Calendulas AKA Pot Marigolds December 29, 2020

 I sowed these seeds a couple of months ago.  I sowed them in the Vegetable Garden (the leaves and petals are edible).  I wasn't really expecting to get blooms this winter.  I was expecting them to remain as small seedlings until the spring arrived at which time they would burst forth.  That's how my beets and carrots, etc behave.  So it has been a delightful surprise to see blooms in December.

The bees are all over these flowers because they are one of the only things blooming right now.

Purple Wave Mustard Greens December 29, 2020

 These mustard greens are so pretty!

Bears Breeches December 15, 2020

 I have several of these planted throughout the shady parts of my garden.  They look really good right now, so pretty and green.  I am a big fan of large leaf plants.  We have had several freezes so far this year, but it hasn't affected these plants yet.  I've read a lot of descriptions about Bears Breeches being invasive.  Mine have not spread at all, and the clumps seem to be only marginally more substantial than when I first planted them.

Plant Sassafras for Fall Color

 Here in the southern part of Texas you don't get those wonderful autumn colors.  But sassafras trees give you a little bit of pretty color in the fall.  And you get yellow flowers in the spring.  And on top of those two benefits, it is an herb (I call any plant that is useful an herb).  Gumbo file is made from the leaves of the sassafras tree, and root beer is made from the roots.  

 

At the Farm During the Pandemic December 7 - 13, 2020

 

La Marne rose is still growing strong despite the freezes.

• Arrived on Sunday afternoon by myself.  Bert joined me the next day.  We had Airbnb guests over the weekend.
• I did a lot of walking around but not much else.  Weather was beautiful.
• Monday.  Worked.  Beautiful weather.
• Pulled up a bunch of ageratum from the front bed and in the Star Garden.
• I and going to build another garden off the end of the Greenhouse Gardens.  So I spray painted the design on the ground with blue spray paint.  It will be at least $1410 to buy the materials, and I am pretty good at estimating that kind of expense.  I will do all the labor myself, but I'm hesitant about jumping in right at Christmas.
• Tuesday. Worked.  Beautiful day!
• I fertilized the Brussels sprouts with cottonseed meal.
•  I planted 3 Georgia collards in the Vegetable Garden.  I planted 2 about a month ago but something got them.  Not sure what.  But they just withered and died.  I've never had that happen before.
• I pulled up a big basil in the Rose Garden that froze.  Sowed seed in the spot. 
• Sowed seed in the spot where I pulled up ageratum in the Star Garden on Monday.
• I filled my new sprayer with fish emulsion and water and sprayed my tangerine tree and all my camellias.  I had no idea how many parts fish emulsion to parts water I should use.  I can only hope I didn't go overboard.  I cleaned the sprayer for its intended use as a herbicide sprayer.
• I spread most of a 50 pound bag of cottonseed meal over my Daffodil Border.  The greenery is just beginning to appear. 
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• I gathered seed from my Sweet Autumn Clematis in the Orchard so that I can plant it in the spring in the garden I'm building for my mom.
• I pulled up some dead castor vegetation in the Rose Garden and piled up the seed pods to store for later vole killing.
• Bert and I drove to the Hardware store in town and bought 10 metal landscape edging pieces so I can begin building my garden. 
• Thursday.  Worked.
• I began laying down the landscape edging in the Water Garden (the garden I'm building for my mom).
• I started on the side with the Mexican Buckeye. That used 7 pieces of edging - 8 feet long each. 
• Friday.  Vacation
• I drove in to town and bought 5 more pieces of landscape edging.  
• I laid down the remaining 8.  And I dug out some edging and rock where the paths previously ended.
• Picked up Blake's kids for the weekend.  Nothing but kid activities for the rest of the weekend.
• There was some pretty good rain on Sunday.  Keep it coming!  My seeds in the Meadow need it.

At the Farm During the Pandemic November 21 - December 3, 2020

 

