This is the honey from our hive. Our honey is always very dark. The color of honey depends on the flowers they visit.
- Monday. Drove in from Houston. Worked.
- Filled my bird baths, Watered. All my baby lantana were thirsty after being gone over the 3 days that we had Airbnb guests here.
- Move sprinklers around.
- Picked an armful of beautiful tomatoes.
- Tuesday. Worked.
- I cut back my 2 blue Vitex, all their blooms were spent.
- Watered in the Star Garden and the Rose Garden.
- Sprayed herbicide in the long path in the Star Garden and the driveway in front of the guest room and the original circle of the Star Garden.
- I pulled up some brown eyed Susans in the RoseGarden.
- Potted up some succulents that I bought this weekend.
- Wednesday. Worked.
- Watered all my pots.
- I pulled up an armful of Obedient Plant and then I planted a Tropicanna canna in the very center of the Star Garden, the original flowerbed. This canna has wonderful orange-y striped foliage.
- Just across from that I planted a Buddleia Grand Cascade which has light lavender flowers. Clashes pretty good with the canna, but I don't really care.
- I deadheaded some roses in the Rose Garden.
- I pulled up lots of brown eyed Susans in the Rose Garden.
- I went down to the Orchard and saw right away that zone 14 was not working. I hand watered some areas and then right into the house and wrote a note to Lucas to try and get him to come over and repair it.
- I took a walk around the place after the sun went down.
- Thursday. Worked.
- I took a walk around the place before the sun came up.
- Watered the Orchard by hand, just the flowers and my young fig tree.
- Watered the pots around the pool.
- I worked in the Orchard for a while. I pulled weeds, pulled up spent flowers, and cut away some blackberry canes. I picked a small bowl of berries while I was down there. They are on the wane.
- Lucas with Washington County Landscaping came by and repaired our broken sprinkler. Yay! One less worry He told us he killed a rattle snake that had killed two of his rabbits. The snake was still coiled on top of the rabbit cage. Scary. I've heard that we are on the edge of rattlesnake country, but I've never seen one.
- Friday. Worked.
- Weeded in the Vegetable Garden and thinned out my sunflowers and okra.
- Saturday. Went to Blake's for Molly's first birthday party. Thin crowd due to Covid. Josh, Amy and their kids. The kids babysitter Julie and her husband and oldest son Patrick.
- Sunday. I worked for about four hours in the Orchard.
- I cut back lots of blackberry canes in the two largest beds and one of the small beds. Yuck! I pulled lots of weeds. Scooped soil back into beds where the armadillos had scratched it out. Cut back salvia to the ground to re-fresh it. Raked. Sprayed herbicide. Pulled up spent brown eyed Susans and other wild flowers. Threaded all the new tender blackberry canes together to keep them out of the paths. I cut and poisoned the tips of various vines that were making their way through the beds. I trimmed my grape vines so that my grapes could get sunshine. I didn't get finished with everything that I wanted to do, but I got tired and stopped.
- Sunday was the day we had planned to extract our honey. It was a really bountiful year. We got about 3 gallons. It is hot and hard work extracting honey. I'm glad I only have one hive! Lots of honey to give away to family and friends.
- Monday. Worked.
- In the morning before work I went out to the Rose Garden and did a lot of culling and weeding and cutting things away from paths. I carried out two really big armloads of debris.
- In the evening I did more of the same, also in the Rose Garden. Lots of Verbena Bonariensis and brown eyed Susans got pulled up.
- I planted 3 lantana in spots where I cleared out wildflowers. And I planted 2 sedum Mexicana in one of the beds in the Rose Garden as well.
- Tuesday morning at 6:30 I went out mustang grape picking. I wanted to knock it out before the sun got hot. I picked a big bowlful.
- I made the jelly on my lunch hour.
- Did some weeding.
- I staked some canna in the Star Garden that leaned over after the big rains we had.
