Time Spent at the Farm

 

Johnny Jump Ups.

3.22.23 - I drove up during the lunch hour to clean up after Airbnb guests, and I worked from there for the rest of the day.

I pulled up some some spent Purple Phacelia in a few spots in the Star Garden and the Rose Garden.  I sowed Zinnias and Cosmos in those spots.

Watered all the Hyacinth Bean seedlings that I planted last I was here.  Most of them have germinated.  

I took pictures of all the empty pots I want to re-fill around the pool and in the Medicine Garden to help me remember how many and what size they all are.

Walked the gardens and pulled a few weeds, but there wasn't much time to do anything else.

3.28.23 - I drove up after work on Monday evening and took Tuesday as vacation.  Wednesday, more Airbnb guests.

At daylight I planted 5 Mangaves in the pots around the pool.  Mangaves are a cross between Manfredas and agaves.  They like it dry, so they should like being around the pool.  I planted a Racing Stripes, Frosted Elegance, Falling Water, Pineapple Express and Mission to Mars.  I pulled off some pups growing at the base of a couple of Mangaves and planted them in small pots around the pool.  I brought 4 or so home to Houston and potted them up there.

I tried to spray my vinegar/salt/dishwash liquid concoction on my weedy paths, but my sprayer was really acting up.  I think it might be the soap.  I poured a little in a spray bottle that I had on hand, and it worked beautifully for about 5 minutes.  Then it quit too.  So I was forced to pull up the larger weeds by hand and leave the tiny (future problems) ones for another time.  Most of the plants I pulled up were in fact not weeds, they were little wildflower seedlings.  But alas, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Bert and I were very disappointed to find that voles ate one of the pot plants I put in the ground several weeks ago.  So we pulled up the other 2 and planted them in feed buckets.

I sowed most of an ounce of red French marigolds throughout the Vegetable Garden.  That's a lot of marigold seed.  They should be blooming beautifully in October for the wedding.  Did lots of weeding.  Tried unsuccessfully to spray weeds.  The cotton seeds I sowed a couple of weeks ago have sprouted.  Hopefully that will be fun for the grandkids.  The voles have found the lima beans and are picking them off one by one.  I asked Brad to get me some more feed buckets, I guess I will turn my whole Vegetable Garden into feed bucket beds.  It took Bert seeing his beloved pot plant getting eaten to take my vole problem seriously!  But what can we do?  I have not found  a solution yet.  Maybe interplanting with Larkspur would help.  All parts of the plant are poisonous, and they have a tap root.  Voles love tap roots.  Although I have some Larkspur in the Vegetable Garden, I don't like planting poisonous plants amongst my edibles.  I'm smart enough not to eat the Larkspur, but I can't vouch for other people.

I planted a little flowering tree called Simpson's Stopper that I bought from John Fairey Gardens last year.  I planted it very near my Pineland Wattle because I don't think it's going to come back.  The freeze got it.  Pineland Wattle is a Florida native, I should not have put it in the ground in zone 8B.  

The sprinkler repairman was here, and he fixed my 2 zones that weren't coming on.  I went through the entire drought last summer without them working.  I think I might have lost some huge Oakleaf Hydrangeas.  I will know for certain in a couple of weeks.

Weeded in the Orchard a bit.  Watered my seedlings.

Sowed hyacinth beans in the Rose Garden box.  Watered the roses in pots. I tied up the Japanese Honeysuckle on the arbor.  It was trying to go everywhere.  I know Japanese Honeysuckle is an invasive no-no.  But I want my grandkids to taste that little drop of honey liquid that each flower holds.  It's a great memory from my childhood.  Spot watered.  Tried unsuccessfully to spray weeds.

Watered the split leaf philodendrun.

I planted 4 more fennel.  I planted 3 in one pot and I planted one in an old watering can I had.

Watered here and there.  It doesn't look like the automatic timer for the sprinklers is working in the Water Garden.  It will have to be replaced.

 

Mangaves and Succulents Around the Pool March 28, 2023

 There is no irrigation around the pool, so over the past several years I have moved to succulents in those pots.

The picture below is Silver Fox Mangave. 

The picture below is a pup that I pulled away from the mother plant of a Frosted Elegance Mangave that I planted. 

Below, this is some sort of Hens and Chicks variety.  There are so many.