• Saturday.  The official start to my week of vacation.  Next week was supposed to be my first week back at the office, but since I'm taking the week of Thanksgiving as vacation, my start day will be the last week of December. 
• I started first thing raking in the Star Garden.  I filled the wheel barrow with leaves and dumped them in the shady part of the Star Garden.
• Then I spent about 30 minutes cutting down Philippine Lily stalks in the Circle Drive.  I spread the lily seeds in all the beds in the Circle Drive.
• Next, I sprayed herbicide on the walkways around the house and the driveway in front of the house.  I also sprayed along the edge of the Daffodil Border where the winter weeds were about to encroach into the bed. 
• I drove the cadet down to the Orchard after that, and I spent the rest of the day cleaning up in there.  I did some raking, although the lion's share of that was done the day before.  
• A couple of months ago Bert and I had surrounded a stand of swamp sunflower with some goat wire.  It had finished blooming, and so I pulled away the wire enclosure and cut all the swamp sunflower down to the ground.  I loaded it into the back of the cadet and hauled it away to the debris pile.  
• I did a lot of cleanup in the the blackberry beds where the large-leaf winter weeds are already taking hold.  I drove to my good pine needle spot, raked up two truckloads of pine needles and spread them everywhere that I pulled weeds.  
• The blackberry bramble in one of the beds was leaning into a rose and blocking the path.  So I pushed it up with a long piece of rebar and hammered the rebar into the ground. 
• I spent some time weaving long blackberry canes into other canes to keep them from hanging out into the paths.  
• I pulled all the ageratum.
• I cut back gangly limbs of blue salvia.  
• I spread seed in all the spots where I pulled up ageratum.  
• I cut some nasty vines down to the ground and poisoned the cuts with my oil can of poison.
• I sprayed herbicide around the outside of the Orchard and on some of the paths.
• Sunday.
• I raked in the Star Garden and dumped several wheelbarrows-ful in the wild part of the Star Garden.  
• I pulled up lots of lily stalks.
• I moved several Ox Eye daisies growing in paths over to some flower beds, but then I started thinking that was a waste of time since I have a bagful of seeds.  So I started just pulling them up.
• I raked up a truckload of pine needles from my good spot and mulched several spots in the Orchard.  
• Raked some more in the Orchard.  Pulled weeds.
• Then I got my long leather gloves and spent about an hour cutting and pulling out dead canes from my small blackberry bramble at the back of the Orchard.  That bed was the only one I hadn't cleared out for the season.  Worst job in the world.
• Into the house for lunch.
• The rest of the day was spent piddling around.  Weeding here and there, spreading seed, deadheading flowers.
• Monday.  
• Bert and I went to the grocery store and liquor store with our Thanksgiving list.  We stopped at the hardware store and I bought a sprinkler. 
• I sowed s half pound each of black eyed Susans and Drummond Phlox in the top part of the Meadow.  I set the new sprinkler out to water it.  
• Fast forward to Thursday Thanksgiving.  I had a super-spreader event with all of our kids (sans Josh and family who thought it was too many people during a pandemic) and their kids.  A big group.  We ate outside - our nod to the virus.  It was a wonderful day.  So many children running around playing.  A good day.
• Friday.  Will and family spent the night on Thursday and headed home around noon on Friday.  Bert went to Groesbeck for a father, son, grandfather weekend.  I took a nap and did nothing much else.
• Rainy and grey, perfect for spreading all the remaining seed I had.  Red Drummond phlox, clasping cone flower, back eyed Susans, tall poppy mallow, moss verbena, Maximillian sunflower, and red poppies.  I held back some handfuls so I could spread more seed in my gardens.
• Saturday.  rainy and grey - perfect again!  Keep it coming so that my seeds can get a good start.
• I spent the day going through the closets, cabinets, drawers, shelves, and laundry room.  I packed up several dozen sacks full of junk, clutter, trash and goodwill:  cords to electronics we got rid of long ago, partial sets of linens, clothes I've out grown or won't wear, an old coffee machine, old rugs, broken toys and mysterious toy pieces, old receipts and papers we saved for some reason, a box full of cups from previous crawfish boils, yucky blankets, worn out towels, placemats I will never use (because I have 8 other sets), mismatched glassware, a broken electric wine opener, all the expired medicines in the cabinet, all chipped plates and bowls, empty bags we kept "just in case", old broken window blinds - why?, and countless other things that, frankly, I don't know how they got here or what they are.  It will be a real nuisance packing it all in the car to take to Houston.  But there is no way to get rid of it here - no trash service!
• Sunday.  Cold and grey, but no rain.
• I went to the grocery store.  
• Monday.  Worked.
• Took a long walk during my lunch hour.
• Tuesday.  Worked.
• We had our first hard frost of the winter, so all my plants with tender vegetation died.  
• I worked in the Vegetable Garden during my lunch hour.  I pulled up the remaining basil plants.  And I pulled up the Poblano pepper plants.  I harvested all the poblano peppers.  There were 50 or so - yuck -what am I going to do with all those peppers?  I raked up a big wheel barrow full of pine needles and spread them in several places in the Vegetable Garden where I won't be growing anything this winter.  I sprayed a little herbicide along the side fence.  I did some weeding, and I pulled up what was left of my green bean plants. 
• I pulled up some more ageratum and spread clasping coneflower and poppy seeds.
• I pulled up some stands of zinnias.  What was left of the zinnias are dead now due to the freeze.
• Thursday.  Worked.
• I raked up one more wheel barrow of pine needles and mulched in the Vegetable Garden.
• I cut away some frozen cannas that had fallen into paths.
• I watered in the Long Border and I watered my new camellias.
• Headed home to Houston for the weekend.  We have Airbnb guests arriving on Friday.  They booked out of the blue, kind of a random time to be vacationing, but there you have it.  

  

Roses November 23, 2020

 Belinda's Dream is my best bloomer.

