Time at the Farm February 14 - 21, 2022

This is an early bloom on my dwarf flowering almond shrub.

Arrived during the lunch hour on Monday.

• After work I spent a bit of time cutting white mist flower to the ground in the Star Garden.  I have paperwhites growing up amongst the white mist flower (a shrubby perennial) and I don't want them obscured.
• Watered a bit in the Greenhouse Gardens.
• Watered in the Vegetable Garden.  I see that the last few precious carrots that the voles had not eaten when I was here last are all gone.  I am hoping for germination from the ones I sowed last week or else I will have none at all for my grandkids.  The artichoke I was growing has also been pulled under by the cursed voles.  They seem to love artichoke, so I have consistent failures with that plant.  I should really grow them in a bucket if I want them to survive to maturity.
• I cut up my seed potatoes.  I've read that rolling them in sulfur is important (I have never done that, and I have had perfectly fine potato crops), but recently I read that they can be dusted with fireplace ashes as well.  I have lots of that on hand because we have a fire burning in the fireplace all winter long.  So I dusted then with ashes and set them on the dryer in the laundry room to dry out for a couple of days. 
• The first flower on my flowering almond has bloomed.  Spring will be here soon.
• Tuesday.  Worked. 
• Before work I walked around the place.
• During lunch I watered all the pots around the pool and in the Medicine Garden.  
• I cut the Almond Verbena down to the ground and carried all the debris to the fire pit.
• The cadet stopped running.  A major blow.  I have no interest in putting anymore money into it, we have had it since 2007 or shortly after that.  And this time Bert seems to agree.  So time to look for a new one or a gently used one.  Until then, I will have to rely on my wheelbarrow which is a great deal more work when I'm mulching.
• I used the loppers and cut all the Blue Mist Flower to the ground along the front edge of the Star Garden.  It was covered in fluffy seeds, and my hair looked white when I was done.  Threw it in the fire pit, too many seeds to throw in an erosion spot.  I would not want it to take root in the wild / native parts of the property.  I couldn't have done that anyway because the cadet isn't running in order to drive the load down the road.
• I carried some long landscape rocks over to the Rose Garden.  I had pulled them out of one of the back beds last week and they were sitting in the yard unused.  I am using them to edge a bed.
• Turned the compost piles.
• I began mulching the Long Border because it is closest to the mulch pile.  With no truck available to me, I would have to push the wheelbarrow all the way to the other side of the property, and that is an acre away.  I mulched around a couple of my Altheas, and I pulled the dead vegetation off some nearby crinums and mulched around those.
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• Walked around the property before work.
• During lunch I worked in the front bed.  I raked out leaves, trimmed back a clump of Siberian iris, pruned a rose, spread out soil that was turned over from armadillos.  Spread mulch.  Laid down chicken wire over the mulch and secured it with long plastic stakes.
• I continued mulching in the Long Border.  I cut away dead vegetation, raked away debris and laid down several wheelbarrows of mulch.
• I set up my armadillo traps because the weather will be warm for the rest of the week.  I set up one in the front bed where I just laid down mulch.  And I set one up right at a hole under the shed where they are coming in.  
• I tried to do some raking, but it was too windy.
• After work I spent about 45 minutes in the Shade Garden.  All the white snakeroot vegetation has to be removed.  That's easy, the thin branches just snap off right at soil level.  If it comes back (it is a tender perennial), it comes up from the roots.  I got most of it cleared out, but since it is everywhere (it is an aggressive re-seeder) in that garden, I will be removing dead vegetation for a while.  All the dead ginger vegetation has to be removed. I got most of it cleared out.  I picked up lots of sticks that had fallen from the trees.  I pruned a few Beautyberry shrubs.  I made good progress, but I'm not done by a long shot.  I have to cut away all the fern dead vegetation.  I need to cut and poison the yaupon that has sprung up.  I need to cut away the Giant Ligularia dead vegetation.  And I need to dig up greenbriar vines.  Other than that, a little raking, and if I can spare it, some mulch around all my foundation plants in there.  Then that garden will be good to go for a year.  It is my easiest garden.  The only thing that really needs to be done after that through the summer is to clear the colocasia that spreads into the paths. 
