Easter Weekend at the Farm April 17 - 19, 2014

Shopped on Good Friday for Gumbo and Red Beans ingredients and headed to the farm.  Stayed through Sunday and left Monday morning for work.  Next weekend is our party, and I wanted to get some of the food cooked.

• My Ehemanii Cannas from Old House Gardens finally arrived in the mail last Wednesday.  I planted them as soon as I arrived because they do not like to be in storage.  They are particularly delicate, and were almost extinct at one time because of their dislike for being shipped.  This special canna was introduced in 1863.  It is truly a living piece of antique art.  It will grow 5 - 8 feet tall with big, green leaves.  Unlike other cannas, the deep rose-colored, bell-shaped flowers dangle rather than stand straight up.  I am very excited about these plants!
• I planted 2 Elderberry shrubs in the Medicine Garden.  I have been looking for some of these.  Elderberry flowers are good in teas, and of course you can make elderberry wine from the drupes.  They can take shade or sun, half and half is perfect.  The place I planted them has a little sun and mostly dappled shade.  They are said to be invasive, but I don't care.
• I planted 6 annual herbs in the Medicine garden:  two Vick's plants, two Toothache plants, and two Stevia.  Last year I didn't plant any annual herbs except from seed.  But this year, just for fun I bought some.  Vick's plant smells exactly like Vick's Vapo Rub.  You can drop the succulent leaves into steaming water and breath it in to clear up congestion.  Stevia is nature's natural sweetener, it is as sweet as sugar.  And the leaves of the Toothache plant can be ground up and pressed around an aching tooth to numb the tooth.   It is a very effective numbing agent.
• My Climbing American Beauty that I have trained around a conveyor belt my husband made into an arbor is in full bloom.  American Beauty roses have a wonderful smell, they have the reputation of having one the best rose smells of any rose.  It is a once blooming rose - better smell it now because it won't be back for a year.  I wanted a rose that would look absolutely spectacular around that arbor.  A once blooming rose  made the most sense.  It will have more blooms in the space of two weeks than a perpetual bloomer will have all year.
• The spring flush in the Rose Garden will be at its peak next weekend for the party.
• Another set of neighbors came over on Friday night that we met for the first time.  What happened to my secluded house in the woods?  Am I supposed to look presentable all day every day for whoever decides to drop by?  Good Lord.
• Saturday I cooked the red beans for the party next weekend.  Used all the celery and bell peppers, not enough left to make the gumbo.  That was really bad shopping judgement on my part.  Had to go into town since Sunday is Easter.  No store will be open out here in the country on Easter Sunday.
• Spread the last of the crushed granite on Saturday.  Didn't think I was going to be able to get the entire Shade Garden done, but my husband scraped up another load of granite and I got it done.
• Sowed Scarlet Runner Bean seeds in the Vegetable Garden.
• Sowed Hyacinth Bean seeds on the arbor at the entrance to the Rose Garden, the trellis in the Rose Garden, the trellis in the Long Border, the 3 trellises in the Star Garden, the arbor leading into Max's garden and the arbor at the entrance to the Star Garden.  Most of the seeds I sowed were saved from the vines I grew last year.  I bought a package of seeds, and there were only about 10 seeds in the package.  They are expensive!
• Spread some of my shredded leaf mulch in the Medicine Garden.
• Cut back the Almond Verbena in the Star Garden.  
• Watered here and there.
• Saturday evening I fertilized my roses using my trombone sprayer.
• Sunday morning I weeded and enjoyed the cool weather.
• Cut back two dead Salvia greggii, don't know why they died - voles maybe?
• Sunday morning I sprayed foliar fertilizer with my trombone sprayer on my camellias in Bert's Garden and along the boardwalk.
• Spread leaf mulch in the bare spot by the shed where it's too dry for anything to grow.  Also spread leaf mulch around the new shrubs next to the pool.
• Wandered around the Rose Garden smelling the roses.  So pleasant.
• Sunday I made a double batch of turkey leg and collard green gumbo.  I'll add shrimp next week after I heat it up.  
• Planted 3 eggplants in the Vegetable Garden.
• The weather was gorgeous all three days.  The time flew by.