This is the Frosted Elegance mother plant.  You can see several pups that I left with her because I didn't have enough pots to plant them.

Below, this is Falling Water Mangave.

Below, this is Pineapple Express Mangave.

Below, this is Racing Stripes Mangave.

Below, this is Autumn Beauty Stonecrop.

Below, this is Mission to Mars Magave.

The two pictures below are also some sort Hens and Chicks variety.

Anacacho Orchid Tree March 28, 2023

 I planted this little baby tree last summer.  I managed to keep it alive during the drought.  This tree is a Texas native.  It will be okay in zone 8, but if really, really extreme and sustained cold weather occurs, it should be protected.  I should have taken a clear picture of the leaves because they are very dear-looking things, sort of round and small, and they grow in pairs.  This is really more of a large shrub than it is a tree.  It is a deciduous tree that blooms in the spring.

Flowers Blooming Now March 27, 2023

 The 2 pictures below are Perl d'Or.  She sends up her blooms in sprays.  They are tiny little blooms, like a sweetheart rose.

This is the only La Marne rose that remains of the beautiful row of La Marnes that I used to have.  Sadly, all the others died.  It could have been drought or it could have been voles.  From me, they got fertilizer and fungicide and pruning and compost and mulch.  I cheerfully refuse to take the blame for their demise.   

Below, this is one of the first Tall Winecups to bloom.  Talk about a heavy reseeder.  If they have even the slightest encouragement (semi-regular irrigation) they will take over a garden.  But they are pretty in a mass.

Below, the first of the Ox Eye daisies.  I can remember when the Ox Eyes were everywhere - in every bed in every garden.  Over the years they have dwindled as I encouraged other plants in their stead. And the drought last summer really knocked them back as well.  But I will still have a great showing this spring. 

This is Passalong Pink verbena.  I am watching this Verbena with a lot of interest to see how well it performs this spring and summer.  I was kind of expecting it to look more ready to climb over and amongst everything, like it was at the end of fall last year.  It's early in the season, but it had spread so much last year that I thought there would be rooted pieces all through the beds. 

This is a bud of a Kordana miniature rose.

Perhaps it's hard to see in this picture, but this Peggy Martin rose is completely covered in buds.  Peggy is a once-blooming rose, so this is about to be her time!!  And it will be amazing.  But Peggy, can't you slow your roll?  I want you to be blooming for the Crawfish Boil in April.  I see this rose trained on many fences in The Heights in Houston.  It's become quite ubiquitous.  Peggy Martin canes are extremely easy to train because they are so soft.  Anyone can have success with this rose.  And you never have to feel bad about cutting away a huge cane because she sends out so many of them.  I assume that's why it has become so popular.   

Belinda's Dream and Toadflax March 27, 2023

Toadflax is a Texas wildflower.  I did not sow this seed in the Rose Garden.  In the beginning, a few showed up, some accidental seeds blown over from another place.  I love them.  They have the most adorable seedlings.  The seedlings look like tiny little starbursts within starbursts.  And over time, I have encouraged their multiplication in the Rose Garden.  Toadflax is an unfortunate name for such a pretty little thing.

 

Corncockle March 27, 2023

 What an easy flower to grow from seed.  For one thing, they are large seeds, easier to handle.  I sowed the seeds in October or November time frame.  They made it unscathed through the weird temperature drop (more of a plummet) in December.  Some of my seedlings of larkspur, as well as others, died in the freeze. I was so surprised about that.  But the Corncockle did fine.  All of it is in bud, and some of the plants have begun to bloom.  I think it's really pretty.  Corncockle seed is expensive (relatively speaking).  But leaving it to dry up and drop seed is too much of a wait for me.  Out with the old, in with the new.  I will end up pulling it up before it sets seed and sowing other seed.  This year it will be replaced with Lady Slippers, Zinnias and Cosmos.

Sedums and Succulents March 219, 2023

 Sedums and Stone Crops and succulents are all drought tolerant.  And there are so many shapes and colors.  Most of them bloom.  And most of them will tolerate freezes although that tolerance gets spotty if it drops too far below freezing.  It dropped to 10 degrees last winter and the sedum below is coming back just fine.

Below, this is variegated String of Pearls.  

