At the Farm During the Coronavirus Pandemic April 20 - 26, 2020

This is Veilchenblau rose which is violet blue in German.

• Monday.  Worked.
• I had a packet of Heavenly Blue morning glory seeds soaking overnight.  I sowed some on the front and back Rose Garden arbors and the goat wire arbor at the entrance to the Long Border, both sides of the arbor at the entrance to the Orchard, along the metal screen in the Orchard, the arbor at the front of the Star Garden, and the Veilcenblau arbor.  
• Yesterday I pulled up some spent Spurred Snapdragon.  Today, I prepared the area and sowed Purple Prince zinnia seeds.  Covered the area with mulch.  Surrounded the bed with chicken wire and staked it down.
• Staked some Verbena Bonariensis in the Rose Garden.
• Turned the compost piles.
• Weeded for a bit in the Vegetable Garden.  Picked some asparagus.
• Tuesday.  Worked.
• I soaked overnight a baggie of Grandpa Ott morning glory seeds that I collected from last year's vines.  I sowed them around the mattress springs that are wrapped around the old dead tree in the Rose Garden.
• I sowed lavender zinnia seeds in two places in the Rose Garden.  Surrounded both areas with chicken wire.  Watered them in.
• Watered all my seedlings in the Star Garden, the pots in the Star Garden, and the pots around the pool.
• Spread some mulch in the Medicine Garden.
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• Up very early.  Temperature very pleasant.  Deadheaded roses.  
• Pulled up lots of Strawflower.  My strawflower was a real disappointment this year.  Many years ago I grew it, and I was so impressed by it.  But this year it was floppy and the blooms were very unimpressive.  I gave it a lot of space in my gardens, and it was a nothing.  Strange.
• Sowed more zinnias in the Star Garden and laid down some chicken wire.  
• Thursday.  Worked.
• I staked several stands of Verbena on a Stick.  Staked some clumps of floppy Tickseed.
• I moved a small Rudbeckia from the driveway into the front bed.
• Picked some asparagus.  My asparagus is still going strong.  I'm so proud of my asparagus this year.  I covered it with mushroom compost and fertilized throughout the winter.  So I was expecting a good year.  But I also think it is because I am here every day during its growing season, and I can pick them every day before they go to fern.
• Watched the butterflies - I find them endlessly diverting.  Monarchs, Red Admirals, Buckeyes, Painted Ladies, Harestreaks - I've named them before - but so many of them - it is wonderfully entertaining.
• I walked the Meadow.  I had my tennis shoes on, so I only walked the margins.  I am so proud of my Meadow.  The diversity is endless.  I will have to be ever-vigilant to keep the invasives out, but I am up to the task.  So pretty.  So special, but only in the way that someone who knew what they were looking at would know is special.  That's okay.  I do all of this for myself.  I do it for my future, my own future and the future of the Old Lady Compound - for my sister and I when we live together and face our final years.
• I staked the Tall Poppy Mallow in the Vegetable Garden.  It got really tall and flopped over (which is different from the plants that grew from the seed I sowed in the Meadow) - that is all about the irrigation.  The Meadow only gets water from the rain, and the Vegetable Garden has steady irrigation.  Of course, as usual, I waited too long and now the staked Poppy Mallow is all scrunched up and looks squashed.  It might straighten itself out.  Sometimes it does.
• Deadheaded roses.  I carried a bamboo stake with me into the Rose Garden and staked a stand of Verbena on a Stick. 
• Sprayed herbicide in the middle of the Circle Drive.
• Friday.  Took a day of vacation.  Bert and I drove in to Houston to pick up our car from the mechanic.  Rats had eaten some of the wiring while it was parked in the shed.  That "only" cost a thousand dollars.  I dropped off some clothes at Blake's that got left behind when the boys were here last weekend.  And I stopped at my 2 favorite nurseries on the way.  I bought some garden gloves, some milkweed, several Mystic Spires salvia, gomphrena, African Blue basil,  and a Country Girl mum.  Since I will be here through May, I can keep small plants alive in the heat. None of my milkweed came back from last year.  That surprised me.  So I have been replacing my plants this spring.  I bought 2 in early spring.  They have already been munched down to the stems and grown a new set of leaves.  So I bought 8 small plants.
• I watered my 3 new camellias (that I planted last winter).  I happened to glance at one of them when I moving a hose around, and I realized they needed some care.  I put several gallons of water on each of them.  I need to get them through this first summer.  After that I think they will be fine.
• Watered all my pots.  Watered in the Greenhouse Gardens.
• I staked some larkspur in the Vegetable Garden that was leaning into one of my tomatoes.
• I planted one of the basil in the Rose Garden.  This variety - African Blue - is really special.  It puts off long purple flower stems.  The bees are unnaturally attracted to this plant.  It's pretty amazing to watch the bees on this plant.  I sowed some purple zinnia seeds around it.  Surrounded the whole thing with a chicken wire cage.  Watered it well.  
• Saturday.  Outside by 7:00.  Cool and wonderful weather.