• The Spanish bluebells have popped up in the Shade Garden along the edge of the driveway.     
• Thursday.  Worked.
• Walked around the property before work.  
• During lunch I did wildlife management tax exemption work.  I cut down about 15 really tall yaupon along the edge of the meadow.  The area I was working in is a sweet spot.  There are some really tall thick yaupons and not very many small ones.  I cut them down, poisoned the cut and dragged them out to the road.  Took a picture to document.  Then I cut them in half and dragged them to a nearby brush pile.  Took a picture.  Both activities - cutting down yaupon and building brush piles - are part of my wildlife management plan.  The reason I call it a sweet spot is because once the big yaupons have been dragged out you are left with a little (very little) mini clearing.   No small scraggly yaupon, only woodland grasses and Beautyberry.
• I used the loppers to cut away some dead vegetation in the Star Garden, mostly butterfly weed. 
• I sowed parsley in the wheelbarrow in the Star Garden.  I had a beautiful crop of parsley in that wheelbarrow in late fall, and I expected great things from it for spring butterflies.  But little by little it all just melted away.  I don't know what happened.  Maybe something in the soil??  If this crop succumbs to the same fate I will replace the soil. 
• I began cutting away iris sword foliage in the Dining Room bed.  It has all bent over from the icy freezes we had some weeks ago.  It looked messy. 
• After work I prepped the soil and planted my seed potatoes in the Vegetable Garden. 
• Fertilized my onions and asparagus. 
• Friday.  Took vacation.
• My carrots that I sowed a couple of weeks ago have begun popping up.  Yay. 
• I continued mulching the Long Border.  I raked out debris, cut away dead vegetation from crinums and cannas and mulched around them.  I dug out and moved several clumps of peach colored cannas that had spread out into the Rose Garden path.  The Long Border runs adjacent to the length of the Rose Garden on one side. 
• I cut down the almond verbena at the far end of the Long Border.  I like to keep it on the small side, so I cut it back to ground level and it comes up from the roots.
• I cleaned out a section of the front bed and spread a wheelbarrow-ful of mulch. 
• Raked a bit in the Greenhouse Gardens.  Dumped the leaves in the wild area next to the Greenhouse. 
• Cut down the dead debris of a clump of switchgrass and cleared out ginger debris from a bed in the Greenhouse Gardens.  Dumped it in a nearby erosion spot.
• I mulched around the 3 hydrangeas at the entrance to Mom's Garden.
• I pruned the climber and Ice Cap in Mom's Garden.  
• Moved 4 plugs of Colonial White verbena growing in the path from Mom's Garden to the Star Garden.
• Cut back White Mist shrubs in the Bulb Bed.
• I pruned Butterfly rose and cut back an Autumn sage right nearby.  It was a big one, so it took some time.
• Clipped here and there, working on cutting all dead winter vegetation now.
• I finished mulching one side of the front beds.  
• White Pearl Bush is about to burst into bloom.  Very exciting!
• Bert shopped around, and all the utility vehicles are back ordered - Polaris, Kubota, Cub Cadet - only John Deere had one in stock.  We decided to get the cadet repaired while we make a decision on a new one.  We took it into the shop, nd it was ready the same day.
• Saturday.
• I pruned Climbing Pinkie rose.
• Pulled up all the ginger debris in the ginger bed in the Star Garden.  I cut back some Philippine Violet debris.  And I cut away all the canna debris in the Climbing Pinkie bed.  I dumped all of it in an erosion spot at the back of the property.  
• I mulched the other half of the front beds, I got almost finished before I ran out of mulch.  Fertilized and pruned the roses in the front bed.  Cut back the lantana.  Pulled off the dead stuff from my day lilies.  
• Cut down lots of dead vegetation the Star Garden. 
• I sowed several long rows of leaf lettuce in the Vegetable Garden and a couple rows of turnips.  Love turnip greens for soups.  Sowed some fern leaf cilantro in a bucket.  
• Nathan and family got here about 3:00 and spent the night, left Sunday afternoon.
• Sunday.  Lots of walks, swinging in the tree swing, ziplining, bonfire, and riding around.
• I set up all the sprinklers in the Rose Garden with a new timer.  Watered in the Water Garden.
• I set up chicken wire with tall rebar around my Maggie rose.  This (ugly) rebar contraption is hopefully tall enough to discourage the deer.
• Straightened up and headed home to Houston.  This was our official last week to work from home for five straight days.  We begin the Monday, Tuesday and Thursday schedule every week at 100% employee capacity starting on Monday.  After 2 years!    

