Weekend at the Farm May 5 - 6, 2018

Friday evening Bert and I went to see Hamilton with Nan, Lisa, Josh, Amy, Blake, and Mr. H.  Damien's for dinner beforehand.  Fun evening.  Arrived at the farm Saturday morning.  No Grey Kitty on Saturday, but he finally dragged in on Sunday morning.  I was worried about him.

• Saturday morning I spent time staking plants in the Star Garden and the Orchard.  I staked the Pringle Aster, coreopsis in various places, my Montbretia, my asters.  I created barriers between plants that were crowding out other plants such as coreopsis and Soapwort and greggii and coneflowers. I stopped when I ran out of stakes.  I'll buy some more this week and do some more staking next weekend.
• I walked around my small prairie meadow several times observing and noting things of interest as well as problems.  The brown-eyed Susans are in bloom.  And the Gallardia and Yellow Primrose are still going strong.  I saw a White Prickly Poppy blooming and some False Dragonhead, so that was really great.   
• Deadheaded roses.
• Watered in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden.
• Dragged hoses around.
• Napped
• Sunday, spread some manure in the Rose Garden.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Orchard, the driveway, the Star Garden, and the Rose Garden.
• I also did some spraying in my prairie meadow.  I'm trying to limit the number of Poke Salad and Beautyberry that are springing up.  And of course I'm trying to knock back the crab grass so that better plants don't have all that competition.  That will be a battle for years to come.  But I am astounded at the plant diversity that I already have.   
• Weeded in the Vegetable Garden.  Picked a couple of eggplants.  Saw a squirrel running out of the Vegetable garden up into a tree with a tomato in his mouth. Thief!  He'll take one little bite and throw it down to the ground.
• The Painted Buntings are back at the feeders as well as the hummers. 
• I walked the prairie meadow several more times on Sunday.  I'm really getting interested in it.  
• The blackberries are starting to turn black, and the plums are starting to turn red.  Many of the plum have worms, and I don't like to spray.  If the animals leave me enough to make jelly, I will have to cut them up pretty carefully when I make jelly. Bert and I got out the tall ladder and picked the red plums. 
• Dug up some more Four O'clock bulbs in the Long Border.  Trying to rid myself of them is going to be time consuming.
• Found some Hyacinth Bean seeds in my seed box, so I soaked them and planted them where I had sowed moonflower seeds a month or so ago.  They never popped up.  Stubborn seeds.  I should have soaked them before I planted them. 
• All the vine seeds that I sowed two weeks ago have popped up.
• Pulled weeds in the corn bed. 
• Sowed zinnia seeds here and there in the Vegetable Garden.
• The Birdhouse Gourds and cantaloupe have started sending out tendrils and climbing up their supports.
• Drove in to work on Monday morning.