Weekend at the Farm June 28 - 29, 2014

Came up on Friday afternoon.  Went to Austin on Saturday to babysit Henry and Zelda.  Nathan and Jess were at the house when we got back to the farm.  They spent the night, and William and Kim and the babies came over on Sunday.  Babies everywhere!

• Didn't have time to do much.  Weeded as much as possible.
• Dug up a flower bed by the back door and pulled all the weeds.  Covered the area with leaf mulch.
• Pulled up some brown eyed susans that went to seed at the front of the Rose Garden.  I also pulled some up next to the arbor at the front of the Rose Garden.
• Pulled up the tomato plants in the Vegetable Garden and cleaned up some of the other beds.
• Turned over the soil and planted okra seeds in five beds in the Vegetable Garden.  Okra is about the only thing that will grow in this heat.  Eggplant likes the heat too.
• Planted some birdhouse gourd seeds on one of the arbors in the Vegetable Garden.
• Soaked some Moon Flower and Heavenly Blue Morning Glory seeds in water over night.  Planted them around two arbors in the Star Garden.  I meant to surround them with chicken wire, but the day got away from me.  Everything has to be protected from the rabbits.  
• Meant to dig up some Ox Eyes for my friend Janine but ran out of time.  Saturday I was in Ausitn and Sunday we were with my husbands children and their babies.  
• Watered as much as I could before I got too tired. 

Zinnias June 22, 2014

Hojo Santo June 22, 2014

Hojo Santo is an herb.  The leaves have a root beer scent, hence the common name root beer plant.  This plant can become invasive, it spreads by underground runners.  It will get quite a bit taller than my plant is right now - it is still early in the summer. Hojo Santo dies back in the winter freeze, so it does all its growing in the summer.  Unusual white flowers bloom in the summer, they are long and thin like pencils.  What allows this plant to fall into the herb category is that it is used in Mexican cooking.  Chicken or cheese can be wrapped in the flavorful leaves and baked.    

 The leaves are huge and beautiful.  This shade-loving plant is a great addition to any garden.

Building a Deck Around the Pool June 22, 2014

My husband is building a deck around the pool.  I'm so excited about it!  It will be huge improvement to the appearance of the pool area.

 The deck will wrap around the pool to the left about the same length as it curves to the right.  It will be two levels with a step up - the land slopes upward away from the pool.

 The second level will be constructed in the space in the above photo.  Cool!

Broken Colors Four O'Clocks June 22, 2014

These four o'clocks get about 3 feet tall, a manageable height.  Four o'clock flowers open up in the early evening and close in the early morning.  They are prolific re-seeders, and because they have thick tuberous root systems they are very drought tolerant.

Mexicali Rose June 22, 2014

My Clerodendrun Bungeii, common name Mexicali Rose, is beginning to bloom for the first time.  I planted 3 tiny sprigs last year, and look at it now - practically invasive.  I can see buds in various stages of maturity on all the leaves.  It will be really pretty in full bloom.

Crinums June 9, 2014

Crinums are southern.  No flower is more southern than a crinum.  Any southern cottage garden must have some.  These were given to me by my sister eight months before she died.  I think of her every time I look at them.

Zinnias June 8, 2014

 I love zinnias.  Period.  Tough as nails and gorgeous!

Weekend at the Farm June 6 - 7, 2014

These are some of my cute little finger carrots.

Went with Blake and her friend Karen to sign up for her baby registry at Babies R Us.  Then lunch.  Fun day.  Went to the farm after.

