Three Days at the Farm Jan 7-9 / 2011

Before and after of the small expansion I did in the Medicine Garden. I wanted to get completely finished and I only had a small pile of soil and a few green landscaping strips. I need more space than this, but it's a start.

Friday and Saturday were beautiful winter Texas days. Not a cloud in the sky and 75 degrees. Sunday was stormy.

• Raked, shredded leaves, and mulched the flowerbeds for half the day on Friday and Saturday. Mulched the front beds, the Columbine Bed, and lots of places in the Shade Garden.
  
• Cut dead debris away, mostly the annual salvias.


• Moved a Mexican Marigold from The Star Garden over to a bed next to The Vegetable Garden. It was in an awkward spot.
  
• Spread crushed granite in the path I started next to the Long Border. Half way finished. Probably won't have enough to finish. I'll have to have some delivered. It's good stuff to have around. The moles can really wreak havoc on granite paths. The huge piles of dirt they make (because they are pushing the tunnel earth out of the way? or it is where they make their nests?) get washed away by the rain and completely cover up the granite in places. So there are always large areas to repair.
  
• Planted a Grandma's Yellow Rose in the Rose Garden that my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas. This rose is a "found" rose. It was found growing in someone's garden in Nacogdoches. For years it was marketed under various names that had the word Nacogdoches in it. Now it is marketed as Grandma's Yellow Rose. I have one already. I will plant the new one near that one. It is a true yellow, not a pale or creamy-colored yellow.
  
• I pulled up lots of Fireworks Goldenrod in the Star Garden. It was very unruly last year, and, frankly, it's just not that pretty. Now I can plant something lower-growing in front of it. Goldenrod is an herb so I don't want to get rid of it completely.


• Turned off the timers. We had a gully-washer on Saturday night and Sunday has been rainy all day, so we don't need sprinklers next week.


• I widened a bed in the Medicine Garden. I ordered some seeds and will need space for my new plants.


• I trimmed my two wisteria. I cut away all the growth from last year and left only one scaffold branch on each plant at the top of the arbor. Hopefully I will get some blooms this year.
  
• I picked some spinach from the garden and sauteed it with garlic to accompany our dinner Saturday evening.
  
• Pulled up the spent broccoli and cauliflower in preparation for planting spring peas. The seeds should be planted about 6 weeks before the last average freeze, so I will plant it next weekend.
  
• I planted some more spinach in the Kitchen Herb Garden just outside the back door.


• Raked out the Rose Garden. I have no idea how to get rid of the zillions of acorns that still litter the paths in The Rose Garden and the Medicine Garden. I might use a broom and dust pan. I can't get at them with the rake.
  
• Cleaned up mole piles in The Orchard and smoothed out trenches made by armadillos.
  
• Poured orange oil diluted with water over two beds in The Vegetable Garden to make one last effort at ridding myself of nematodes before I plant my peas.
  
• Fertilized my Dianthus with Super Bloom.
  
• Put out suet for the birds.


• Raked leaves away from the outside edges of the Rose Garden and into the woods. I seeded poppies all around the outside of the Rose Garden, and I didn't want the fallen leaves to smother them.