Days at the Farm June 18 - 21, 2021

 

This is Illustris colocasia.  This is what I have been moving from paths over to flower beds.  

• Watered and weeded.  That's pretty much it.
• I moved some colocasias growing in paths in the Shade Garden over to the Star Garden.  I've already done that, and I was very proud of myself, but more popped up.  Still not finished.
• Connie Gwyn and I went seed collecting on Sunday evening.  She knew a place where basket flower was thick all along the road.  We spent about 45 minutes collecting seed.  I collected a medium-sized paper bag full to the brim with basket flower seed heads.  Some effort is required to tease the seeds out of the seed heads.  I may do that or I may just throw them on the ground and leave them to their own devices.  Back at her house she had a big patch of Indian Blanket that had gone to seed, and I collected a small bag of that.  I'm very excited about both, but especially about the basket flower which is a much-coveted wildflower around here.
• Connie gave me a burr oak seedling.  I dug up 2 Peggy Martin roses that had tip rooted behind the mother plant, and I gave them to her.  She also pulled up some sort of artemesia growing in one her beds that I admired, and she gave my a handful.  I planted it my mom's garden because it is white.  A white groundcover.  Very striking.  Hopefully some of it will live. It's so hot already, and putting in plants is an iffy business at this point unless you baby them along with a lot of water. 
• I cleaned out the Vegetable Garden.  I pulled up several of the tomatoes and cut away most of the unruly branches from the rest.  They won't set any more fruit at this point because it's too hot.  But there are a few green ones still on the vine.  I also pulled up all the green bean plants.  The voles got both of my eggplants - disappointing.  Of course all the peppers are going gangbusters.  They love it hot.  Bert fenced in the asparagus which has completely ferned out and was falling over.  Most of it is fenced but there was one section that was open, and asparagus was flopping over.  What a horrible year for my Vegetable Garden.  It was a hard lesson to learn that I have to pull up all the wildflowers in there.  It's a vegetable garden, not a flower garden.  I pulled up all the spent larkspur and brown eyes.  Weeded, weeded, weeded.  The sunflowers and amaranth that I sowed last week have popped up - fun!.  I hauled away 2 big truckloads of debris.
• I spent some time in Mom's garden weeding and spot watering.
• Sowed lots of zinnia seeds in the Rose Garden.
• I sowed lots of Grey Stripe sunflower seeds and amaranth seeds in the Vegetable Garden everywhere that I pulled up green beans, eggplant, and tomatoes.
• Watered all my potted plants.  
• Monday.  Worked in Burton.  It's my week to work from home, but we have Airbnb guests coming on Tuesday and staying through Saturday.  It rained a little, always a good thing.  Headed home after work.