Weekend at the Farm November 12 - 13, 2014

 This is La Vesuve rose. 

I arrived Friday evening.  Bert went hunting with Donald and Albert, so I was by myself all weekend.

• Saturday morning I took Rocky and Buddy to the vet.  Rocky is scratching at himself again and Buddy's eye looked really bad.  The vet says we should have Buddy's eye removed.
• Seeded wildflower seeds in a few spots in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden.  The Orchard is still beautiful with zinnias, so I don't want to pull them up and seed the Orchard yet.
• I pulled up the marigolds in the big bed in the Vegetable Garden to get ready for seeding it with wildflowers.  To heck with vegetables, the nematodes are getting them anyway.
• I dusted my cabbages and collards with Seven dust.
• I cut away lots of anisacanthus in the Star Garden in preparation for pulling it all up and seeding the bed with wildflower seeds.  I cut back the dead canes of my Mexican salvia.
• I worked on the Kitchen Herb Garden for about two hours.  I yanked up several really big, dead sage.  I also cut back and dug up a Beautyberry that was totally in the way.  I weeded.  And I mulched the entire area.
• I walked and walked and walked - from the Rose Garden to the Star Garden to the Orchard.  What a beautiful day.
• I spent some time working with the compost pile.  I hauled away lots of dead Mexican Sunflower branches and I used the pitch fork to turn the compost.  I'm going to use it tomorrow to mix into the big Vegetable Garden plot.  If you ever want to see some really big, scary-looking spiders, a compost pile is the place to be.
• Weeded here and there.
• Enjoyed the day! 
• Sunday.  I began by pulling up all my anisacanthus in the long bed in the Star Garden.  I had to pry it up with a shovel to start, but after the initial effort it pulled up pretty easily.  There was also a lot of Wedelia growing around it and the adjacent Ehamanii canna.  I pulled up as much as I could easily reach, I will dig up the rest after the canna die back.    Wedelia is very difficult to pull up.  I edged the area with mulch and seeded the middle area with wildflowers seeds.
• I moved on to the Vegetable Garden.  I loaded up my wheelbarrow with compost and mixed it into the bed that I cleared out yesterday.  The compost was infested with ants so I had to be pretty careful.  I smoothed out the soil in the middle and edged the entire area with mulch.  I spread wildflower seeds in the middle area.
• Fertilized my cabbages, mustard and collard greens.
• I watered here and there in the Rose Garden.
• The butterflies are still beautiful and plentiful..  So pretty.
• Left about 3:30 to go to Blake's house.  Spent the night because she and Josh had to leave very early to go to the hospital.  Little Charlie will be here tomorrow!