Weekend at the Farm January 18-19, 2014

 Winter in Burton.  Everything has gone dormant.  Only the bulbs and the Ox Eye Daisies are green.  In the photo above can be seen the flowerbed that I extended this weekend.  It sits on an upward slope, so I partially buried the cedar posts.  That meant that the bed was half full of soil before I even started filling it, it was a pretty quick job.

.

Friday night my husband and I went to dinner at Etoile.  Saturday morning we went to Rice University for the annual fruit tree sale sponsored by Urban Harvest.  He couldn't believe that there were thousands of people there to buy fruit trees, standing in a line that wrapped around the stadium waiting to get in before the sale opened.  Crazy plant people.

• I bought a 3-in-1 apple tree.  That is 3 different apple varieties grafted on to the same tree.  Anna, Dorsett Golden, and Einshemer.  And I bought a Pakistan Mulberry.  The apple was bare root, the Mulberry was potted.
• Headed to Burton to plant the trees, have to get bare root trees in the ground right away.
• Worked in the Orchard after I planted the trees.  Watered the Crab Apple and the citrus trees.   Weeded around the fruit trees.  Cleaned up dead plant material.
• Extended a flowerbed near the front porch.  I'm planning to lay crushed granite down on all the paths in the Star Garden before the next Crawfish Boil.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Rose Garden, the Infinity Garden, and the Orchard.  It's a little too cool for herbicide to be really effective, but the cool weather weeds were taking over.  I needed to knock them back a bit.
• Spent about 3 hours raking leaves and putting them through the shredder.  Added to my mulch pile 
• Cleaned the house - vacuumed, swept, shook out rugs, dusted, cleaned toilets.

Weekend at the Farm December 6 - 8, 2013

The table is decorated with fresh cedar and yaupon that I gathered from around the property.  The home tour was last weekend.  About 100 people came through.

Thanksgiving at the Farm 2013

Fourteen for Thanksgiving in Burton.  Beth, Mom and Dad, Nan, Lisa, Will, Kim, Zellie, Henry, Carol Montgomery, Nathan, Jess, Bert and me.  Arrived Wednesday evening after a hideous week at work.  Thursday morning early I swept, mopped, laid down floor shine, cleaned the bath rooms, made a pie and a casserole, changed the sheets, gathered greenery, set the table all before 10:30.  Guests arrived 11:00.  Very pleasant day.  Carol arrived in her Model A.

• Will, Kim and the kids stayed the night. 
• Friday morning I planted 100 Narcissus Odorous Pleno (nickname Butter and Eggs or Bacon and Eggs or Double Campernelles) along the outside of the Rose Garden fence .
• Planted 10 Chinese Sacred Lilies next to the Ginger Bed in the Star Garden and  in the Ginger Bed.  
• Planted 10 Chincheree in the bed with the Double Pink Althea.
• Planted 10 White Star Ipheion next to the Peggy Martin Rose.
• Left at noon to drive home to Houston to be with Max, home for the holiday weekend, for the rest of the weekend.

Rose Close Ups November 24, 2013

Copper Canyon Daisy November 24, 2013

 Copper Canyon Daisies are late fall bloomers.  Their foliage is extremely pungent and they are considered deer resistant because deer don't like the smell.  They are drought tolerant - I have these growing where they get no supplemental water.  These daisies are deciduous perennials.  I love all daisies, and these are no exception.  So cheerful!

Weekend at the Farm November 23 - 24, 2013

It was very cold and rainy all weekend, a pleasant change.

• Planted 50 Narcissus odorous Linnaeus (Campernelles) that my daughter bought me for my birthday.  I planted them in drifts along the outside of the Rose Garden.
• Planted about 150 onions - 1015 onions and some kind of white onion (my husband bought the sets for me or else I would know what the white onions are called!).  I planted them in the Vegetable Garden.
• Worked in the Vegetable Garden.  I raked, pulled weeds, cut back the asparagus in the large bed.  I loosed the soil and spread Mountain Garland seeds.  They probably won't germinate because of the hard rains we got immediately after I seeded the bed.  The rain beats them into the ground and they get covered with soil.  Too much soil for them to live. 
• Spent half a day clearing brush out of the area across from the house. We're nearly finished.  What a lot of work it has been!  Next will come the war with my husband over what to do with the area.  I want to allow the native bunch grasses to flourish and plant seed of other native bunch grasses.  The focus should be on eradicating the yaupons.  My husband, on the other hand believes everything should be mowed - happiness is a dry brown patch of hard packed dirt. There are a lot of arguments coming down the pike, I'm afraid.
• I have been seeing lots of signs of hogs around the house, the first time we have ever been bothered by hogs.  They are incredibly destructive.  My husband shot one on Friday night.  He only wounded it, he didn't kill it.  I hate to think of any animal suffering despite the fact that I hate those nasty hogs, I was sorry for the poor animal. 
• I sowed seed in the Rose Garden - under the Bermuda's Kathleen, the Iceberg, around the tree in the Rose Garden, next to Chorale, and under Chrysler Imperial.  I raked up lots of pine needles under the pine trees and mulched around Perl d 'Or, Bailey Red, Duchess de Brabant, and Cramoisier Superior.  Also spread seeds in the bed with the crinums.
• Spread seeds in the newest bed in Bert's Garden.  Pulled up the Mexican Sunflowers in the Vegetable Garden.  The light freeze we had last week had done them in.
• Cleaned both of the ovens.
• Admired all my bulbs coming up.  Enjoyed the wet, cold weather.

Marigolds November 17, 2013

I planted these marigolds from seed a few months ago.  They are in the Vegetable Garden.  French Marigolds deter root knot nematodes.  My soil is infested with them.  Nematodes love sandy soil, so they are quite a pest at my farm. They are a great fall flower to grow, they like the cool weather although they are not freeze-hardy.