Gretchen and Beckett came in town. Dinner with the family Friday night. Bert and I went to Nancy and Lisa's house on Halloween and helped them set up a tunnel that we decorated with terrifying images and fluorescent spray paint and black lights. On the porch we set up a "machine" complete with lights and spinning gadgets and electrodes that were stuck in the head of a Frankenstein that Gretchen stuffed with newspaper. Bloody heads on stakes in the front yard. The Heights is insane with the trick or treaters, hundreds of them. Mom, Dad, Gretchen, Beckett, Nan, Lisa, Bert and I, Josh and Amy and baby Koy, Ann and Andre, and Nathan, Jess and their kids all were there. To the farm on Sunday morning. November is a busy month,m lots to do to get ready for Thanksgiving and a party the week before Thanksgiving.
- I raked and raked and raked, mostly in the Star Garden. And I spent most of the day cutting away cannas - the yellow ones that seldom bloom (boo, I don't like them) and the red ones. I removed about half of the cannas because they were crowded. I didn't remove the tubers, just cit them so they weren't leaning into paths I cut away branches that were leaning into paths, I trimmed back all my salvia and pulled it up wherever it was leaning into paths. I dumped the leaves that I raked into the unfinished parts of the Star Garden to keep the weeds down. I plant to dump lots of the leaves in those areas so that the winter weeds and the summer weeds will be suppressed. I haven't tried that in the Star Garden, but it worked really well in the area next to the Long Border. And I can use all the fallen leaves that I don't shred. In the past Bert has always ended up burning them once I got burnt out on the leaf shredder. But this year I'm going to use them all.
- I created a huge pile of debris for my compost pile - cannas, etc. and hauled it to the compost pile. Stayed there for a while and watched the butterflies. They were all over my Mexican Torch Sunflowers - fall bloomers that are at their showiest right now. There were Monarchs on the flowers, and it made a pretty sight with the bright orange flowers and the orange butterflies.
- Bert blew all the leaves around the pool area and the wisteria arbor. I raked up armfuls and loaded them in the back of the cub cadet. I had a huge over-flowing truckload of leaves and drove over to my daffodil border next the Rose Garden and dumped them in the border. Again, to suppress the weeds. That area got pretty out of control last summer, and I don't want it to happen again. I will sow the area with seeds, but only in spots that I clear. The rest will be leaves. And soon the daffodils greenery will appear. Hopefully this idea will be an improvement over last year.
- While I was over there I raked up a truckful of pine needles. I spread them around the entire bed where my Pink Vitex is planted and around my Veilchenblau rose.
- I pulled up lots of my perennial ageratum that was looking ratty and loosed the soil. Then I mixed some of my Tickseed, bluebonnet, red corn poppy, larkspur, and cornflower seeds with some sand that Bert bought for me. It's a lot easier to spread and will spread more evenly when it's mixed with sand. I sprinkled that over the area where I pulled up the ageratum.
- Walked through the Rose Garden at twilight to admire the fall flowers and noticed some black spot on the leaves. I immediately went to the greenhouse and got my fungicide. I sprayed all the roses in the Rose Garden. I need to keep my roses looking good through Thanksgiving. Of course if we get a freeze before Thanksgiving, its all over. Some years there is a freeze before Thanksgiving, and sometimes the first freeze is later. It can't be predicted.
No comments:
Post a Comment