Time at the Farm June 4 - 6, 2021

 

This is an elder flower.  Elderberry is an extremely useful herb.  You can make elderberry wine, elder flower liqueur, and it is has antibiotic and antioxident properties, and it is loaded with vitamins.  I have a bunch of it growing in my Medicine Garden.

Arrived Friday night.  Next week is my work from home week, and we have Airbnb people coming on Friday.

• Saturday.  I worked in the Long Border first.  Weeded and cleaned up.  I pulled up spent wildflowers.  I pulled up ageratum that was crowding my altheas.  And I pulled up the wild aster that loves that flower bed.  Now that the cardinals in the Veilchenblau rose have finished raising their babies I was able to deadhead that rose.
• I cut back several salvias in the Rose Garden. I pulled all the spent clasping coneflower.  And I pulled up peppervine coming up everywhere.  
• I spent some time cleaning up in the Daffodil Border.  I try to keep that border free from weeds by dumping tons of leaves in there in the fall.  But last year I only did about a third of the area, and it really shows.  I will have to spray a bit of herbicide in there, but it has rained every day for several weeks, with no end in sight very soon.  
• Next I went into the the Star Garden and pulled up lots of spent brown eyes.  I did a bit of work training up my Peggy Martin rose on the chain link gate.  Did lots of weeding.  I searched for my abutilon and my Mexican Turks Cap amongst the brown eyes and cleaned up around them so that they can flourish.  I deadheaded lots of Ox Eyes.
• I pulled up lots of ageratum crowded aroend my Carefree Beauty rose in the Star Garden so that it can flourish.
• 1:00 - cleaned up and drove to Madisonville for a family wedding.
• Sunday.  Straight outside to the Rose Garden.  I pulled up spent wildflowers - brown eyes, moss verbena, tall poppy mallow.  I spent time digging up 10 or so Fruity Pebbles Lantana growing in paths and moved them to various beds.  I sowed castor seeds throughout the beds in that garden, hoping I will kill voles.  Ugh!  The bastard voles.
• I spent some more time in the Daffodil Bed pulling up Day Flower.  I skipped Day Flower yesterday and pulled up only the easy weeds.  But today I took on the weeds with the deep tenacious roots.  But there is so much wonderful leafy mulch in there that they came up easily (especially with all the rain lately).  So I really caught a break there.  Weeded, weeded, weeded (always).
• Moved to the Star Garden.  I cut back a really big salvia.  I caged my white mist flower.  It will get unruly soon.  Deadheaded Ox Eyes.  
• I dug up 10 or so Philippine Lilies growing in paths in the shady part of the Star Garden and planted them in the Medicine Garden.  Pulled up lots of horsetail reed to make room for them.  Cut back lots of Turk Cap that was crowding my Hearts a Burstin' shrub.  Also dug up a clump of woodland violets and moved them to the Medicine Garden. 
• I harvested more seeds from my white Larkspur in the Vegetable Garden that I marked and threw them in my mom's garden.
• I dug up a clump of African Hostas that was growing randomly in the middle of the yard.  I moved them to my mom's garden.  They are a great front of the border plant.  And the flowers, though insignificant except when massed, are white.  That ended up being about a dozen bulbs. 
• Next I worked in the Vegetable Garden.  I dug up the last of the potatoes.  It's not quite the last of them, but I would have to uproot a bunch of wildflowers if I take them now.  Cleared out 3 of the buckets where I had potatoes growing and the middle section of the big bed.  Maybe 30 - 40 potatoes.  Harvested some jalapeno peppers and some tomatoes.  I cleared a small bed in there.  Cleaned up all the potato beds.  Smoothed out the soil in all of them in preparation for sunflower seeds and amaranth. 
• Inside for lunch - BLT sandwiches with tomatoes from the garden.
• The wildflowers in the Meadow are still beautiful.  Thank you, rain.  I love my Meadow. 
• After lunch the sun came out and the chance of rain was small, so I sprayed herbicide in the Star Garden and the Rose Garden.  I'm so glad I got a chance to do that because we have Airbnb people coming and I don't like weeds in the paths.   
•  It was hot work.  I went back inside and never went back out to work.  Bathed the dogs then napped. 
• About 5:00 I went outside to the Vegetable Garden and sowed red and golden amaranth and Grey Stripe sunflower seeds in the Vegetable Garden.   The sunflowers I sowed at the beginning of spring are about 8 feet tall and about to bloom.
• Then I sprayed herbicide around the pool area and the Greenhouse Gardens.  Whoo!  It's hot out there.
• Buckeyes, Giant Swallowtails, various black swallowtails (I can never tell them apart), skippers and American Beauties in the Rose Garden getting their last sip of nectar before dark sets in.