Weekend at the Farm Nov 14 - 16, 2014

 We finally broke into the mead that my son and I made.  It has a lovely, floral bouquet, and it tastes pretty darn good (an acquired taste I'll admit, but not bad).  Pretty high alcohol content, too.  Making mead was a fun experiment, and a great memory with my son, Josh.

Took Friday as vacation and drove to the farm on Thursday evening after work.   Cold and rainy most of the weekend.

• It dipped below freezing Friday night and all the tender morning glory vines froze.  That's okay, it was just a matter of time.  I would have been dismayed if I was having the whole family over for Thanksgiving, but this year we will all be in Disney World.
• Friday morning I turned over the soil in the last two sections of the Long Border, pulled weeds, pulled up zinnias and perennial ageratum, and sowed almost all of the last of the wildflower seeds - mostly poppies.  I saved back some of the seeds to fill in empty spots.
• I dug up Ox Eye Daisies in the paths of the Rose Garden and transplanted them in several spots of the Long Border.
• I will move some more Ox Eyes tomorrow.  I need to move some into the Circle Drive flower beds.  Amy and Josh are thinking about getting married there with the guests in the driveway facing the wooded area we recently cleared.  That's fine, but in the early spring there is nothing growing in those beds.  The gingers break dormancy after the wedding has come and gone. And all the bulbs in those beds are fall bloomers.
• I collected lots of Hyacinth Bean pods from the trellis in the Long Border and put them in the house to dry out.
• Raked up some pine straw and mulched one of the Madame Antoine Mari roses in the Long Border.
• I received a few bulbs that I ordered from Old House Gardens - Double Tiger Lilies and Freesias.  I planted them in a plastic tub that I got from Albert Meyers (his cow feed gets delivered in them) and filled with potting soil.
• My husband rented a log splitter on Friday, and I helped him split the logs that he has been collecting all summer.  I loaded the cub cadet with wood, drove it to the house, and stacked it on the back porch, did that twice, helped for another twenty minutes or so then drifted off. 
• Saturday morning I cleaned the house - vacuumed, mopped, cleaned bathrooms.
• Will, Kim, Zelda, and Henry came for a visit on Saturday and spent the night.  The kids are so cute, we had a nice time - went for a walk around the place, and Zelda and I wandered round and round the gardens.
• After the kids left on Sunday morning I pulled up all the salvias in the Star Garden.  The light freeze on Saturday morning killed all of it.  I'm planning to break up the large flower bed in Max's garden into four beds, maybe five.  I will start that project when it gets a little colder and all the perennial plants are in full dormancy.  I'll have to dig up some of my Copper Canyon Daisy, Autumn Sage , and Pink Muhly Grass.  It will look a lot better, and I will be able maintain it more easily.  When everything was in full summer throttle, I did not like to walk into that huge bed and pull weeds.  A little creepy.  Anyway, I'll take all the soil that is in the spots where the new paths will be, and I will fill all the beds that have been set up.  My husband made 3 beds for me in the Star Garden out of cedar logs last summer, but I have never filled them because I had no soil.
• I moved Ox Eye daisy plants growing in paths to various spots throughout the Star Garden and Circle Drive.  I transplanted about 10 clumps of daisies to several beds in the Circle Drive.  I moved a lot of clumps to various places in the Star Garden - everywhere I saw a blank spot and envisioned beautiful white flowers blooming, I planted some. I have a lot more not go, not only are there still lots of daisies growing in paths, there are lots of plants growing under my rose shrubs.  They are too close, and they will block the beauty of the springtime roses.  The new beds I'm going to build will be good spots for them.