String of Buttons March 19, 2023

 Is this the most adorable succulent in the world?  I put it in a pot in the Medicine Garden.  It needs very little water.  I've never grown it before.  It's not winter hardy, I will have to move it to the greenhouse at the end of autumn.  If it survives the growing season.  

Sunday at the Farm March 19, 2023

 

This is a leaf bud from a water oak.  It's so pretty.  The trees are so pretty when they just begin to leaf out.

I drove up on Sunday to piddle around.  The house has already been cleaned for our Airbnb guests, so I stayed outside.  It started out pretty cold but warmed up a bit when the sun came out.  One more near-dangerous night tonight because the temperature is dropping into the 30s, but I think it is not going to freeze.  All the seed sowing and planting I've done would all be for naught if it freezes.

I planted 5 green fennel in rose buckets in the Rose Garden.  The fennel is for the swallowtail butterflies.  They lay their eggs on fennel.  Last weekend I planted a couple of bronze fennel in the Rose Garden, but they aren't very showy, so I'm putting in some green ones.

I planted a White Star Creeper in one of the rose buckets.  It is a little perennial white flowering ground cover that will help keep the soil from drying out in the rose bucket.  Very sweet with teeny tiny leaves.  

And I planted 2 thyme along the edges of a couple beds, also in the Rose Garden. 

I decided to put a large plant in a bucket in the dry shady part of the Star Garden.  I bought a Split Leaf Philodendron and planted it in a half barrel.  It won't withstand a winter, I will have to over-winter it in the greenhouse.  It's easier to manage plants in pots in dry areas as opposed to dragging hoses around.  I went to Kraus Springs in the hill country last weekend.  We visited their garden, and I was inspired by all the plants that he had in pots.  

I bought 10 or so of my beloved sedums and planted them in the pots in the Medicine Garden.  I lost quite a few during the drought last summer.  They are all so adorable.  

I need to work on getting plants into the pots around the pool next time I'm here.  I have gotten very interested in the Mangave family of plants.  They are a cross between manfredas and agaves.  They are more vigorous than agaves and manfredas and, unlike a lot of agaves, they don't die after they bloom.  The colors and textures and shapes are wonderful.  And they cannot take over-watering, very drought tolerant.  They are perfect for around the pool because there is no irrigation.  Both of my Stonecrop came back beautifully from last year despite the drought.   Xeriscape plants are the way to go over there.

I watered all the spots where I sowed Hyacinth Bean seeds last weekend.

Walked and walked and looked at everything.  Spring will be beautiful (as long as it doesn't freeze!).

Mexican Buckeye March 13, 2023

 Mexican Buckeye looked very pretty this morning.  I actually have 3 of them spaced in a group, but this one must really love where it's planted, because it is three times the size of the others and blooms much more profusely.  Understory tree does not mean that they want to be planted directly under other trees.  I learned that lesson too late, and now my Eve's Necklace, two Mexican Buckeyes and one Red Buckeye languish half heartedly under large trees.  But one Red Buckeye and this Mexican Buckeye are thriving.  And I have some tall Eve's Necklace seedlings that found their way to a sunny spot, and they are doing very well.

Three Days at the Farm March 10 - 12, 2023

 

This is a little Johnny Jump Up.  They are already blooming.  I was hoping they would be blooming during the crawfish boil, but that's still a month away.  Best laid plans...

I took Friday as vacation and drove up early.  Bert was already here.  

I worked all day in the Orchard.  I weeded throughout.  I sowed zinnias and Cosmos in the Jujube bed and several other beds in the Orchard. 

Spot watered in the Rose Garden and the Long Border.  I watered the Witch Hazel and Parsley Hawthorn in the Rose Edge Border. 

Leaf cutter ants stripped one of my Ballerina roses.  There wasn't a single leaf on the plant.  I spread ant poison on the trail and around the rose box.

I stayed in the Rose Garden until dark pulling weeds, deadheading roses and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Saturday.  Up very early.  Planted 7 chili pequin in the Herb Garden.  They are native, perennial pepper plants.  They take shade very well, and the spot that I planted them gets a half day of shade.  Birds love the little peppers (apparently birds don't have taste buds - who knew?).  

I planted some Blue Grama grass plugs in the pool walkway bed (10 or so).  They are a native bunch grass.  I have had them since last season, and I finally put them somewhere. The seed heads on the grama grasses are horizontal which is really cute and different. 

