At the Farm March 27 - 28, 2022

 

These are Cemetery Iris.  They are true harbingers of spring, one of the very first things to bloom in my gardens every year.

Bert and I arrived together around 11:30 on Sunday.  Our Airbnb guests left shortly before that.  

• I set to work, but my least favorite thing is to start working in the garden halfway through the day.  I struggle to get acclimated to the temperature successfully - I know the heat is only a fraction of what it will become, but it is still hot in the hard sunshine.  I worked all day until early evening, but it was a slog.   
• I watered my roses in buckets in the Rose Garden.  And I watered here and there throughout the Rose Garden.  Did some weeding.
• I spent most of the afternoon in the Orchard.  I weeded and spread 2 truckloads of mulch.  I have mulched most of the beds in the Orchard already, so there was not an overwhelming amount of work to do. It was more fine work, spreading mulch around salvias and other plants that are emerging from dormancy.  
• I cut back my Texas orange lantana in the Orchard and at the entrance to the Orchard.  I  cut down the dead poke salad stalks and weeded along the Boardwalk.  I cut away the dead white butterfly ginger debris. 
• Dumped all the debris in an erosion spot.
• I planted 2 Mexican Mint Marigold in the Star Garden. 
• Planted 1 comfrey in the Medicine Garden.
• I planted 2 ground cover (name escapes me presently) in the old toilet out in the yard.  I spray painted it yellow.  I will let that dry and circle back around and spray other colors on it.
• I pinched growth off my tomato plants in the Vegetable Garden.
• Did some spot watering in the Star Garden.
• Monday.  Took a vacation day.
• Bert worked all day raising the armadillo barriers.
• Amy came by to review a draft plan of my wildlife management plan.
• I spent a good part of the day mulching at the bottom of the Boardwalk Gardens. I did more cleaning out of the beds - leaves and weeds.  I covered up zillions of poke salad seedlings with mulch.  It is a large area on either side of the Boardwalk, and it took six or so truckloads of mulch.  I cleaned out around all my iris. Pulled up blackberry vines where they shouldn't be growing.
• I finished pruning my grape vines.  Late in the season, but finally finished.
• I spotted a small Mexican plum (about 12 inches tall and multi-stemmed) tree growing near the mother plant, obviously a fallen plum that sprouted.  I dug it up and put it in a pot.  It was destined to be mowed down by Bert.  If it thrives I will take it to the native plant swap in April.  There is another one growing nearby that I want to dig up as well.
• I planted 5 Pentas in the Rose Garden.  I have invested a small bit of money in Pentas this spring.  Hopefully they are a bit more vole-proof, bloom well and withstand the harsh summer conditions in the Rose Garden.  Last year I spent a lot of money on lantanas - they are perennials - but the voles seem to be particularly fond of them, so I decided to quit trying to plant them.
• Headed home to Houston Monday afternoon.