At the Farm During the Pandemic June 29 - ??, 2020

• Monday.  Worked.
• I got up at 6:30 and went straight outside to the fence at the front of the property and picked all the mustang grapes.  A week or so ago when I made jelly the ones on the fence were not quite ripe.  I ended up picking grapes from some low-growing vines along Coyote Run.  I saw these yesterday evening as I was taking a walk, and they were perfect.  I'm here - why let them go to waste?  Bert is bring me jars and sugar from the grocery store.  I thought I had so many jars that I'd never run out, but the honey took almost all of them.
• A cardinal has made a nest in the vine climbing on the arbor at the Star Garden entrance.  She flies off in alarm every time I walk near.
• There are lots of big fat caterpillars on the fennel that grows in the gravel near the Star Garden arbor.  I hope the cardinals don't see them!  We don't have many butterflies right now.  I want to see my beloved butterflies!
• At lunch I planted some of the alternanthera yellow and red that I bought last weekend.  Fertilized.  Mulched around them.  Fertilized some of the lantana plants that I have planted over the last several weeks and mulched around them.  I also planted a few of the Mexican sedum plants I bought.  I put all of this in the Rose Garden.  They are all front of the border plants.  I would never normally buy this many plants this late in the season.  But I am here to baby them through the hot summer.
• Watered here and there, especially my new buddleia and my new cannas.
• After work I planted one of my lantana that I bought, two blue spruce sedums and a couple more Mexican sedum and alternanthera.  Again, all in the Rose Garden.  Fertilized and mulched and watered them in.  Hopefully they will survive the armadillo assaults tonight.  And tomorrow I will surround them with chicken wire.
• Tuesday.  Worked.
• Up early to clean the grapes I picked yesterday morning.  Pull out the stems, wash them, etc.
• Tuesday evening I made jelly.
• Weeded here and there.  Planted some sedums I bought last weekend.  I fertilized them and mulched around them.  And I fertilized some of the small roses.
• I noticed that one of my zones along the back is not working.  I will have to call Lucas again.  I did manage to find the box on the first try.  The little box has long ago been covered up with soil run off because the back is on a slope.  What a lucky break!  So I can turn it on with my hand until he gets out here.
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• I planted the last of what I bought last weekend.  I decided to plant my Spider Web Japanese Aralia along the Boardwalk.  When I stuck my shovel in the soil I saw that that part of the Boardwalk Garden soil was really hard!  So to soften it up I made a big hole and filled it with water a half dozen times.  I threw some fertilizer in as well.   This plant looks really interesting.  It is winter hardy and evergreen, but it looks very tropical.  It is a shrub, and it gets very large.  I planted it where I used to have a big stand of Mojito colocasias.  But the Mojitos eventually fade away.  I like to plant something and then it goes on autopilot forever.  I don't like when plants sort of just disappear over time - and Mojito does that for me.  Too expensive to continue to re-pant them although they are beautiful. I planted the Aralia off center in the space in case I soften to the idea of getting more Mojitos.  Now the only thing left to do is to remember to hand water it occasionally until it settles in - it's already so hot that nothing planted so late can be expected to go it alone.
• I planted another Biltmore Ball Gown Abutilon in a shady part of the Star Garden.  This is the third one I have planted this year, and I still haven't seen it bloom, nor do have experience seeing it come back from a winter. I don't usually commit to a plant so fully without having experience with those two things.
• Finally, in the shady part of the Star Garden I planted a Whitewater Acanthus.  This is another Bears Breeches type of plant.  With white veining in the leaves.  They do pretty well, take up lots of space, and have big leaves.  I'm a lover of unusual foliage.  That's why I was attracted to Aralia and why I am attracted to many of the cannas.  Striking foliage. 
• I also planted some sedums, and I had two more little lantana so I put those in the ground.  I fertilized and mulched around them.
• Thursday.  Worked.
• Went to the grocery store.  Josh and the family are coming for the July 4th weekend.
• Friday.  Holiday.
• I went straight to the Orchard to work.  I pulled weeds.  I pulled up lots of swamp sunflower that was growing in my coneflower bed.  That stuff will take over!  I cut old blackberry canes - just a bit.  I wound new blackberry canes amongst themselves to keep them out of the paths.  I trimmed my Muscadine grape vines so that the grapes could get sun.  And I scooped soil back in to the beds where the armadillos had spewed it into the paths.  
• After that I headed to the Long Border to pull weeds and straighten up.  I cut back all the Indigo Spires salvia as well.  I pulled up swamp sunflower.  It has a strong will to live.
• Friday evening Josh, Amy and the girls arrived.  They stayed until Sunday afternoon.  We swam and had a great time.  The girls are so special.