A Weekend at the Farm May 18 - 19, 2013

It was a hot and humid weekend.  Already!  I got in the pool for the first time this year.  It felt really good.

• Planted two bare root Mr. Lincoln roses that my mom gave me on Mothers Day.  I will have to really baby them if they are to survive being planted this late in the year.  I like a challenge fortunately.  I mulched them with pine straw that I collected in the woods.
• I dug up the last of the red potatoes. There are dozens of them!  At least it's a vegetable that I eat.  I am covered up in kale, but we haven't eaten a bite.
• I picked about a dozen patty pan squash.  Another vegetable I don't eat.  If they are picked when they are about half the size of an egg they can be steamed.  That's how they are served in fancy restaurants - baby vegetables are popular.  But squash grows so quickly, it's hard to get to them before they have grown past that size.  Going to the farm only on weekends makes it difficult to harvest vegetables at their peak.  Asparagus is the hardest!  It's little head is just sticking out of the ground one weekend, the next weekend it is three feet tall.
• Planted two eggplants in the Vegetable Garden.  Eggplant likes hot weather, so it isn't too late to plant.
• Planted 6 cleome in the Star Garden.  I tried to grow it from seed, but I think the weather was too cold or the water was not right, the seeds never sprouted.  Cleome is a good plant for re-seeding.  I had jillions of them at one time, but I covered everything with a thick layer of mulch, and they never came back.  Pretty flowers, common name is Spider Flower.
• Planted 4 purple trailing lantana in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden. I won't plant anything else this summer, it's getting too hot for it to survive with out me being there every day to help it along.
• Cut away some of the senna tree around the pool.  Trimmed the Indian Hawthorn around the pool.
• Replaced the soaker hoses around the pool. The old ones had some big holes in them, and they weren't watering everything evenly. 
• Cleaned the vent above the stove.  Took everything apart and washed all of it.  Yuck.
• Cleaned the bathrooms.
• Sat on the porch for a long time on Saturday evening.  There was a really nice breeze.  Very pleasant.
• Deadheaded roses in the Rose Garden.  Although it is the hottest part of the day, the best time of day to go into the Rose Garden is around noon.  Right around noon all the roses seem to release their perfume.  The air smells so sweet.  And the striped lizards are at their busiest.  They run all over the place looking for insects.  They are interesting, creepy little fellows.  Cut away plants that were leaning into the paths.
• Cut away plants that were leaning into the paths in the Star Garden.
• Made a water and fertilizer schedule so I can keep track of what I'm watering and fertilizing.  Watered lots of plants with my watering can and my rain water that I have collected.  Even though it may only be a gallon of water on each shrub, it definitely helps keep them alive.
• The blackberries will be ripe next weekend.  I'm going to make jelly.