• Decided I'm going to pull up my Pearly Mae and Honey Sweet roses.  Just not hardy enough for the conditions I have them growing in.  They are spindly, and compared to the other roses in the Rose Garden, they are not good bloomers.  I will dig them up in the fall and plant some others.
• I cut back the Sweet Olive next to the gate in Max's Garden.  I thought it would be a good location because you have to pass right by it on the way to the Rose Garden.  It was the perfect spot to smell its wonderful smell.  But it has not performed well.  Hopefully this will spur some new growth.  I added it to my watering list, so maybe with a little attention it will prosper.  The other 3 I ordered from a catalogue have all died.
• Started collecting all the Love in a Mist seeds, pulling up all the dead plants, etc.  Many of the seeds fell to the ground, but I threw a bunch of them in the Black Eyed Susan border next to the Rose Garden.  Not sure if they will respond to the harsher conditions that exist there, but there's only one way to find out.  Now that the Love in a Mist is gone I will seed the beds with Zinnias.
• Carol came by and picked some blackberries.  She gave us a bluebird house that she made.  I'm excited about that.
• Picked green beans.
• Picked squash blossoms and filled them with ricotta and Parmesan to cook later.  Some of the squash plants have died since last weekend.  I assume it is some sort of borer insect.  It''s not nematodes.  That's ok, they have produced a lot for me.  Squash doesn't go all the way into summer, they don't like the extreme heat. 
• Cleaned out the bed with the Dwarf Flowering Almonds and seeded it with zinnias.  I also cleaned up several other beds that were getting pretty weedy.
• Sprayed herbicide on the yaupons in the clearing in front of the house.  I'm trying to keep on top of that.  Anything else can grow, but no yaupons!
• Cleaned the shower again for good measure.  Cleaned it last week as well.
• Mopped the living room floor and put down floor shine.
• Made Caldo Gallego to bring to the lake for Father's Day.
• Seeded Zinnias here and there in the Star Garden. There are already enough seedlings growing to make a good show.  I should stop and use the rest of them in the Orchard.  I'm waiting for the Larkspur and other wild flowers to go to seed so I can pull them up and make room for summer flowers - zinnias and sunflowers.
• We brought 3 bags of grass clippings from Houston.  I poured one in the compost pile, one on top of my leaf mulch, and I used one to cover a few empty beds in the Vegetable Garden.  
• Made blackberry cobbler Saturday and Sunday night.  I don't want my berries to go to waste!
• Ate glazed carrots on Sunday night that I pulled up from the garden.
• We got a good little rain on Sunday afternoon which lessens the pressure on me to water all my shrubs.  But I watered many of them.  
• Cut away a lot of Ox Eye Daisy stems in the Star Garden and the Rose Garden.  All of them have gone to seed.  There are a billion seedlings everywhere.  
• Drove around the property with my husband which we often do, I don't mention it, but it is quite lovely. 

Pink Vitex June 1, 2014

My pink-flowered vitex is not a common color.  Purple is the color of most varieties.  Vitex is also called Chaste Plant.  Legend has it that the leaves stifle sexual desire.  Pillows were filled with the leaves and placed in the bedrooms of young women in order to cool their ardor.

Pretty Flowers June 1, 2014

Butterfly Bush

Red Canna

Weekend at the Farm May 31 - June 1, 2014i

Busy weekend.

• I cleaned up around the pool.  I weeded, mulched with my leaf mulch, sprayed with herbicide, and sowed some zinnia seeds.  The garden area around the pool is my least favorite place to spend time.
• Saturday I made gumbo.  I had lots of smoked turkey legs left over from the crawfish boil because my husband and I both bought the ingredients.
• Deadheaded the roses in the Rose Garden.
• Picked blackberries and made a blackberry crumble.  Pretty scrumptious served warm with English clotted cream spooned over the top.
• Made more squash blossoms.  I'm basically sick of them, but I have about sixty of them blooming every weekend.  I hate to waste them.
• Mopped the kitchen and put down floor shine.
• Cleaned the master bath shower.  Spent about an hour in there scrubbing.
• Vacuumed the whole house.
• Picked green beans.  Had some for dinner and brought a gallon baggy of them home with me.
• Spent time cleaning up the Infinity Garden mulching and clipping and fertilizing.
• Sprayed herbicide on the driveway, the Rose Garden, the Star Garden, and the Vegetable Garden.
• Used my trombone sprayer to spray everything in the Shade Garden, particularly the ferns.  Sprayed the camellias along the Boardwalk, the Sassafras tree, the salvias along the back of the house, the butterfly bush, and the gingers in all the beds.  I'm sold on foliar feeding.  I really think it makes a difference.  The trombone sprayer broke right when I was finishing up.  Damn.  My husband wrapped it with duct tape, we'll see if it holds.
• Sprayed herbicide on the yaupon coming up from the roots throughout the clearing we made in front of the house.  It will take some effort, but eventually if you spray the new growth enough, it gives up the ghost.
• Watered a few plants, but we had a pretty good rain last week so I didn't spend too much time on it.
• Weeded, always.
• The first parrot gladiola is blooming.  So pretty.  
• The rabbits are eating me out of house and home!  There has been a real population explosion of the little plant eaters.