Saturday, August 17, 2013

Days at the Farm August 12 and 13, 2013


Dad's 80th birthday at Brennan's on Saturday evening.  To the farm on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
  • An armadillo dug up my Veilchenblau rose.  It looks dead, but I cut the canes back and stuck it in the ground to see if there is any life left in it.  That rose has been in the ground since the spring, so I'm a bit surprised that it couldn't resist the armadillo activity a little better.  I would have thought that the root system was more established.  I'm disappointed about this.  I was really looking forward to seeing this rose mature and become part of the landscape.
  • I spent quite a bit of time in the Orchard weeding and cutting back dead blackberry canes.  I hauled lots of wheel barrows of debris to the burn pile.
  • Fed the bees on Tuesday morning.  The hive looks a little weak.  This is the second time I've fed them in a month.  Hopefully it will help them.
  • The pool motor broke so the pool repair people came on Tuesday to repair it.  I'm sure that will be a thousand dollars.  Bad luck.  This will be motor number three!  And they always crap out just after the warranty expires.
  • Sowed a package of calendula seeds in the Vegetable Garden.  
  • Weeded in the Vegetable Garden and cleaned up a bit - put away tomato cages, pulled up some scruffy plants, trimmed the arugula, sprayed the paths with herbicide.  The Mexican Sunflowers are getting tall.  They will bloom soon. 
  • Cleaned the usual suspects - toilets and sinks.
  • Staked my blue Althea that was leaning over.
  • Raked the Shade Garden.
  • Raked the Medicine Garden.
  • Raked the Rose Garden.
  • Sprayed herbicide on the driveway, in the Star Garden, the Shade Garden, and in the Rose Garden.
  • Fertilized the cannas given to me by Janine and Debra as well as the Shenandoah cannas.  Cannas are heavy feeders, so they should appreciate that!  Also fertilized the salvias in Max's Garden, the Mexican salvias, everything in the center bed of the Star Garden, the elephant ears in the Shade Garden, Cadenza rose, and the asparagus in the Vegetable Garden.
  • Hand watered the La Marne roses, the Peggy Martin rose, and the salvia and butterfly bush.
  • Planted a white Morning glory tree that I dug up from the yard in Houston.  I have a pink one in Burton, but I really love the white flowering variety.
  • Helped my husband begin clearing the land on the other side of the driveway opposite from the house.  We cut away yaupon and pulled vines out of the trees, cut down a few dead trees, and hauled it all to the burn pile.  There are about 5 more hard days of work remaining to get it cleared.  I'm not sure what we're going to do with the cleared area - I don't want my husband just to mow it because we will end up with a patch of dirt.  I guess I will seed it with some sort of native grass mix from Wildseed Farms.  I don't want to make another garden - not because I don't have the interest or the energy, but because of money.  It's expensive keeping it mulched and fertilized.  And flowerbed edging is expensive.  The boxes in the Rose Garden are a mess and have to be replaced, but no can do!
  • Deadheaded Belinda's Dream in front of the house.  I wanted to prune all the roses so I can get a good fall flush.  But I never got to it.  It was over 100 degrees on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.  Too hot to work all day long.
  • Both of the Altheas I rooted were blooming this weekend.  They are both white which is great.  I love the pure white flowers, and they are growing right next to each other, and I think that will be very pretty.  

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