Three Days at the Farm March 1 - 3, 2019

First day of March!  I call that the first day of spring although it is technically not.  Lots to do.  We arrived on Thursday evening, pretty much went straight to bed.

• Friday morning.  Bert and I took a walk, lots of hog activity in the Meadow all the way up to the pool between the Boardwalk and the pool.  That is almost at the house.  Bert drove around, and they have been rooting all over the property.  They are probably living in the low part of our land by the bridge.  Everything around here is wet - it has been an extremely wet winter.  Not good from a hog perspective.
• I started out in the Star Garden laying gravel, just long enough to finish off the remainder of the pile nearby.
• I continued on, laying gravel in the Medicine Garden with the big pile near the arbor.  I worked for about four hours raking then dumping gravel then spreading it.  It's cool, and I can work like a robot in cold weather I always say.  I moved six or so columbine seedlings from paths into beds as I went along.
• Pruned Franziska Kruger rose.  
• Worked on laying gravel until about 3:00.
• During rest periods I started cleaning out the Shade Garden.  This was relatively simple because Bert had already blown the leaves out of the paths, so no raking was required.  I just had to snap off dead branches of Snakeroot.  I filled up the cadet with debris.  I didn't finish, but I'm about halfway done.
• I started pruning the grapevines.  It was a little bit less difficult than past years because I made a point of cutting the long vines throughout last summer.  I worked on that for an hour, perhaps more.  I didn't finish, but I made progress.
• Saturday.  Cutting the dead debris away from the perennials was on my list today, but we are going to have hard freezes for several days.  Plants do better through the winter if you leave that dead vegetation on the plants.  So, I took that chore off the list.  The cold snap is a blow.  All the fruit trees are in bloom.  It will be a sorry year for fruit.
• First thing in the morning I started laying gravel in the Vegetable Garden.  Raked, pulled up the weeds that were too big to cover with the gravel, spread gravel.  I ran out of gravel before I was completely finished.  So close!  Two more wheelbarrows of gravel would have done it.
• We went to Jeff and Amy's house for a bonfire party.  Joan and Richard were there.  Dinner and then sat by the fire.  I brought collards from our garden.  Jeff and Amy had never had collards before.
• Sunday.  Last wonderful day here.  Bert saw hogs coming out the woods headed towards the house.  He pulled out his semi-automatic rifle and strafed into the bunch.  He got one little one.  Poor little piggy.  I hate them until I see one lying dead.  Then I feel sad.
• I dug up several dozen Philippine Lily seedlings from paths in the Circle Drive.  Now is the time they make a charge in growth, so the little ones that I passed by several weeks ago when I was transplanting them, have gotten bigger and worth moving.  I planted them all in the Shade Garden.  Then I spent some time cleaning out the Snakeroot debris.
• I pruned Mutabilis rose.  Mutabilis is one of the roses that I find confusing to prune.  Mrs. BR Cant is another one.  The canes grow in all directions, and I don't really know where to cut so that the rose form looks pretty.  They end up all crooked-y.
• I finished pruning the grape vines.  
• The Orchard is an absolute mess.  Next weekend I will start tackling it
• I planted 3 Mother of Thyme, 1 Corsican Mint, 2 Sage, and 2 Lovage in the Kitchen Herb Garden.
• The weather cleared up, and I took the opportunity to spray the roses with fungicide.
• I planted a Giant Ligularia in a bed leading to the Rose Garden.
• Weeded for a while, but the cold drove me in.
• Headed home to Houston late Sunday afternoon.