I turned the soil in one of my 4 x 4 beds in the Vegetable Garden and planted 2 eggplants.  I planted several of my cockscomb seedlings in the garden that I started in peat pots.

Planted 3 Stevia in the Medicine Garden.  Cleo loves to nibble on the Stevia when she comes to visit.  Stevia is a tender perennial, my luck is spotty with getting it to return for a second year, and mine has never returned a third year. 

Bert and I met Mom, Dad, Nancy and Lisa in Brenham for lunch and them took a scenic drive through the countryside to our house.  Lots of bluebonnets and, my favorite, Indian Paintbrushes.  Coffee and cake and a walk through the garden and then they headed home.

I spent the rest of the late afternoon and into the evening walking and looking.  While it was still light, I watered in the Rose Garden.  I have to keep those seed beds from drying out.  Weeded here and there.  Planted several of the seedlings I have been growing in peat pots.  I got a flashlight and continued to walk around in the dark.  The coyotes were howling and yipping. These are the good days - March, April and the first part of May.  Then, it's so hot and humid, it's no fun to keep the day going into the darkness.  But right now, it's absolutely heaven.   

Sunday.  Up very early again, working at first light.

I spent the morning in the Star Garden pulling up Purple Phacelia.  I left a bunch to re-seed, but I pulled it up wherever it was crowding my new plants.  The whole morning I culled and un-crowded.  I dumped a wheelbarrow full of Purple Phacelia in the Meadow.   

I soaked some sphagnum moss in water.  Then I amended the soil with it and sowed Hyacinth Bean seeds (that I soaked for 2 nights) on the front arbor, the small trellis and the large trellis in the Star Garden, on the chain link fence in the Star Garden, and along one of the conveyor belts.   Since I was sowing seed in dry spots, I thought it might be a good idea to add sphagnum to the soil because it holds moisture so well.  It's an experiment.  

I sowed birds nest gourd seeds in several buckets in the Vegetable Garden.  I planted an Early Girl tomato in one of the beds.  Did some weeding.  Planted 3 marijuana plants that I started from seed.  And I sowed some cotton seeds that Bert collected from a cotton field he was passing by last year.  I thought the grandkids might get a kick out of it.  Sowed 2 rows of grey stripe sunflowers in the narrow 16 foot bed.  Picked lots of asparagus.  It's a bumper crop.  I filled in blank spots in the Lima Bean bed.  I sowed some hot pink Cleome seed in the potato bed.  Planted a pineapple sage in a bucket.  Planted a sweet basil in the tomato bed.  Sowed a packet of red lettuce. 

I spent more time in the Orchard.  I spread Cosmos and Polar Bear zinnias along the grape vine bed.  Pulled weeds.  I set up the sprinkler and watered my seed beds from today, yesterday and last week.

It's official.  I have gone organic.  No more Round Up.  I'm using 30% vinegar diluted with water by less than half, salt and dish soap.  More on that as time passes.  I sprayed the vinegar mix in the Water Garden, the Star Garden and the Rose Garden.  

Monday, Bert and I headed to the hill Country with Nancy and Lisa for 3 days.  

Colonial White Verbena March 13, 2023

 This verbena has been blooming since February.  The first year I grew it, it bloomed profusely all spring and summer.  Last year during the drought it did not do so well.  But this year it is having an outstanding beginning.  I have Colonial planted in the Star garden, the Rose Garden and the Water Garden.  I love the clear white color.  It is a standout.

Day at the Farm March 8, 2023

 

Drove up for the day and worked from the farm.  

During lunch I planted 3 Agastache in the front bed.  Voles seem to love this plant, but I'm hoping that it will be relatively protected in the front bed because it is surrounded by the drive way and the house slab.

I sowed Cosmos and Zinnias in one bed in the Orchard.  That's all I had time for, but I will seed the rest over the weekend.  I watered my Wolfberries, my new blackberries and my pomegranate (which I was afraid had died, but I see new growth).

The voles have pulled one of my tomato plants under - it's gone.  And they ate a beautiful head of lettuce. 

I sowed some zucchini and squash seeds in the Vegetable Garden.  Pulled some weeds.

Watered here and there - some of my young trees, a few places in the Water Garden, and a few spots in the Rose Garden.  I watered all my roses in pots.  

