Pretty Vegetables

My fall vegetable garden.A pretty little bibb lettuce just forming.

This is cauliflower.

A little cauliflower just beginning to form.

Cabbage. I'm growing two - more than that I cannot eat!

Collard greens and ham hocks - good southern fare. :-)

700 Bulbs to Plant

Four Days at the Farm - 11/25 - 28/2010

This is a bud of Souvenir de la Malmaison.

Hot on Thanksgiving day, beautiful the remaining 3 days. Thirteen for Thanksgiving. Good day.

• Shredded leaves for a while. Four bags of shredded leaves into the compost pile. That's the best compost material! I would have done more, but if I wait a few weeks it gets easier because the leaves are a foot deep in places, and I don't have to work so hard to rake/gather them.
  


• Buried oranges in the vegetable garden for nematodes.
  


• Spent all day Friday watching movies and napping. Did no work except for the leaf shredding in the morning.
  


• Rearranged furniture. My son gave me two ultramodern chairs because he's moving into a smaller place.



• Planted 500 bulbs on Saturday and 200 bulbs on Sunday. 90 Erlicheer daffodils around the pin oak at the side of the house, 300 petticoat daffodils and Rolf Fielder Star Flowers around the La Marne roses that line the driveway, 100 drumstick allium in The Orchard, 200 Excelsior Spanish Bluebells along the path to The Orchard, 10 Erlicheer daffodils in The Orchard.



• Had a load of mulch delivered on Saturday morning.


• Spread mulch in the Rose Garden most of the day on Sunday.



• Pulled up all the salvia along the front of the house. It froze last night - the first freeze of the year - and everything that's non-winter hardy died. It's winter now.

Thanks, Josh!

Frost

Frost is the greatest artist in our clime.

He paints in nature and describes in rime.

---Thomas Hood

What's Blooming Now - Copper Canyon Daisy 11/22/10

Copper Canyon Daisy has very delicate, lacy, pale green (almost with a silvery cast) leaves. It blooms in late fall. The plants will die back after a winter freeze. I cut them back to about a foot tall in early spring, and they will leaf out at the roots and along the stems. It is deer resistant.

My copper canyon daisies were water distressed most of the summer, and I didn't think they would bloom at all. They have a very forgiving nature.

Roses in My Garden

Valentine rose

Valentine rose

Perle d'Or

Lady Hillingdon

Belinda's Dream with a few green insects hiding amongst the petals.

Livin' Easy

Livin' Easy

Mrs. Br. Cant

Ducher

Madame Antoine Mari

What's Blooming Now - Butterfly Weed 11/21/10

Butterfly weed is going strong. It is covered with Monarch butterfly caterpillars. Better hurry, little worms, and turn into butterflies before the freeze sets in!

Trees

I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

--- Joyce Kilmer

God's World

O World, I cannot hold thee close enough!

Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!

Thy mists that roll and rise!

Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag

And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag

To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!

World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,

But never knew I this;

Here such a passion is

As stretcheth me apart. Lord, I do fear

Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year.

My soul is all but out of me - let fall

No burning leaf, prithee, let no bird call.

--- Edna St. Vincent Millay

A Weekend at the Farm 11/14-15/2010

Pretty Purple Globe Basil

First playoff game on Friday night, bridal shower for a cousin on Saturday, came to the farm alone on Sunday morning and stayed through Monday. It was a gray and cool couple of days. The sun never appeared. There was a half inch in the rain gauge when I arrived and we got another quarter inch before I left. That's good! We need rain.

• Focused a lot of time spreading the last of my seeds (Tuber Vervain, Larkspur, Corn Poppies, and Strawflower) and pegging down chicken wire. Lots of seed have already sprouted. I sowed a lot of seed along the line of the woods just beyond the shed. My husband will not be pleased - I won't let him mow that area until after they finish blooming. Threw lots of seed in The Orchard, The Rose Garden, The Star Garden, The Long Border, and the new beds lining the path down to The Orchard.
• Put suet out for the birds.
• Put tomato cages over my sweet peas in The Orchard to give them something to climb on. I planted them on both sides of the entrance. Last year the rabbits ate them to the ground. I'm trying again.
• The leaves have barely started to drop, but everything is starting to look a little messy. The nut sedge has turned brown and all manner of green weed has appeared in the "lawn". There are acorns everywhere, every path and walkway. I'll have to begin the labor intensive work of raking soon.
• Buried some more oranges in the boxes of the Vegetable Garden that don't have anything growing. Usually I fill every raised box in the garden with veggies, this year I was more restrained so that I save room for early spring peas.
• Took a nap. Wonderful!
• Watched old movies.
• Adjusted the sprinklers run times again.
• Left around noon on Monday.

Things About Life

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

- J.R.R. Tolkien

One Hour of My Life

Monarch butterfly perched on its larval food source - butterfly weed.

