hopefully).  The earth crumbled away, the den down below was huge.  
• Watered by hand the Long Border and nearby beds and the Greenhouse Garden beds.  I ran the hose down vole holes around the Sweetshrub tree next to the Greenhouse.
• I planted two lantana in the Orchard.  Up to this point I've planted all of the lantana in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden and Front Bed.  Mostly it's because I don't want to trudge down there every day to water them until they get established.  But it's done now.
• I planted a red / orange lantana amongst my orangey-red cannas (can't pull the name out at this very instant) in the Long Border.
• I pulled up most of the pink zinnias in the Long Border that were growing close to the front of the bed, and I planted a group of three pink / yellow lantanas.
• Butterflies are plentiful and entertaining.  What a great time of year (for butterflies, certainly not the temperature!).
• Picked okra - every day twice a day.
• After work I cleaned up one of the boxes attached to the arbor where I have a Ballerina rose growing.  I've decided to try and baby my two Ballerina roses through the summer and winter to see if I can restore them to their former beauty.  I cut back the moss verbena growing underneath one of them and cut away dead wood.  I'm not done with that, I need my loppers to get the thick canes.  Pulled some weeds.  Hand-watered both Ballerinas and the Fortune's Double and the roses nearby.
• Planted the remaining Mexican sedums and lantanas in the Rose Garden. 
• Picked some more paw paws. 
• Tuesday.  Worked.  
• Did the usual watering.
• Did some light weeding in the Orchard.
• Picked okra.
• During lunch I staked a lot of plants.  I staked several stands of perennial ageratum and several unruly branches of Pringle Aster and one of my Philippine Lily scapes in the Star Garden.  I also staked a rosemary that I moved a couple of months ago (I can't even remember where it used to be planted) in the middle bed of the Star Garden.  It was leaning over so I straightened it up.  I also staked a stand of ageratum in the front bed because it was leaning into a rosemary.  Then I staked the rosemary because it was leaning to get out of the way of the ageratum.
• I put a chicken wire cage around some zinnia seedlings in the middle bed of the Star Garden.
• I cut the coneflower to the ground in the back bed and spread the seeds.
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• I had a stand of Four O'Clocks growing up on the other side of the path that runs along the Long Border.  They were just bulbs that I dug up last year some time and threw over there half expecting them to die.  But, being Four O'Clocks, they didn't die.  They were about two feet tall and gasping from the heat.  Although they would have survived they looked horrible. I didn't love them enough to expend energy watering them, and most importantly, they were obscuring the view of a wonderful hollow log laying in that same space.  I pulled up (if possible) or cut down all of them.  It looks so much better over there.  These kind of things are always so difficult in 98 degree temperatures that they are worth mentioning because they are hard work.
• Next I pulled up all the scraggly zinnias that were growing in front of the Fortunes Double rose.  I scattered the seeds in the same area.  Maybe they will sprout and bloom before the first freeze.  I weeded in there as well.
• Thursday.  Worked half a day in the afternoon.  
• I amended the soil with compost in one of the big beds in the Vegetable Garden.  I sowed green beans.  They germinate in about 5 days and will be ready to harvest in 60 days.  So we will get a good harvest before the first freeze.  I'm still getting lots of okra.  And the poblano and jalapeno peppers and eggplant are still prolific - they love the heat.  The sunflowers are still blooming, and those that have finished blooming are drying out so that I can get the seeds.  And the amaranth seed heads are just sprouting.  I don't have a lot of space right now.  If I can find a little bit more space for another packet of green beans and some arugula I will be happy.  After the okra is pulled up I can start my vegetables that I over-winter.  The seeds are sown now and they grow a little through the winter and get their root systems started.  Then in the early spring they grow quickly.  Beets and parsnips and kale are examples of that.
• I did some weeding in the Vegetable Garden.  I staked the poblano peppers.  I pulled up a bunch of basil and cut some away from the paths.  Deadheaded zinnias.
• I weeded in the Orchard.
• I weeded in the Star Garden.
• I watered thoroughly in the Greenhouse Garden and the Rose Garden.  Set my sprinklers in the places I thought would most cover all my tender new transplants.  Drove home to Houston.  Airbnb guests on the weekend (every weekend from now through the first weekend in November.  Yuck - the money is good but the stress is for the birds.  Koy and Cleo stayed with me for the weekend.