Below, Old Blush

Below, Ducher

Below, La Vesuve

Below, Duchess de Brabant

The two below, Perl d'Or

The three below, the Butterfly Rose (Mutabilis)

Below, Archduke Charles

Morning Glories November 23, 2020

 We still haven't had our first freeze, so the morning glories are going strong.  The blue is so vivid in cool temperatures.  

French Marigolds in the Vegetable Garden November 21, 2020

 French marigolds deter nematodes.  I have a real problem with nematodes because the soil around here is very sandy, and nematodes thrive in sandy soil.  So I always buy seeds in the spring and sow them in the Vegetable Garden as soon as the weather starts to get warm in very early March - at the same time as I set out my tomatoes.  But it isn't until fall that marigolds really start to get going.  They are so pretty in the fall.

  

Striking Castor Plant November 21, 2020

 This is a true old fashioned plant and very dramatic-looking.  This stand of castor is growing behind my Vegetable Garden.  It comes up from seed every spring.  I haven't purposely planted it since the first year I grew it.  The spiny red balls become a cluster of seeds.  They drop to the ground and there you have it.  Next spring a whole new stand of castor.  All parts of the castor plant are extremely poisonous (which is interesting since castor oil is made from castor).  As a vole deterrent, I have recently begun to plant seeds around the little plants I plant in the Rose Garden.  They eat the roots as they try to get to the roots of my good plants - and they die (at least that's what I hope is happening). I think it is helping save some of my plants, but I need more time to see if my plan is really working.  I know that vole and mole repellent is made from castor, so I think I'm on to something.  And obviously, I have a lot of castor, so I'm set as far as repellent goes!

Pretty Tabasco Pepper Plant in the Vegetable Garden

 This is a fun pepper to grow because it is so pretty - the peppers turn yellow, then orange, then red.  This pepper plant is a heavy producer.  I don't pull up the plants at the end of the year.  I let them freeze and then stand there all winter.  The peppers will dry up and drop their seed.  The next spring I will have lots of volunteers.  I keep one or two that have sprung up in a good spot, and I pull up the rest.  Bert chops them up and eats them in his eggs.  One year I pickled some, they were pretty good.  But I am not a fan of fresh peppers.    

At the Farm During the Pandemic November 15 - 20, 2020

 

We arrived on Sunday after Kim and friends left.

• I pulled up the last of the zinnias in the Rose Garden.  They were pretty tuckered out.
• I lost some plants to the voles while I was gone.  A lantana and one of my Heliopsis.  I sowed seed in their place.  My recollection is that I have sown wildflower seeds this late in the season, but so far I'm not getting good germination.  Too cold?  Not sure, I think not.  We'll see.  
• Monday.  Worked.
• More of the same activity - sowing seed and I pulled up ageratum in the Star Garden.
• Tuesday.  We were going to rent a shredder from Home Depot but Carol offered us her tractor and bush hog instead.  What a kind gesture!  The one we were going to rent was a push mower-type.  We see (now that we are finished) mowing the Meadow would have taken a huge effort with the push mower.  Carol's offer was a godsend.  Mission accomplished, the Meadow has been mowed.  All the dead, thick sticks are gone.  I want to throw out all my wildflower seed, but I want to do it when we are going to have some rain.  However, there is no rain in sight.
• Tuesday evening I pulled up more tired zinnias and ageratum.
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• Before work I went out to the Meadow with a partial pound bag of Tall Poppy Mallow and a quarter pound of Butterfly Milkweed ( that stuff is expensive!  All I could afford was a quarter pound.) and sowed it in the upper Meadow.  I set the sprinkler on it.  
• My current thought is that I will focus on Monarch butterflies for my wildlife management plan next year when I am required to put it together and get it approved by the Washington County people.  But I don't know anything about what is required in a wildlife management plan, so maybe that is impractical.   The milkweed seed is very, very expensive and the germination success rate is only 60%.  But it is a perennial plant.  I have a lot of milkweed (a different kind than what I sowed in the Meadow) in my Star Garden and Rose Garden this year and I had many, many Monarchs in late summer and fall.  Plant it, and they will come.
•  During lunch I pulled up lots of ageratum and some wedelia in the Star Garden.  And I cut away some of the blue mist monster so that I could walk through that path.  I sowed Ox Eye daisy, moss verbena, and red poppy seeds in the open spots. 
• Thursday.  Worked.
• During lunch I went down to the Orchard and pulled weeds in the Satsuma bed, the iris bed at the front of the Orchard, and the Jujube bed.  Dollar weed is really bad in the Jujube bed.  I painstakingly teased it up by the underground runners and pulled it up.  I spread seed in the Jujube bed and the Celeste bed.  The Orchard needs some work - raking mostly - and some weeding.  I will hit it this weekend.  This weekend will be one of the first weekends in many, many months that we will be here at the farm.  I'm really looking forward to it.
• Friday.  Worked.
• During lunch I went down to the Orchard and raked.  I got almost all of the leaves raked up.  Still a little more work to do.  I dumped the leaves into one of my compost bins.