There has been a step change in growth since I was last at the farm.  But there are still things that have not budded out yet, my mock orange and my fig trees being some examples.  The post oaks have not leafed out either.

The Purple Phacelia is in full bloom and covered in bees.  Bees are particularly attracted to the color blue.  

It's another glorious spring.  God is good.  

Weekend at the Farm February 24 - 26, 2023

 

Arrived on Friday at noon with Bailey pup and Sadie dog.  Worked from here the remainder of the day.  

Saturday.  Bailey and Sadie were with me every step of the day.  

I raked the ashes where we burned off the yaupon in the Meadow.  Then I spread native grass seed that Amy gave me for Christmas.  This seed was gathered from around here, so that's the best kind.  

I cut back my Pearlbush because if looked dead.  The wood looked pretty green everywhere I cut, which was confusing.  A seedling nearby already has a couple of blooms and some leaves, so I assumed last year's drought got the mother shrub.  Maybe it will sprout from the roots or the part of the trunks I left in place. 

I cut down some dead limbs on my Snowball Bush.

I pruned the pink Vitex and one of the blue Vitex,

The Southern Crabapple in the Orchard is dead, all but one branch.  So I cut away all I could without Bert's help.  I will have him cut away the part of the trunk that is dead and leave that one branch.  I don't have anything to replace it with, so I might as well leave it there and see if it will prosper with all the death cut away.

I'm extremely pissed to see that the pomegranate tree I planted a couple of weeks ago looks dead.  Everything else I planted looks fine.   I can't believe I lost it due to lack of water with all the cold weather and rain.  But I don't know what else it could be.

I worked in the Vegetable Garden for quite a while.  I planted 5 tomatoes, sowed a packet of lima beans that Koy gave me for Christmas, sowed some lettuce seed, and some cucumber seed.  That involved weeding and turning soil.  Fertilized the tomatoes.  Raked and cleaned up.  I cleared out other beds and pulled up as much Purple Phacelia as I could.  Threw all the soft green weeds into the compost pile.  Weeds are good green compost if they haven't gone to seed.

I planted 5 Pirates Pearl, 3 Mexican Oregano, and 5 Skullcap in the Rose Garden and the Star Garden.

I planted 3 miniature Joe Pye Weed in the Dining Room bed which is the bed in my gardens that stays the most wet.  Joe Pye likes water.  Weeded in that bed for a while since I was there.  Cleaned up some iris debris.   

Sunday. Bailey and Sadie were with me every step of the day.

I cleaned out the bed in the Medicine Garden where the Turk's Cap and the gingers grow.  And I cleaned out the bed where the Cemetery Iris grow.  Dumped all the leaves behind the Vegetable Garden.  

Turned the compost piles.

I planted a couple of Creeping Jenny in some old tennis shoes of mine and set them near the front gate to the Star Garden.

I planted 3 Mexican oregano in a dry part of the Star Garden.  

Planted 3 Comfrey in the Medicine Garden.

I painstakingly emptied one of the feed buckets in the Vegetable Garden into a wheelbarrow.  Then I hauled the dirt and the bucket to the Rose Garden.  Then I filled the bucket up again and planted a rose.  That was hard.  Drawing a blank on the name, but it is a yellow and pink blend.

I spent quite a few hours in the Rose Garden sowing seeds.  I sure hope we don't have a freeze because none of these seeds are winter hardy.  I sowed Cockscomb, Balsam, zinnias, Cleome, and Cosmos.  I raked the paths.  I set up the sprinklers.  Did some spot watering.    

Next, I sowed seed in the back bed where the Black and Blue salvia grows in  half the bed.  

I never got to the Orchard or the Star Garden.  I had big plans to seed all the gardens, but I couldn't get those done.  

Watered all my little trees that I planted last year.  I might have lost one of my Witch Hazel, I'll give it a little more time to see if it comes up from the roots.  

Spot watered in the dry part of the Star Garden.

Everything is greening up.  Spring is here.  The Purple Phacelia is in bloom, my earliest spring bloomer, although Colonial White verbena is giving it a run for its money.  The plum trees are flowering too.  All the altheas have tiny little leaf sprouts of bright greenish-yellow.  So pretty.  My Cranesbill bulbs are beginning to emerge.  Yay.  I have seen Tiger Swallowtails, Red Admirals and Sulphurs.