Grandpa Ott Morning Glory in the Vegetable Garden August 24, 2020

 Below, okra and Grandpa Ott morning glory.  This reseeds every year.  I have to pull up zillions of seedlings in the spring because I don't want the morning glory to take over until summertime.  In the spring I want beans or some other edible on that arbor.  The seedlings keep coming, so there are always enough seedlings to start my vines after the edibles have been pulled up.

What a gorgeous purple color!

At the Farm During the Pandemic August 17 - 23, 2020

 I just love Mellow Yellow Hibiscus!  So reliable, but I never have figured out why - is it reseeding?  Or coming up from the roots?- I am never left with a root ball at the end of winter, so I can't see how it is coming up from the roots.  But then that means those little seeds it produces are really persistent.  

• Finally back at the farm after 2 groups of Airbnb guests back to back.  We got here Sunday afternoon.  I changed sheets and watered gardens.
• Monday.  Worked.
•  I watered in the Greenhouse Gardens.  The azaleas were looking pretty peaked.  I watered the hydrangeas and the Mexican Buckeyes.
• Pulled the hose over to the Vegetable Garden and watered the sunflowers and my little senna tree.
• I planted Pirates Pearls in the Rose Garden.  And I planted some more lantanas.  Deadheaded zinnias and spread the seed.  Pumped water down vole holes with the end of the hose.  More work to do there.  
• I made 2 chicken wire enclosures and surrounded some zinnia seeds that I sowed in the back bed near the pool.
• I made a partial chicken wire enclosure around one of my rose beds where the deer are eating my roses.  I swear, it's like a war around here with the voles, the deer and the armadillos.
• I smoothed the soil in the Kitchen Herb Garden - totally messed up from armadillos, sowed a bunch of catnip (because I had it on hand) and laid down chicken wire.  Staked it down in 6 places.
• I weeded in the Star Garden for quite a while.  I cut back all the Obedient Plant, it was done blooming.  
• The hurricane lilies are beginning to bloom.  I was hoping they would hold off for several more weeks.  Maybe these are just a couple of confused bulbs.
• I planted a Mexican Turks Cap.  This plant has really large flowers that look to me like red hibiscus flowers that never fully open.  Surrounded it with chicken wire.
• Tuesday.  Worked.
• Watered in the Rose Garden.
• Planted the last of the lantanas in the Rose Garden that I brought with me from Houston.  Weeded for a while.  I also planted a tiny Powder Puff shrub in the Star Garden.  I saw it at the Arobor Gate.  They were selling them in little 4 inch pots.  That's a steal of deal if I can keep it alive long enough to see it grow to a large shrub.  They are loved by hummingbirds.  I spread the last of the zinnia seeds that I bought last week.
• Picked okra.  I check on my okra every day, twice a day.  It grows so fast! 
• After work I worked about an hour in the Star Garden.  My focus was cutting plants away from the paths, staking plants, deadheading salvia and basil, and weeding.  I wheeled my wheel barrow along with me and dumped the debris in that.  I made pretty good progress.
• After dinner I went out to the Rose Garden and deadheaded all the salvias.  We want a good fall show of flowers!
• I swam in the pool after it got dark.  I love the water at that time of the evening.  Everything is so still.
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• There was a little cool front, and I was out early to water in the Rose Garden, the Greenhouse Gardens, and the Long Border.
• During lunch I drove in to town to Home Depot.  I bought more chicken wire, 8 rebar, 3 packages of bamboo stakes, and some zinnias.  Lots of work to do warding off armadillos, rabbits, voles, and deer.
• After work I went out and weeded.  I cut back my Indigo Spires in the Star Garden so that I can get one more flush of flowers in the fall.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Orchard and here and there in the Star Garden.
• Set the sprinklers in some dry spots.
• Thursday.  Worked.
• Another cool morning.  I was out by 6:45 watering.  I watered all my new lantana, Mexican Sedum, and Pirate's Pearls.  Then I watered in the Greenhouse Gardens.  And I watered my sunflowers in the dry part of the Vegetable Garden.
