Weekend at the Farm May 17 - 18, 2014

Went to Theresa Kennedy's funeral on Saturday.  Only 45 years old.  Terry died on May 15.  Her birthday is May 25.  We are all still heartbroken.  These events are not for us to understand, we can only trust there is a reason.  Joined Bert at the farm on Saturday evening.

• Cleared out one of the 4x4 beds in the Vegetable Garden that had mustard going to seed and half of another that had Red Sails lettuce going to seed.  I planted some Impala Castor Bean seeds, a few Cactus Flower zinnias, and a few Torch Mexican Sunflower seeds that I saved from last season.  We'll see what springs up and thin from there.
• Fertilized the Sassafras bed and mulched with my shredded leaves.
• Moved the trellis that was doing nothing in the Oxalis bed over to the bed in front of the air conditioner units and planted Cardinal Cypress Vine.
• Loosened the soil and seeded with Cactus Flower zinnias in the La Marne bed, several places in the Long Border, and here and there in so many places that I don't remember.
• I found some more Hyacinth Bean seeds in the baggie with the Mexican Sunflower seeds that I saved from last year.  I planted some in the gravel by the arbor at the front of the house, not sure if they will like that, but so many other things seed in the gravel paths I thought I would give it a try.  And I also planted some on the trellis in the Star Garden.
• Weeded, weeded, weeded.  It starts to be a test of wills now - from the end of May until September - who wants it more?  Do I want a weed free garden or do the weeds want to win?  So far I've been winning.
• Got out of bed Sunday morning at 7:00, went out to the Vegetable Garden with a cup of coffee, a tupperware container with wet paper towels lining the bottom, and picked all the squash blossoms.  Mixed up some Parmesan cheese, ricotta, fresh thyme and oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Washed off the flowers, stuffed them, and put them in the fridge.  We will have squash blossoms and arugula salad for lunch.
• Dug up all the dead oregano - have no idea why it died, I had a lovely, great big mound of oregano in the bed next to the dining room and it didn't come back after the winter season was over - and seeded the area with Cactus Flower zinnias.  
• There are hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands of blackberries in the Orchard.  Not ripe yet, maybe three more weeks.  Hope I get a few before the raccoons rob me blind!
• Fertilized the tomatoes.
• Watered here and there even though we had a great rain last week.
• Mopped the kitchen floor and put down floor shine.
• Planted three Mugwort, three Angelica, and two Comfrey in the Medicine Garden.  
• Planted three White Buttercup Turnera in the bed with the Satin Marina Althea.  I love this Turnera much more than the yellow variety.  Hope it makes it!  Kind of hot to plant these little, root bound plants. 
• Watered the Mulberry, Crabapple, 3 in 1 Apple, and the Mayhaw thoroughly.  I don't want to lose them this summer.
• Planted a Galilee Hydrangea that Ashley left me as a thank you.  We let Ashley, Allen, and the kids and some of their friends stay here while we were in the Dominican Republic last week.  Well, the hydrangea is a  fair trade since they drank all the liquor and the beer.  Ha Ha.  Bert was aggravated.  He doesn't remember what he was like when he was 30, I guess.
• Wonderful evening on Sunday, walking around and looking at everything.