• I pulled up some spent corncockle and poppies in the Star Garden.  I staked a Giant Rudbeckia nearby and saw a poor Country Girl mum smothered underneath its leaves and leaning stems.   I gave it a shot of fertilizer and some sunlight. to help it along.  leaves.  I planted the new  Country Girl mum next to it.  Mulched around them both.
• I planted an African Blue basil in the circle bed around the old dead tree in the Rose Garden.
• I planted two milkweed in the Rose Garden - one in the bed in the far corner of the garden and one next to the Louis Philippe roses.
• And I planted two milkweed in the center of the Star Garden.
• Staked a Henry Duelberg.
• I cut all the scapes off my milk and wine crinum that had finished blooming and were going to seed.  I have enough of those!
• I fertilized all my small roses except for the small Belinda's Dream roses.  I ran out of fertilizer before I got to anything else.
• Inside for a little breakfast.
• I went down to the Orchard and worked in there for a couple of hours.  I cut back all my Lazy Daisy in the citrus bed and threw it in the Meadow.  It would be great if some of it took hold in there.  Bert came down to the Orchard and cut away lots of dead branches on my Pakistan Mulberry.  Not sure why it is dying away, none of the other trees look water-stressed or stressed in any way for that matter.  I fertilized all the fruit trees, grapes and blackberries.  My blackerry patches are loaded with berries.  It is a good year for blackberries, and a bad year for plums.  Weeded, weeded, weeded.  I pulled up all the poppies and strawflower around my little fig tree in preparation for spreading some zinnias.  I'm also going to put some tomato cages around my fig.  It is a perfect little deer rub right now, and I don't want the deer to find it.  I cut a nasty vine that had taken hold in one of my blackberry beds, poisoned the cuts.  I trimmed the tender ends of my grape vines just under the grape clusters.  I want my grape vines to focus on the grapes, not growing vines.  I pulled up brown-eyed Susans and Henry Duelberg seedlings that were growing amongst my day lilies.  I staked salvia and Mexican Hat.  I cut away dead branches on my Satsuma.  Generally cleaned up in the Orchard.  It is in pretty good shape thanks to all the pine straw I laid down last fall, but there is always room for improvement.
• I loaded my wheelbarrow with mulch and mulched the area around my Mystic Spire and milkweed in the Star Garden.  
• With the remaining mulch I went down to the Orchard.  I ran the hose on the area I cleared out around the fig tree (and a long time on the small fig).  Seeded the area with zinnia seeds.  Covered all with mulch.  I stuck two tomato cages around the fig hoping to deter deer that might want to rub the velvet off their horns - that time is approaching.
• Ate some lunch.
• I worked in the Vegetable Garden for a while.  I pulled up all the cilantro.  It had gone to seed.  We didn't use any of it this year.  I chopped it up with my scissors and threw it in the compost.  I worked with the compost piles for a while.  I turned both of them, added leaves to one of them.  I pulled a large healthy clump of brown eyed Susan - which pains me to do - and added horse manure that I got from the neighbors.  Turned it all over and mixed it in real well.  This is for Bert's garden.  Picked some asparagus.
• Worked in the Rose Garden for a long while.  I planted a milkweed and a gomprhena next to Louis Philippe.  Watered them in well.  Covered them with mulch.  I did not protect them with chicken wire.  Hopefully the armadillos will leave them be.  I pulled up all the Toadflax is scraped the seeds off the stems in various beds.  I really enjoyed the Toadflax this spring.  I pulled up lots of strawflower - goodbye strawflower, I will not miss you.  Pulled up some poppies and spurred snapdragon.  I will do something with those empty spots tomorrow.
• I walked the Meadow.  The evening was cool and so pleasant.  I moved along the margins of the Meadow and observed all the wonderful things that have taken hold.
• Sunday.  Another beautiful day.
• I did some mulching in the dry part of the Star Garden.  And I individually watered each bed that I mulched.  Weeded as well.
• I did a lot of staking of Ox Eye daily and Tickseed.
• I spent some time on the bed at the front of the Rose Garden.  The day lilies are about to bloom, so I'm getting rid of all the wildflowers that aren't going to have enough time to bloom before it's time for the day lilies to take over.  I don't want their light hid under a bushel.  I mulched and watered well.
• Pulled up the collards going to seed.
• I surrounded all my new plants with chicken wire.  The armadillos dug up one of my newly planted basil plants.  I also surrounded the entire bed with  chicken wire in the Rose Garden where my Country Girl mums are planted.  They have been cruelly uprooting them.
• I cut and poisoned Beautyberry in the Meadow.
• I filled two little pots with soil that I found in the Greenhouse.  I cut some of my dear little sedums from other pots and stuck them in the soil of the two little pots.  Watered them well.
• I was busy all day, but it was mostly piddling - no large projects.  It is early spring, and things have not yet gotten out of hand.
• I walked around in the Orchard.  It looks good.
• Ray came over and brought us some fish that he caught today.  The moratorium for fishing on Lake Livingston was lifted today.  He said the lake was packed with fisherman.
• Bert and I drove out to the cul d'sac and looked at the stars.  Beautiful night.