 

At the Farm January 28 - February 6, 2022

 

Our old man Rocky warming himself in the sun.

Arrived during the lunch hour on Friday.  February will be another unusual schedule at work due to Omicron, so we will be here all the next week.

• Saturday.  Funeral in Madisonville, Sallie's husband.
• Before we left for the funeral, I sowed 3 beds of carrot seed.  So, I don't know if they will germinate since it is late January.  I know they are fine growing in cold weather, but germination is another matter.  But the experiment only cost me $5.  The voles got almost all the carrot seedlings that I sowed last fall.  And my grandkids love to pull up the carrots in the spring.  They are fascinated by it.  So I hated to have no carrots.  I turned over the soil and loosened it really well in 3 beds, and I sowed Cosmic Purple, Kyoto Red and St. Valery carrot seed.  My guess is that I will get very limited germination, but I will get a little.  I will find out in 12 to 18 days if my guess was a good one.
• Sunday.  Cold and sunny.
• I worked in the Vegetable Garden for about 3 hours.  I prepared the soil in 3 beds and planted a set of onion starts.  I raked the paths.  I cut back the sugar cane.  Pulled up all the dead pepper plant vegetation and tossed the dried peppers into the beds to seed in the spring. Cut away a bunch of Grandpa Ott dead morning glory dead vegetation.  
• Turned the compost piles.
• I planted 10 or so Heliopsis that I have been growing in pots since late summer / fall.  I planted a couple of them in the front bed, most of them in the Star Garden.
• Weeded in the Star Garden.  There are 2 weeds that appear each winter, still tiny right now, that have taken up residence in the long bed at the front of the Star Garden.  They are winter weeds, and I don't know the name of them.  They both have pretty little flowers, but I don't encourage them -   too much foliage with too small flowers.  I have already covered a big portion of the bed with pine needles or mulch, but in the few places that remain unmulched they are happily driving me crazy.   
• I used a wheelbarrow full of mulch to mulch around the Heliopsis seedlings and to cover the places where I weeded.  
• Spent some time in the Rose Garden doing some raking and spot watering my Daffodil Border.
• This year I raked more leaves than I ever have in the past.  I put a thick layer of leaves in the wild parts of the Star Garden, the Daffodil Border, the Rose Edge Border, the wild area next to the Greenhouse, and along both sides of a lot of the Boardwalk Gardens.  So - suck it sixty years old, I'm still kickin' it like I did in my youth!
•  I mentioned to my husband in passing that I'd like to try burning the morning glory vine off the fence in Mom's Garden.  Unfortunately I failed to mention that I wanted to collect seed off the vines first.  He took the initiative and burned the vine off the fence.  Damn.  I didn't complain though.  I just got frustrated to myself.  
• I picked up all the turnips in the Vegetable Garden, cut them up and put them in the compost pile.  Turnips grow on top of the ground (at least mine always do).  I will eat a turnip in a pot roast or a stew, but other than that I don't care for them.  However the greens are delicious in a Spanish soup that I make.  I grow turnips for the greens.  They are probably the easiest vegetable to grow.  I will sow some more turnip seed at the end of February.  
• Monday.  Worked.  Rainy day.
• Amy Thomsen came over to discuss our wildlife management plan / tax exemption.  I hired her to prepare and submit it.  Now that the Ecolab phase of our tax plan has ended, I have to submit my plan for the future.  We settled on brush piles, yaupon control, fire ant control and bat houses.  We walked the property in the pouring rain looking at a couple of areas where I want to begin the brush piles.  We have brush piles everywhere, but they need to be mapped on the property for tax purposes, they need to be maintained regularly, and the maintenance needs to be documented.
• Tuesday.  Worked.  
• Had 5 yards of mulch delivered.
• Weeded here and there.  
• Wednesday.  Worked.  
• Took a walk around the property during the lunch hour.  I did no gardening.
• Thursday and Friday.  Worked.  Very cold and rainy, the next 2 days will probably be the coldest days of our winter.
• Saturday.  We drove to Houston for the funeral of our elderly neighbor, Mel.  
• Sunday.  27 degrees and sunny.
• I worked on the back bed for about 3 hours mulching around the thryallis shrubs.  I did some weeding and then covered the area with mulch.  I didn't really get a very large area covered considering how much time I spent on it. I got bored of that and moved on to the Circle Beds.
• I don't have a lot going on in the Circle Beds except for gingers and African Hosts, so I am able to to just dump wheelbarrows full of mulch over the whole area.  I also mulched around all my bridal wreath spirea.  I haven't mulched those beds for some years.  So I feel good about it.
• Took my oil can of poison and my new electric saw, and I cut down yaupons along the fence line between us and our neighbor.  I an trying to clean up along that fence line as the neighborly thing to do.  He wants to keep it clear.  I dragged all the yaupon over to the edge of the woods along the road.  I took pictures of the debris for my wildlife management requirement.

February

 

One month is past, another is begun

Since merry bells rang out the dying year.

And buds of rarest green begin to peer

As if impatient for a warmer sun.

- H Coleridge