• I staked my Pride of Barbados that I planted several months ago down by the Orchard.  It is going gangbusters, but it was leaning over.  
• I sowed zinnias in the front flower bed and surrounded them with chicken wire.  The reason I sow so many zinnias is because they start getting gangly and scabby-looking after awhile.  So it's good to have lots of them growing in succession so you can pull up the ugly ones and still have lots of blooms. 
• The butterfly season is here.  August is the big month for butterflies.  Right now I see lots of the black ones (there are three kinds of black swallowtails, and I can't tell the difference amongst them.  Monarchs and sulphurs are abundant as well.  I'm ready for my Monarchs - lots of milkweed this year.  And my little senna tree and Turks Cap for the Sulphurs.  I have not seen a Julia this year.  Or a Zebra Longwing. 
• I made improvements to my anti-deer contraption that I set up around one of my roses that the deer seem to be particularly fond of by adding more chicken wire roof to the cage I made.  
• I gathered up a bunch of African Hostas and planted them in the area where I dug up all the Montbretia in the shady part of the Star Garden.  I have no idea how that Monbretia ended up there.  It left a big empty spot.  So I planted some African Hostas and put a chicken wire cage around them.  The armadillos really like that bed.
• Drove to Houston and gathered outside the Buckingham gates with Dad, Mom, Bert, Nancy, Josh and Amy, and Max for a brief birthday champagne toast for Dad's birthday.   We were all in masks and standing apart.  This is so crazy. 
• Friday.  Worked.  I was going to take the day as vacation if the temperature was as nice as it was on Wednesday and Thursday.  But alas, it was back to the same warm morning.
• Watered, spent a lot of time watering the Ballerinas and the Fortune's Double.  The Ballerinas don't look good.  I'm wondering if I can baby them and rejuvenate them or if I should just dig them out and get rid of them and start over.  They used to be so beautiful.
• I watched a cardinal sitting in my Harlequin Glorybower and eating berries off the Beautyberry growing underneath.  I've never seen that before. I had no idea they ate those berries.  
• Weeded here and there.  
• Since there has been no rain the rain barrels had almost no water (and so they were not really heavy), so I turned them over to get rid of the green dregs.  Refilled them.
• Bert picked the boys up and they spent the weekend with us.  Blake is recovering from her surgery.
• It rained a light rain for a couple of hours on Saturday morning.  Not really enough to revive anything in the woods, but better than nothing.
• We are in the last, horrible days of summer when you think you can't go on because it's so hot and dry!  It's really tough.  But I know that, in another month there will be just the littlest bit of relief and then fall will be here and - happiness again!
• Sunday Josh and the girls came up and we all swam all morning.  They left about 1:00.
• After I drove the boys home I went to the Arbor Gate and bought some MORE lantana and several Mexican Sedums.
• When I got back to the farm I surrounded one of my beds in the shady part of the Star Garden with chicken wire.  I have a young camellia and lots of Philippine Lily seedlings in the bed.  The armadillos were tearing it up.  So I fixed them!
• I hand-watered my Fortune's Double and the Ballerina roses.
• I went down to the Orchard and worked in there for a couple of hours.  Mostly I just cut my Coneflower down to the ground and spread all the seed.  I have so many Coneflower plants that it took a really long time.  Hopefully I will get a good fall flush.  But, despite having zillions of them and getting a beautiful summer flush of flowers, I don't have any experience with them beyond that.  They don't bloom until the second year - and this is the second year.  I pulled weeds, but there weren't many weeds.  I cut back one of the (many) salvias down there.  I need to spray herbicide on the paths, that is about to be a Defcon 5 situation.  I watered the Tuscan Blue Rosemary that I planted a couple of weeks ago.  I watched a caterpillar munch away on the fennel growing down there. Picked a few grapes. 
• Picked okra. 
• I picked a bunch of paw paws off my tree.  I'm going to make banana bread except with paw paws.  They have a very similar taste. 
• That was it for Sunday evening.    

