This is a lone little rain lily that popped up in one of my flower beds due to all the rain we have been getting.
- Monday. Worked.
- Watered various places.
- I went in to the Rose Garden after work and literally watched as voles tried to pull one of my lantanas down into their tunnel. I could see the plant being jerked around. I grabbed the plant, turned the hose down into the hole and filled the tunnel with water. Bastards!
- Tuesday. Worked.
- I woke up early to sow more green bean seeds. I used my compost to amend the beds and turned over the soil. I sowed beans in 3 places in the Vegetable Garden.
- Picked okra.
- Watered in the dry part of the Star Garden.
- I surrounded my amaranth with a wire enclosure to help prop it up. This variety is especially tall. I won't grow it again. Too tall. All amaranth are tall, but some are on the short side of tall. They have a tendency to topple over when they are super tall. They are beginning to throw up their seed heads. So pretty!
- Did all of that before 8:00. That's a good start to a day!
- I have been taking stock of plant moves that I want to make after the weather turns cold. I have a few suffering hydrangeas in particular that I planted in the wrong places. They will be the first to move.
- During lunch I planted some more lantana and sedum Mexicana in the Rose Garden. Came upon another vole pulling a plant underground - this time it was a basil plant. It was halfway under. I tried to drown it with the hose.
- I listened to a couple of Youtube videos about voles after work. I'm so discouraged! There aren't any real good solutions to vole problems. One suggestion was coffee grounds. I'll buy a huge bag of coffee at Costco and give that a try. It won't be as expensive as buying repellent. That stuff is expensive. And each time I water, it will become less and less effective. Another suggestion was planting castor which I have a lot of growing behind my Vegetable Garden and in the Daffodil Border. The repellents are made with castor oil. Apparently voles don't like castor.
- Wednesday. Worked.
- Before work I cut lots of the large red seed heads off my castor plants and pushed them down into all the vole holes in the Rose Garden. All parts of the castor plant are poisonous. The seeds of the castor plant are what ricin poison is made of. A few grains of ricin poison can kill a grown man. And I dumped the morning coffee grounds near one of the plants they have been be-deviling. Time will tell if it helps, but I feel good that I am doing something instead of watching helplessly while they eat all my plants.
- I spread fertilizer around all my new plants. It started to rain, so it's a good time to do it. Maybe that stinky fertilizer I use will deter them as well.
- I watered in the Greenhouse Gardens.
- Staked a few zinnias that were leaning into paths.
- Did all of that before 8:00. Good morning!
- The green beans that I sowed last Thursday are just beginning to pop up. It's always a little miracle to me.
- During lunch I fertilized my eggplant plant and all the roses in the Rose Garden.
- I pulled weeds in the Star Garden, especially in the area where the Inland Sea Oats are planted.
- Deadheaded zinnias and roses.
- Thursday. Worked. We leave today after work to go back to Houston. Airbnb folks arrive tomorrow.
- It rained during the night, but I slept through it. And we had a good hard rain during the day. That makes things a lot easier on me when preparing to go home to Houston for the weekend. The watering exercise isn't necessary.
- I cut all the okra even if they were small, because by the time I get back they will be 12 inches long. Okra grows freakishly fast.
- Koy and Cleo spent the night on Friday night. I brought them with me to Koy's fifth birthday party on Saturday at Woodland House.
No comments:
Post a Comment