Weekend at the Farm February 15 - 16, 2020

These are pictures of flowers on my new Royal Velvet Camellia.  The shrub is tiny, but the flwoers really pack a punch.

Saturday morning the whole family met at Mom and Dad's storage unit to clear it out and lay claim to the last of their unclaimed stuff.  To the farm after that.

• I had a lot to do in a very short span of time.  I really didn't think I'd get it all done, but I did.
• Saturday afternoon I pruned roses.  One advantage to losing so many roses and having to replace them is that there is not much to prune.  Many of my roses are still very small.  I've got lots left to do, but I got about a half dozen pruned.
• I noticed a lump of soil next to my Valentine rose.  Usually the voles aren't so cooperative as to leave such a tell tale sign that they have taken up residence underneath one of my roses, but this time they did.  I ran the hose underneath the plant and the hose sunk about two feet down.  I ran the water for a long time, smushed down the soil and added some soil to the cavity.  I saved Valentine.
• I worked until dusk weeding and tidying.
• Sunday.  I loaded the cadet with compost and began working in the Vegetable Garden.  I amended the soil in various beds and planted Yukon Gold potatoes.  I bought these seed potatoes several days ago, cut them up and let them cure for a few days.  I went to the nursery to buy some sulfur to sprinkle on them, but it was too expensive.  They will be fine.  I've never used sulfur before, and my potatoes do fine.  I planted some of them in my big buckets because the voles like potatoes as much as I do.  The rest I planted in the deep bed.  Hopefully the voles won't find them.  At least not this year.  While I was working with the buckets I dug up a Senna that had sprung up from a seed, and I moved it to the Hot Border.  The mother plant used to grow in the Hot Border, but she died last year.  Fortunately she left behind this little seed.
• I sowed some lettuce seeds in several beds that I amended.
• And I planted some 1015 onions in several beds.
• I was in the Vegetable Garden working for about 4 hours - hauling compost, spreading compost, turning over soil, etc.
• I had one blank spot in my asparagus bed (I think I might have inadvertently sprayed herbicide on the asparagus growing in the that spot), so I planted a Martha Washington two year old root there that I bought at Wabash.  There was a random Southern Wood Fern there that had somehow sprung up, so I moved it to the Hot Border. 
• The carrots and garlic that I planted 2 weeks ago are starting to sprout.  Yay!
• I planted a Pride of Oregon hydrangea in the Medicine Garden.  I spotted it at Arbor Gate - tiny and priced at $8.99.  When I see a shrub priced that low I buy it!  Yes, it is small, but I'm very patient.
• Throughout the day I fertilized some of my roses and watered in the fertilizer.
• I bought a flat of Columbine at Arbor Gate, it is the little red and yellow native Columbine.  I amended the soil in the bed adjacent to the Greenhouse and the bed across from the Greenhouse.  I planted all of them.  I've done quite a bit of work on the beds next to the Greenhouse, so I'm quite happy about that.  They had fallen in to disrepair over the last year or so.  Of course now it will be a challenge to keep everything alive during the hot summer months ahead until it all gets established.
• I also bought a Country Girl mum.  I planted it in the Star Garden.
• And finally, I bought a bare root Bela Lugosi day lily, and I planted it in the Rose Garden.
• I spread compost in the shady path that leads to the Rose Garden.  I spread compost in the bed that leads to the shed.  Weeded in there for a while.
• I worked on spreading compost in the beds along the back of the house.  That is a very long flower bed, so I am working on it in phases.  I did a lot last weekend.  And this weekend I did a little bit more.  I didn't see any of my bee balm while I was in there, so I'm wondering if it will come back.  If I see it being sold in small containers I will buy some.   
• Pulled weeds in the Rose Garden. 
• All day long and into the early evening hours the birds were singing their hearts out.  It was another perfect day, and I worked until darkness set in.  
• Drove in to work on Monday morning.