Weekend at the Farm August 24 - 25, 2019

Arrived Friday evening and went home early afternoon on Saturday.  Dad's birthday party at Etoille on Saturday night.  Then I came back on Sunday and spent the night Sunday night.

• We have Airbnb guests next weekend, so I spent the weekend clearing out paths, weeding, etc. - basically doing the same thing that I always do but with the added urgency of knowing people will be there soon. 
• Saturday.  Bert came up on Thursday and bought a yard of soil mix for me.  I knew that was not going to be enough to fill up the long bed in the Vegetable Garden, but Bert is always worried that my dirt will sit on his trailer and rot the wood.  So I HAVE to unload all of it every time he hauls dirt home.Saturday morning I worked on that.  I got all of it off the trailer and into the raised bed in short order, about 45 minutes.  Sure enough, with the amount I had a couple of weekends ago and this weekend, I still need about another yard and a half.
• All my Edamame seeds have sprouted that I planted last weekend.  They sprang up fast!  The hairy vetch has not emerged yet except for one single seed.  
•  I sowed Kale, beet and turnip seeds in the bed that I filled.  I did some weeding.  More pine needles had dropped in my good spot, so I raked them up and spread them in several beds that I'm not going to plant.  I also sowed some lettuce seeds.  If it proves too hot for lettuce still, that's okay.  I have lots of lettuce seed, and I would be planting it in succession anyway.  Next time I'm there I will sow parsley and dill in my buckets.  Apparently voles really like sunflower roots because all my sunflowers had been eaten off right at the soil level.  They had finished blooming for the most part, so I'm not super-upset, but I was hoping to get some seed for the birds.
• The rest of Saturday was spent watering and weeding.
• Sunday - I was up by six and on the road a short time after that.  I was in Burton by 7:30 and started working.
• I tied plants back that were leaning into paths, mostly Philippine Lily stalks and ageratum.
• I worked on the dayflower weeds in the Rose Garden for a while.  I raked the Rose Garden.  I have a tendency to pull weeds and throw them on the ground wherever I'm working.  So the area really needed to be raked.
• I raked the Star Garden and tied back or cut plants that were leaning in.
• I spent some time on the area of the Star Garden that leads to the Rose Garden.  It looks much better now, all cleaned out.  
• I spent a lot of time weeding in areas of the Star Garden that I usually don't spend a lot of time on:  the Copper Canyon bed, the Bulb bed, the Ehrlicheer bed, the middle beds of the Star Garden, the Pink Muhly bed, the white Sweetshrub bed.  
• The armadillos have messed with everything.  It's maddening.  They infuriate me.
• This may be the best the Star Garden has ever looked in August. - despite the cursed armadillos.