Belinda's Dream is my best bloomer.
Monday, November 23, 2020
Roses November 23, 2020
Morning Glories November 23, 2020
We still haven't had our first freeze, so the morning glories are going strong. The blue is so vivid in cool temperatures.
Saturday, November 21, 2020
French Marigolds in the Vegetable Garden November 21, 2020
French marigolds deter nematodes. I have a real problem with nematodes because the soil around here is very sandy, and nematodes thrive in sandy soil. So I always buy seeds in the spring and sow them in the Vegetable Garden as soon as the weather starts to get warm in very early March - at the same time as I set out my tomatoes. But it isn't until fall that marigolds really start to get going. They are so pretty in the fall.
Striking Castor Plant November 21, 2020
This is a true old fashioned plant and very dramatic-looking. This stand of castor is growing behind my Vegetable Garden. It comes up from seed every spring. I haven't purposely planted it since the first year I grew it. The spiny red balls become a cluster of seeds. They drop to the ground and there you have it. Next spring a whole new stand of castor. All parts of the castor plant are extremely poisonous (which is interesting since castor oil is made from castor). As a vole deterrent, I have recently begun to plant seeds around the little plants I plant in the Rose Garden. They eat the roots as they try to get to the roots of my good plants - and they die (at least that's what I hope is happening). I think it is helping save some of my plants, but I need more time to see if my plan is really working. I know that vole and mole repellent is made from castor, so I think I'm on to something. And obviously, I have a lot of castor, so I'm set as far as repellent goes!
Pretty Tabasco Pepper Plant in the Vegetable Garden
This is a fun pepper to grow because it is so pretty - the peppers turn yellow, then orange, then red. This pepper plant is a heavy producer. I don't pull up the plants at the end of the year. I let them freeze and then stand there all winter. The peppers will dry up and drop their seed. The next spring I will have lots of volunteers. I keep one or two that have sprung up in a good spot, and I pull up the rest. Bert chops them up and eats them in his eggs. One year I pickled some, they were pretty good. But I am not a fan of fresh peppers.
At the Farm During the Pandemic November 15 - 20, 2020
We arrived on Sunday after Kim and friends left.
- I pulled up the last of the zinnias in the Rose Garden. They were pretty tuckered out.
- I lost some plants to the voles while I was gone. A lantana and one of my Heliopsis. I sowed seed in their place. My recollection is that I have sown wildflower seeds this late in the season, but so far I'm not getting good germination. Too cold? Not sure, I think not. We'll see.
- Monday. Worked.
- More of the same activity - sowing seed and I pulled up ageratum in the Star Garden.
- Tuesday. We were going to rent a shredder from Home Depot but Carol offered us her tractor and bush hog instead. What a kind gesture! The one we were going to rent was a push mower-type. We see (now that we are finished) mowing the Meadow would have taken a huge effort with the push mower. Carol's offer was a godsend. Mission accomplished, the Meadow has been mowed. All the dead, thick sticks are gone. I want to throw out all my wildflower seed, but I want to do it when we are going to have some rain. However, there is no rain in sight.
- Tuesday evening I pulled up more tired zinnias and ageratum.
- Wednesday. Worked.
- Before work I went out to the Meadow with a partial pound bag of Tall Poppy Mallow and a quarter pound of Butterfly Milkweed ( that stuff is expensive! All I could afford was a quarter pound.) and sowed it in the upper Meadow. I set the sprinkler on it.
- My current thought is that I will focus on Monarch butterflies for my wildlife management plan next year when I am required to put it together and get it approved by the Washington County people. But I don't know anything about what is required in a wildlife management plan, so maybe that is impractical. The milkweed seed is very, very expensive and the germination success rate is only 60%. But it is a perennial plant. I have a lot of milkweed (a different kind than what I sowed in the Meadow) in my Star Garden and Rose Garden this year and I had many, many Monarchs in late summer and fall. Plant it, and they will come.
- During lunch I pulled up lots of ageratum and some wedelia in the Star Garden. And I cut away some of the blue mist monster so that I could walk through that path. I sowed Ox Eye daisy, moss verbena, and red poppy seeds in the open spots.
- Thursday. Worked.
- During lunch I went down to the Orchard and pulled weeds in the Satsuma bed, the iris bed at the front of the Orchard, and the Jujube bed. Dollar weed is really bad in the Jujube bed. I painstakingly teased it up by the underground runners and pulled it up. I spread seed in the Jujube bed and the Celeste bed. The Orchard needs some work - raking mostly - and some weeding. I will hit it this weekend. This weekend will be one of the first weekends in many, many months that we will be here at the farm. I'm really looking forward to it.
- Friday. Worked.
- During lunch I went down to the Orchard and raked. I got almost all of the leaves raked up. Still a little more work to do. I dumped the leaves into one of my compost bins.
Thursday, November 19, 2020
Yuletide Camellia November 19, 2020
Yuletide was so pretty this morning. I walked out that direction to set the sprinkler on the milkweed I just sowed, and the flowers were so bright and cheery.
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Some Flowers Blooming Now November 18, 2020
This canna bud looked so pretty this morning, just emerging from the green sheath that surrounds it.
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