- I staked Pringle Aster in the Star Garden.
- And I staked my coneflower that was leaning over. The rains make everything heavy.
- I planted two little groundcovers called sedum Weihenstephaner Gold in one of the beds in the Rose Garden. I hope it takes off, I really like the look of it.
- I weeded in the Star Garden for a while along the paths that will most likely be walked by our Airbnb guests next weekend. In my experience most people are here for the pool and the woods. There is no interest in the gardens. But just in case they walk through them, I want them to be at their best.
- I did a bit more weeding in the Rose Garden - it never ends. I planted a Pugster Buddleia in one of the beds.
- I seeded zinnias in lots of places throughout the Rose Garden for some late summer color.
- Wednesday. Worked.
- Up very early to cut old and dead canes off my Fortune's Double and the two Ballerinas at the front entrance to the property. I had noticed one day driving in that there was a lot of dead wood on those roses - unsightly.
- Thursday. I took a day of vacation to really work hard in all the various gardens.
- I started in the Vegetable Garden. Since the rain has not let up for days, I didn't spray herbicide. It wouldn't have time to die before our Airbnb guests arrived on Friday. So I pulled the big chunks of weeds in the paths. I cleaned up the beds. I pulled up all the brown bean plants. Another year when I grew beans and never harvested them! I threw the plants and dried beans into the compost pile. Weeded. Raked a bit. I sowed Mammoth Grey Stripe Sunflower seeds and thinned my okra.
- Then I moved on to the Shade Garden. This wonderful garden basically takes care of itself. But I did spend some time cutting away snakeroot and ferns that were leaning into the paths. I staked a few gingers. I cut away Sweetspire that had spread by underground runners into the path. Most of the effort I expended was spent raking the paths and hauling away the debris.
- I went to the Rose Garden next. I pulled up more spent Brown Eyed Susans and Verbena on a Stick. Weeded. No matter how much time I spend weeding there are always more weeds! But I've been diligent in the Rose Garden, and it looks pretty good.
- Next to the Star Garden with my shovel. I had lots of repair work to do in the Star Garden thanks to the armadillos. I scooped soil back into the beds, and I re-set the cedar log flowerbed borders that had gotten partially covered up from the destructive armadillos. I spent several hours doing that sort of work. I spent about an hour in the big bulb bed weeding and trimming, clearing away anything that was competing with the white mist flower that I planted last fall. And I cut away any plants that were leaning into paths (so that nothing would brush against you when you walk the paths).
- Down to the Orchard briefly just to check to see what sort of mess the armadillos had made since the last time I worked in there. And of course there was lots of repair work to be done.
- Back up to the Star Garden where I staked a my Pringle Aster by the Butterfly rose.
- I had to wait for the maid to finish cleaning, so I went on a little seed gathering mission with a paper sack. I gathered seeds along the side of the road along Coyote Run. Gathering Canadian Rye was my main objective, but I also gathered seeds from common sunflower and sand sunflower (Helianthus deblis). I tossed it out into the Meadow.
- I headed home to Houston as soon as the maid left.
- Dinner at DaMarco on Saturday night with William and Kim for their birthdays.
- Returned to Burton on Sunday afternoon. Bert stayed in Houston because he plays golf on Mondays.
- Sunday afternoon I gathered seeds along Sandtown. Canadian Rye almost exclusively. It makes such a pretty seed head.
- Weeded here and there. I bought lots of plants on Saturday when I was in Houston, mostly ground covers for planting underneath my roses. But I didn't work on planting them at all on Sunday. I'll do a little here and a little there throughout the week.
- Picked a bunch of tomatoes. We have so many tomatoes we don't know what to do with them all. Since we can't visit anyone, we can't give them away. Bert made a huge pot of sauce with a bunch of them.
- No more Airbnb guests throughout July and August. I blocked those months. And I'm relieved. It's hard work - but at least we're getting paid!
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