Weekend at the Farm July 23 - 24, 2016

Arrived Friday afternoon with Bert.  Hot and dry.  I'm praying for rain.

I woke up about 5 and drank coffee until day light. 

Headed to the Orchard to weed and clear.  I worked until about 1 with intermittent dips in the pool.  I weeded until my fingers hurt. Pulling up weeds (as big as these have been allowed to grow) takes some effort.  I made a huge pile of debris just outside the fence of the Orchard.  Every 30 minutes or so I drove the cub cadet to the Rose Garden and moved the hose.  I got some beds pretty cleared and they look much better, but I was only able to get about 1/3 of the weeding done - the beds are choked with weeds.  

The fruit trees look healthy, and the zinnias are blooming their hearts out.  Despite the weeds, the zinnias are growing beautifully, they love the heat.  The amaranth seed I sowed in the spring were mostly eaten by the deer.  Deer love amaranth apparently, but a few plants survived to adulthood and are bearing loads of not-fully-developed seed heads. I deadheaded zinnias and either threw the spent blooms into the beds or spread the seed if the seed heads were really dry.  I want a good August  show of zinnias, August is the best month for butterflies.

Retreated inside - too hot to work in the afternoons, this is late July and the heat is vicious.  Mopped and put down floor shine in the kitchen and living room.   Got out the ladder and cleaned the ceiling fan in the living room.  Vacuumed the rug in the living room.  Made a pot of beans.  Watched Game of Thrones on my iPad.

Watered the pots by the pool, most of the plants are dead, but the ones with a low growing ground cover plant on top are still alive.

After the sun was low in the sky I went back outside and watered in the Rose Garden some more.

Sunday morning up at six, outside in the Orchard by seven.  I cleared out the Mayhaw bed and made good progress on the rest of the beds.  Bert and I dumped the huge pile of weeds in an area with some dramatic erosion near the house.  I deadheaded zinnias and spread seed.  Trimmed the blackberry vines here and there just enough to clear paths where I was working.

I spent about two hours in the Vegetable Garden.  It is like the Orchard, weed-choked.  I pulled up all the tomatoes.  The roots are very improved compared to previous years.  Compost and green manure definitely helped with my nematode problem. I plan to plant some sort of green manure again, not sure what yet.  I pulled weeds, made another huge pile just outside the Vegetable Garden fence.  It looks much better, but as with all the work I did this weekend, if I don't get some compost it will be covered up with weeds again.  The Butterpeas are still producing beans.  They have been very productive.  

I cleared out the Vegetable Garden before I tackled any place else so that I could lay down some of the white rock that is piled in the driveway.  I have to get it out of the way so the truck can get in here with mulch.  I put one load of white rock in the Vegetable Garden and one load right at the entrance to the front porch.

Cut away Four O'clocks that were crowding my phlox. Pulled weeds in the bed with the phlox.  Watered my Fish Bait tree, it looks like it is suffering.  Pulled weeds in the front bed and pulled up Verbena Bonariensis that was dried up.


Headed home about 3.  It was a good two days of work!