Four Days at the Farm August 4 - 7, 2016

 This is Rudbeckia and some old fashioned phlox.  My grandma had this growing in her front flower bed.  I'll never forget it.

Arrived Wednesday evening.  

So hot I didn't even go outside.  Ate dinner and went to bed.

Up before daylight.  At work in the Rose Garden by seven.  I spread cottonseed meal in one bed at a time and put the sprinkler on the bed on a low setting.  About eight o'clock my mulch arrived. I ordered 15 yards of pine bark mulch.  They dumped it right outside of the Rose Garden which is very convenient for mulching the Rose Garden but not very convenient to the rest of the gardens.  After each bed was fertilized and watered I covered it with mulch.  I got seven beds completed.  I pulled lots of weeds in the paths, the beds are pretty clean due to past weekends of work.  Most of my Ox Eye Daisies have died from lack of water, but that's okay.  The daisies bloom at the same time as the roses and they are so tall that they block the view of the roses.  I had determined that I was going to get rid of them so that next spring my roses would have the most prominent spots in the garden - it is a Rose Garden after all!  The Ox Eyes also crowd out my iris and suppress their blooms.  Mulch is very light weight compared to compost, so the work is not hard, but it is very hot work.

My swamp sunflowers in the Long Border had fallen over due to lack of water so I picked them up and tied them up with twine so that they are upright.  I watered them really well.  

Swam in the pool several times.

Pulled weeds in the back bed.

I bought the dresser that matches the bed I bought about a month ago.  It was delivered about eleven.

I didn't go outside after about one, waited for the sun to go down.  I watered several roses during the evening hours.

Friday morning, up before the sun and outside by seven.  I fertilized, watered, and mulched five more beds in the Rose Garden.  I raked and weeded while I waited for the timer on the sprinkler to turn off, then I moved the sprinkler to a new bed.  Ran out of fertilizer, so I moved to the front beds.  I'm getting ready for the fall roses, I want to fertilize them all before I mulch.

I loaded the back of the cub cadet with mulch five times and weeded and mulched the front beds.  They look really good!  The soil is extremely wet so I turned off the sprinklers on that zone.  The mulch will keep them moist until next week.

I found some more fertilizer that Bert had put in a bucket, so I fertilized and mulched one of my La Marne roses in the Star Garden and two of my Dwarf Flowering Almonds.

The hose next to the house is barely putting any water out, something must be stuck in it, a dead frog or something.  Yuck.  And another hose to fix, Bert will be so pleased...

I loosened the soil in one of my big beds and two of my 4 x 4 beds in the Vegetable Garden and spread Buckwheat seed to grow a green manure.

Watered here and there in the Star Garden with the hose that is barely more than a dribble.  

We had the Culligan man out on Friday - growing pains with our $4000 water softener system.  Water pressure  ( as noted above) and odor (I thought the bad smell would go away after we spent $4000).  I sincerely hope I'm not being unreasonable!  Frown.

I watched the bird feeder at the front of the house for a long time.  I saw a female Painted Bunting but a male never showed up.

I've decided to pull up (or move) the seven or so red autumn sages that grow in the long bed along the back of the house.  They don't bloom enough to make the statement that I thought they would.  I'm going to replace them with Thryallis.  I love Thryallis, and they keep a nice shape.  I'll do it in the fall when the weather gets more hospitable.

Sunday morning, up before dark again and outside by seven.  I went out to the Rose Garden again to knock out a few more beds:  fertilizer, water, and mulch.  Did some more raking as well.  I cut away all the dead wood on one of my Belinda's Dream and cut back a lot of the green.  It looks like it is dying, but maybe cutting back some green growth will convince it to live.  We'll see.

I filled up the cub cadet with mulch and drove over to the Medicine Garden.  I cut back two spindly Henna shrubs, pulled some weeds, yanked up some pesky Hoja Santa, laid down some mulch in the area I weeded last weekend, and watered a dry area.

I cut back all the Black and Blue Sage in the back bed, it is mostly sticks now.  For me it has always been an early summer bloomer and then it doesn't bloom again.  I'm going to lay down some mulch  and see if I get a fall flush of flowers. I also cut back the Peters Purple Monarda that grows in that bed since it is finished blooming, all that is left is the dried seed heads.

Pulled up some weeds in the Thyallis bed by the pool.

Went to Connie and Ken Gwynn's party.  They have a great place near us in Carmine.  She has a great garden with lots of adorable accents that she has herbs growing in  - an old claw foot bath tub, an iron bed frame, galvanized steel wash tubs, etc.  Very quaint and country.

Only one more day left of my four day vacation, the time flies when we are here.

Sunday, again up before day light and outside by seven.

I spent about three hours working in the Vegetable Garden.  I loosened the top soil of the large asparagus bed and the 16 x 4 bed and two 4 x 4 beds and seeded them with buckwheat seed.  I staked five Mexican Sunflowers.  They sprung up from last year's seeds and they are about four feet tall.  Fall bloomers, gorgeous orange daisy-like flowers.  They will get about ten feet tall in good soil and will surely fall over at that height.  Hopefully my stakes will delay the inevitable.  I laid down some weed sheets in the paths and covered them with some of the white rock that is piled in the driveway.  I'm trying to cover spots where the fungus is the worst.  I sprayed herbicide here and there. The Vegetable Garden looks pretty good.  There are several sweet potato vines growing where I missed digging up the potatoes from last year.  The amaranth is about 10 feet tall and the seed heads are bright pink.  

I moved on to the Medicine Garden next.  I raked the paths, they really needed it.  I pulled weeds.  I spread some more mulch in the spot that I weeded last weekend.  I noticed that my Night Blooming Jasmine is in full bloom, but we won't be here tonight.  I wish I had noticed it earlier!  I won't be able to enjoy the scent before I leave,

Dumped one more load of mulch in the back bed.

I loaded the cub one more time with mulch and used it to mulch in the Star Garden.  I sprayed herbicide in the Star Garden.  The Star Garden smells wonderful, the Almond Verbena is in full bloom.

Swam in the pool throughout the day.  Watched butterflies on my Mexicali Rose.

Cleaned up and we left about 3:30.