This is a Queen butterfly. The Queen, like the Monarch, is also a milkweed butterfly. Milkweed is the larval food of both of these beautiful creatures.

The Queen again.

The Queen again.

I sat watching butterflies flit around the Star Garden, and an entire hour passed! I glanced at the clock before I went outside, so I know that a whole hour creeped by. Imagine! An hour I will never get back, and all I did was watch butterflies. Goodness gracious, I'm going to have to be more careful with my time. :-)

A Weekend at the Farm 11/5-7/10

Morning Glory and Cypress Vine.

Took Friday off and drove to the farm, then back home for Max's game Friday night, wedding registry for Blake on Saturday morning, clothes shopping for Max Saturday afternoon, then back to the farm Saturday night. Weather cool and beautiful.

• Spent much of Friday clearing a space next to the Long Border. Yaupon and whatnot have crowded in close to it. I really want to clear a wide path so that driving next to the Long Border is accessible to the cub cadet. It will take my husband's help because some of the trees that need to be cut down are just a bit too thick for the loppers. The Long Border is very pretty, but it is rather hidden right now. I have seeded the whole thing with Iceland Poppies, Tuber Vervain, and Larkspur, and of course it is planted with all sort of wonderful perennials. It will be beautiful in the spring.
  
• Spread some more seeds in The Orchard. Covered them with chicken wire.
  
• Bought two fruit trees at the Arbor Gate nursery on the way back to the farm. 'Eugenia' Cherry of the Rio Grande and 'Eversweet' Pomegranate. Cherry of the Rio Grande is the closest we can get here in the south to having a cherry tree. Efforts are being made to produce low chill hour cherry trees, for example, the Minnie Royal and the Royal Lee cherry trees have 400-500 chill hour requirements which is fine here in Brenham. The Cherry of the Rio Grande is an evergreen shrub that grows to 6 feet. It blooms in the spring followed by 1-2" fruit that taste similar to a cherry. 'Eversweet' Pomegranate is self-fruitful and is supposed to have very few seeds. I am finished in The Orchard as far as space is concerned. The only thing I can plant now is blackberries because they are low growing. I will plant berries in all the garden space I have left. But it is quite a thing to see: The Orchard will be lovely.
  
• Planted the trees and watered them with fish emulsion.
  
• Planted some wonderfully apple-scented chamomile 'Anthemis nobilis' in the Medicine Garden. Chamomile will not survive our summer heat. It needs to be grown throughout the cold months here. It will reseed and come back if the area is not disturbed. The little flowers are what produces the wonderful tea. Chamomile is a muscle relaxant. It will help you sleep.
• I raked the Infinity Garden.
• I fertilized the Vegetable Garden with fish emulsion.
• I fertilized my Red Cauli Stone Crop with fish emulsion. It's supposed to bloom in the fall, but I've seen nothing.
• Put out some suet for the birds.
• Laid down some chicken wire in the Star Garden and seeded it with Straw Flower seeds.
• My husband and I finished clearing a road next to the Long Border. Much better!

Live Longer with Sage

Sage is a perennial. I love to grow it for the beautiful silver color it introduces into the garden color scheme. There are lots of types of sages, not all of them are silver, but the silver is my favorite. Sage will bloom, but it's best to cut off the flowers because the leaves will be more flavorful. Cuttings can be rooted, and it's easy to grow it from seed.

Sage can be ground up and used in toothpaste to serve as an antiseptic and to remove plaque. It can be used as a gargle to treat tonsillitis. It is good for the memory and for a long life. Eat a leaf every day to live longer and have a better memory. There is a small group of herbs that are considered longevity herbs. Gotu Kola, Rosemary, and Sage are a few of the longevity herbs I have growing in my Medicine Garden.

Aloe Vera - a Staple of the Medicine Garden

Aloe Vera is a tender perennial which is why I grow mine in a pot. I can move the pot into the Greenhouse in the winter. It will survive a Houston winter outside, but it won't make through a Brenham winter unless it is protected.

Aloe Vera will flower. It shoots up a long stalk with yellow flowers all along the stalk. The flowers are edible. Pick them and eat them before they are fully open.

Aloe has been used used as a healing herb since the dawn of time. It speeds up the regeneration of cells in plants and animals. To apply it, cut off a leaf from the plant and apply the gel topically. It can also be split lengthwise and used as a poultice. Use it for cuts, abrasions, sunburn, poison ivy rash, and burns. It can be taken internally for constipation, stomach problems, mouth ulcers, and a poor immune system. Some African tribes rub it on their skin before a hunt to remove the human scent.

What's Blooming Now - Morning Glories 11/01/10

My arbor at the entrance to the Long Border is very unruly! I can't even walk through it anymore. I planted way too many seeds. I planted Heavenly Blue and Scarlet O'Hara morning glories as well as Hyacinth Bean vines. Next year I will practice greater restraint.