Malabar Spinach August 17, 2020

 I thought I would give Malabar Spinach a try.  They had some in the nursery and I bought two just for fun.  Malabar can be a perennial, but not in my zone.  Apparently it really likes heat, so it should be fine through August , September and October.  I planted them on the front arbor right in the gravel.  Not a very hospitable location, but they have already started climbing.  They will form seed and drop seed, so maybe I will have some volunteers next year.  

  

Lantana August 18, 2020

 I am currently in a passionate love affair with lantana.  It appears to be deer resistant (the leaves have a strong odor, slightly citrus if I had to describe it) because I have seen no evidence of them eating any of it.   I have been planting them throughout the summer.  I just planted a few more today - in this heat I think I can safely be described as an optimist, because it will be an effort to keep them alive!  The Rose Garden looks really good in the spring, but in the summer it looks pretty barren.  I have been needing to plant some perennials, and they need to be real heat lovers as well as fairly drought tolerant.  Lantanas check those boxes.  There are a lot more varieties now than there used to be:  pink-yellow, red, white-yellow, pale yellow, orange-red.  I have some Henry Duelberg salvias in the Rose Garden that are doing very well.  I sowed those from seed and transplants from other gardens.  And I have also been planting Mexican Sedum (I love the bright yellow foliage) as a drought tolerant ground cover.  I'd say that the Rose Garden in August looks better that it ever has.  This has been made possible because I am living here and so I can drag sprinklers around every day rather once a week.

      

Fruity Pebbles Lantana August 17, 2020

 This lantana is so cool!  Love it!  The flowers are pretty - lavender, typical lantana structure.  But what makes this plant so neat are the seed heads.  Bees are particularly drawn to blue/lavender colored flowers.  They will go to other plants of course, but the science has shown they display a preference for blue.  You can see a bumble bee on the flower in the picture below.

Look at these interesting-looking seed heads!  And they form pretty purple seeds.  

You can see from the bamboo stake in this picture that i meant to tie it up.  Never got around to tying it.  This lantana variety wants to grow tall rather than grow from side to side.  

Sweet Autumn Clematis 17, 2020

 I planted this several months ago and it really took off.  Very different from other perennial vines.  There is a garden saying about perennial vines:  The first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps.  But Sweet Autumn Clematis really leaped for me the first year!  What a wonderful, sweet smell.

At the Farm During the Pandemic August 3 - 17, 2020

This is a close up of a Black Seeded Moudry grass seed head.  I love grasses.

• Monday.  Worked.
• Before work started I watered the Long Border with the new hose set-up that Bert made for me.
• Pulled a few weeds.
• The timer is already broken in the Rose Garden. It won't go past station 2, and station 2 won't shut off.  I will have to buy a new timer before next week because we have Airbnb guests coming all next week.  Those things are such a nuisance.
• Picked more okra.  I have a bagful of okra now.  I have to do something with it (yuck).  Okra is pretty much the only thing that will grow in hot weather - amaranth and sunflowers and okra.  
• I did a lot of basil dead heading.  I grow basil because the bees LOVE the flowers.  I have lots of basil growing in the Rose Garden and the Vegetable Garden.  
• Sprayed herbicide in the Rose Garden.  Only in a few spots that I obviously missed last time I sprayed.
• I sprayed here and there in the Orchard in spots that I missed last time.
• I weeded along the Boardwalk.  And I pulled up lots of Mexicali Rose that was growing in places where it should not be growing.
• I spent some time cleaning up in the Kitchen Herb garden.  I cut back messy mint and pulled weeds.
• Sprayed herbicide here and there in the Star Garden.
• Sprayed here and there in the Vegetable Garden.
• Staked one of my sunflowers.
• Tuesday.  Worked.
• Weeded here and there.  
• Staked a few plants to get them out of the paths.
• Watered.
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• Deadheaded zinnias, threw the seed heads in thegarden.
• Bert and I went to dinner at Volare's in town.
• Thursday.  Worked.
• Sprayed herbicide on the driveway.
• Watered the pots.  Trimmed things out of the paths.  
• I staked my Rudbeckia outside the dining room window.
• Went down to the Orchard and weeded for a bit.  Not much was needed.
• Friday.  Worked.
• Went down to the Orchard and picked a few grapes.  
• Picked okra.  I have a sackful.  
• My zinnia seeds finally showed up.  Mail has been unpredictable since all this coronavirus sickness started.
•  Saturday.  We had Airbnb guests coming on Sunday, so I cleaned the house, cleared out our stuff and left for Houston.  They stayed until Thursday.  
• We had more guests arrive on Friday.  I took Thursday as vacation, drove to the farm to water my gardens.  The maid cleaned the house.  Back to Houston for the weekend.

White Turks Cap August 1, 2020

 It's not as showy as the red Turks Cap, but I thought it really popped this morning.  It's a great plant under deciduous tree canopies such as the way I have it growing.  It spreads vigorously.  It is a larval plant for Hairstreak and Sulphur butterflies.  Hummingbirds love it.  It does not seem to be particular about sun - I have red, pink and white Turks Cap varieties, and all of them are growing in sunny and shady spots. Also, the seeds pods are edible.  They look like tiny apples, and they taste a bit like an apple (except pithier).   

Sunflowers! August 5, 2020