Took Friday off and arrived on Thursday evening. Bert said there was a hard rain before I arrived. He and I have very different ideas about what constitutes a hard rain, but he was right, I could tell it had rained hard - thank goodness, we needed it.
- Friday morning I took the cadet, the wheelbarrow, my long leather gloves, a garden cushion and clippers and scissors down to the Orchard to clean out the dead blackberry canes. A heinous job by anyone's standards. I worked on one bed that, for some reason, I have never cleaned out before. I also cut away the long vines of my grapes that were reaching down to the ground. Weeded. Scooped up soil that the armadillos had strewn all over the paths and threw it back into the beds. Cut away Moss Verbena that was leaning into the paths. Raked up some of the yucky fungus spreading in the paths, it loves the wet weather. That all took several hours.
- Went inside for a cool-down and to re-hydrate.
- Back out to the Orchard. I cleaned out another blackberry bed, not nearly as difficult since I had cleared it out last year. I also cut some more long grape vines.
- In for lunch and a nap. There is a meteor shower all weekend and I want to stay up late enough to watch some of it.
- I went back out for a short while after my nap and pulled some weeds in the Star Garden, but didn't get much done.
- Saturday I was up early.
- Went out to the Orchard again to clean out some more blackberry canes. I focused on the other far corner of the Orchard, the large bed and the small one behind it. I pulled up all the tall leggy zinnias to make way for the seedlings coming up. I cut back the Montbretia yellowing foliage. Weeded. Scooped soil back into the beds that the evil armadillos had rooted out into the paths. And I cut away dead blackberry canes in the small bed. Pulled up leggy zinnias in various places throughout the garden. Next I moved on to the long blackberry bed next to the Mulberry. Got that one knocked out. It was then that I noticed the bed at the font of the Orchard. A vine had completely taken over the bed, it had covered everything. Pretty startling, really, can't believe that I hadn't noticed. I pulled and yanked and pulled. There was also a huge poke salad growing in there which I know about. I cut it away, I'm not strong enough to pull it up, the tap root is too big, so it comes back every year. The grape vines had crept in there too, and a big beauty berry and a Turk's Cap, all too big for me to pull up without a shovel and whole lot of "want to". What a mess. I worked on that as long as I could, but I gave out before I was done.
- Swam in the pool.
- I cut back the leggy black and blue salvia and overgrown white Four O'Clocks in the back beds all the way the the ground. Maybe I'll get another flush of blooms from the salvia in the fall, but I doubt it - it's never happened yet.
- Whew! That's all the strength I had. I hauled four huge loads of debris in the cadet over to the burn pile. I did a lot of clearing today.
- Sunday, up early and outside. Back to the Orchard. I finished cleaning out the grape vine / beauty berry / evil vine mess. I also spent some time cutting away the dead blackberry canes on the other side of the bed. I trimmed back some of the Mexican Sunflowers and pulled up zinnias in the bed with my hops trellis.
- Bilski came out to the house and did some repairs on our well. The water pressure was horrible. It's much better now. I fertilized and watered in the Rose Garden with my new water pressure.
- Bert and I messed with the sprinklers in the Rose Garden, one of them was hardly putting any water off despite the improved water pressure. We replaced the valve and it works fine.
- I fertilized Veilcenblau and Climbing Pinkie and my snowball bush. Watered them well.
- Sprayed herbicide in the Orchard, Rose Garden, Star Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Greenhouse garden.
- Pulled some more weeds here and there and headed home.
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