There are six robins on the birdbath and one waiting, and many that are nearby waiting their turn. And it is the same on every rain barrel. I took Friday as vacation. Lots to do. Tomorrow is leap year, Feb 29. Coronavirus has reached the United States.
- Friday morning - cold and sunny, absolutely gorgeous weather all day. The robins are everywhere again this weekend. So entertaining!
- I went down to the Orchard and finished pruning the grape vines. I got the biggest part done last weekend, and Friday I did the fine work - looking for long vines that I missed cutting, and cutting some the spurs even shorter so that only a couple of buds remained. While I was down there I spent about an hour weeding.
- I fertilized all the roses in the front beds and in the Rose Garden. And I spent some time watering in the Rose Garden to water-in the fertilizer.
- I raked out the Copper Canyon Daisy Bed in the Star Garden. Cut back all the wild flower (can't come up with the name right now) that spreads by underground runner. Cut back the Cigar Plant and the Copper Canyon Daisy. I pruned my two Blue Vitex really hard. Side-dressed the Copper Canyons and the Cigar Plants with compost. Fertilized. And then set the sprinkler on the bed for 40 minutes. Raked all around the bed and in the nearby paths. Much improved.
- I began composting in the Vegetable Garden. I don't have much compost left, so I need to get the Vegetable Garden done. I need to condition the soil in several places. I have all my seeds, but I probably won't sow anything until next weekend. We had a freeze a couple of days ago - it's still a little early for most things, but lettuce seed will make it. I was surprised to see how dry it was, but the lettuce seed that I sowed last weekend had come up. I turned on the sprinkler in there to get things wet.
- Planted 8 Inland Sea Oats in the weird, shady location of the Dining Room Bed. But I think in the summer that location is sunny, and I will have to protect them. That rather large area is shady for most of the year and sunny in some months of the summer, so I have had a real problem trying to figure out what to plant there through the years, I have 2 Marie Pave roses, 3 snow rose shrubs, a very large stand of Clyde Redmond iris, lots of Philippine Lily seedlings, Rudbeckia, and Texas Pink Phlox. I wouldn't say any of that is suited for shade half the year and sun half the year, but there is my problem. In the end, I just stuck some stuff in there.
- I raked leaves in the Greenhouse Gardens and dumped them in the leaf piles next to the Vegetable Garden. And that was it for Friday.
- Saturday. I worked in the Vegetable Garden adding the last of my compost to various beds and turning over the soil, mixing it in, getting ready to sow seeds and plant veggies. While I was there I sowed a few spaghetti squash seeds in a couple of places - next to the bucket of parsley and in the new, small veggie bed. And I sowed some nasturtiums along edges where they won't get in the way when I begin planting in earnest. I cleaned out the long narrow bed on the other side of the sugar cane. I haven't planted there in a couple of years for some reason. But it's ready now.
- I painted the fence in the Star Garden, the side farthest from the house. Fresh and green, that took a couple hours.
- Continued watering-in the fertilizer that I spread on all the roses in the Rose Garden yesterday.
- Pruned the thryallis shrubs in the bed adjacent to the pool . Cut down to the ground the mystery shrub that appeared in the back bed - has leaves kind of like a subdivision shrub, but never flowers. I don't know what it is, so I hate to poison it - what if it is something wonderful? I noted some sort of vine had insinuated itself into that bed. I cut it and poisoned the tip. Also a somewhat stout yaupon was in there. I cut it and poisoned.
- I planted 5 Tansy in the Medicine Garden near the other two. I worked the soil and sowed Nicotiana, bronze fennel, catnip and valerian seeds. I was going to wait to sow seeds until next weekend but couldn't help myself.
- Sowed some Laura Bush petunia seeds in the Long Border.
- It was a stunner of a day, and I hated to see it end.
- Sunday. Up before daylight. Coffee on the porch swing. A cold wind blew all day.
- Finished watering-in the fertilizer in the Rose Garden. Did some weeding in there.
- I sowed two rows of runner beans in the Vegetable Garden. Sunset and Painted Lady. I sowed them along an edge of a bed, and fastened goat wire to the ground and leaning against the fence. They should climb up the wire to the top of the fence. This was my attempt to have more vertical space. I only have one permanent vertical space, and I'm going to plant zucchini and cucumber on that.
- I weeded in the large area next to the front arbor. It was a painstaking effort because I wanted to save as many of my Love In A Mist seedlings as I could, but the weeds were plentifully dispersed amongst them. I was there a long time, bent over, crouching, yuck. I pulled up a lot seedlings, however and planted a Julia Child rose and a Carefree Beauty Rose in there. I've had it with trying to grow seeds in there. It is too weed-infested. I'm planting large plants / shrubs and laying down heavy layers of mulch from now on. I will use other areas of the Star Garden for my seeds. I also planted an Augusta Duelberg salvia which is a white-flowered salvia. And I planted 2 bronze fennel in the Star Garden. Fennel is a larval food.
- I cut back the pink Turkscap in the Star Garden.
- Tied back 10 or so bundles of paperwhite greenery. Time to let the lilies advance, and the paperwhite greenery takes so long to die back. I tied up a bunch of a couple of weekends ago, and some today. Lots more to do, unfortunately.
- Cut dead canes from my Indigo Spires and Firespike in the Star Garden. Did a little weeding while I was in those beds.
- Weeded for about an hour in the Orchard. The wild plum is in full bloom and the air was filled with the wonderful grape smell. I had my little oil can of poison, and I put dabs on the dollar weed hoping it would kill all the long runners. We'll see.
- I sowed some of my Sunset and Painted Lady runner beans on the front arbor and the arbor at the Rose Garden entrance - just for fun. I thought it would look charming to have bean vines on the arbors. It takes a while before the real vines finally break dormancy, and beans will germinate in less than a week.
- Raked the path that runs along the Long Border. And I dug out the stepping stones at the entrance to the Long Border that had sunk into the ground and re-set them all so that they are prominent again.
- That's it for Sunday. Drove in to work on Monday morning.
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