At the Farm During the Pandemic November 1 - 5, 2020

 

• We arrived on Sunday about noon just after our Airbnb guests left.  Only one more set of guests next weekend and then Kim and her friends the next weekend.  After that we have the place to ourselves.  I have left some dates open in the winter months, but I don't expect anyone to rent in the winter.  What a relief.
• Halloween came and went without any fanfare.  No party at Nancy's house.  Covid strikes again.
• Sunday.  I drove around the property gathering grass seeds.
• I sowed Tickseed and Johnny Jump Ups in the Rose Garden.
• I saw that one of my largest lantanas was being attacked by voles.  No castor was growing nearby.  I might have landed on a great discovery!  Made a mental note to fix the problem the next day.
• I pulled up some of my basil in the Star Garden and the Rose Garden.  Some of the plants still look good (cold weather knocks them back immediately) so I left them alone, but a few are pretty spindly.  I pulled up some of the spindly ones and sowed seed.  When the last Airbnb guests leave next weekend I will start pulling up spent plants in earnest and sowing seed.
• I pulled up a patch of spent ageratum.  It had no more blue flowers, so I yanked it to sow seeds.
• I walked the Meadow.  All the forbes have gone to seed, and the greenery has turned brown, so there is room to walk through the area without feeling scared.  Snakes have begun their hibernation (or whatever you call their inactivity in cold weather).  The grasses are still in their phase of the seed heads drying.  I think the weekend of the 16th is the time to rent the shredder. 
• Monday.  Worked.
• Before work I went out to the Rose Garden, filled the vole hole under my large lantana with water, mushed down the dirt, added part of a bag of soil to the hole, re-planted the lantana (there is barely any root system left, but it is hanging on bravely) and staked it.  Maybe it will live.
• During lunch the dogs and I walked down the road with my paper bag and collected more grass seed.  It's a beautiful, cool and sunny fall day.
• Tuesday.  Another gorgeous day.
• Before work I tried to save another one of my large lantanas that was being ravaged by voles.  I ran water down the hole, mushed in the soil to fill the large vole hole, filled it with humus and manure, re-set the plant and staked it.
• I sowed a bunch of Tickseed and Johhny Jump Ups in the Rose Garden.
• Lost one of the small lantanas to voles that was planted around the old dead tree in the Rose Garden.
• I pulled up a patch of ageratum in the Star Garden that was no longer blooming.   
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• The election was yesterday with no final decision.
• During lunch I sowed some red corn poppy seeds left over from last year in the Star Garden and the Rose Garden.  After work I walked out to the Meadow and scattered the grass seeds that I collected over the last several days.
• I selected the site to plant my Junior Miss Camellia.  I chose a bed in the shady part of the Star Garden that I put in several years ago that has never had much going on.  It is situated right next to a cedar tree, so the soil is a web of reddish root mats.  Really hard to dig a hole, it took me about 20 minutes.  I threw all the shovelfuls into the wheel barrow, not worth saving.  I filled the hole with 6 or 7 watering cans of water.  That was it for Wednesday night. 
• Thursday.  Worked.
• I pulled up the Venezia morning glories growing on the Star Garden fence.  I gathered as much seed as I could before I grew bored, and threw then on the ground on the front arbor.
• Once the clump of morning glories was gone I weeded in that area, cut back several salvias and pulled up spent ageratum.
• I weeded in the shady part of the Star Garden where I plan to plant the camellia.  I added more water to the hole I dug.
• Bert drove me to a hollow tree where honey bees have made a hive.  He found it while he was walking with the dogs.  That was a special find.
• Friday.  Worked.
• Before work I sowed Moss Verbena, red poppies and Tickseed in the place where I removed the morning glory vines and , salvias and ageratum.
• I planted the Junior Miss camellia in the hole I dug.  Filled the hole with some good soil.  Watered it well.
• Adjusted the sprinkler timers.  
• During lunch I drove down the road and gathered seed from some interesting-looking grasses that I spotted when I was driving by a couple of days ago.  I scattered the seed in the Meadow.
• Gathered my things and headed home after work.  Bert left earlier that day to go hunting in Groesbeck.  Airbnb guests arrive on Saturday.