Weekend at the Farm November 15 - 17, 2019

I drove up on Thursday evening,  Bert was already here.  Cool and sunny - perfect.

• Friday.  Cold in the early morning, perfect all day long.  The leaves still have not dropped in large enough numbers for me to begin gathering them up.
• I spent some time cleaning up the Vegetable Garden.  All the summer vegetation has died back due to the early freeze we had.  I pulled up the amaranth, castor, sun flowers, basil and morning glories. 
• I worked in the Rose Garden for awhile.  I filled the Ballerina boxes with compost to drown the weeds and feed the Ballerinas.  I dug up a dozen clumps of Clyde Redmond iris from the Dining Room Bed and planted them next to Cadenza in the Rose Garden. 
• Spread lots of compost in the long bed of the Star Garden.  Sowed Moss Verbena, Tall poppy Mallow, red poppies, and Strawflowers.
• Pulled up lots of dead vegetation.  
• I transplanted the Mexican Mint Marigold from the wooden barrel near the dining room that was falling apart.  I planted them in the long bed of the Star Garden.  Threw the rotting pickets into the fire pit.
• I trimmed back the trailing lantana and verbenas in the Rose Garden so that they don't lean out into the paths.   
• Grey Kitty showed up for the first time in many months.  Yay!  He's alive.  And very solid.  Someone is taking care of him.  But he ate ravenously and slept in his usual spot, the laundry basket.  
• Saturday.  I sowed Sweet Peas on a trellis in the Star Garden.  I soaked them overnight in water to get their germination started.
• I planted the Celeste Fig in the Orchard.  I used lots of mushroom compost.  Figs are susceptible to nematodes, and nematodes don't like rich soil.  So I put lots of compost in the hole and around and on top of the little tree.  I sowed Strawflower around it.  
• I planted a Cinco de Mayo rose in the Star Garden.
• I made a pretty big change to my Hojo Santo bed in the shady part of the Star Garden.  I cut down the Hojo Santo and poisoned the cuts with my Remedy / diesel mix.  I'm getting rid of it.  It is off-putting to walk in that area because those plants are so tall.  I spent a lot of time loosening the soil in the bed.  That bed is surrounded by cedar trees, and cedar trees make a very thick mat of roots that spread out very far from the trees.  I had to work hard to get workable soil that was relatively free of root mats.  I worked in lots of compost and planted a 'In the Pink' Camellia japonica.  I spread compost over the rest of the bed - it is a large bed.  Then I spread a bunch of Philippine Lily seeds over everything.
• I did lots raking in the Star Garden.  And I lifted a lot of cedar borders with my shovel and pushed dirt under them to lift them up.  Over time the cedar edgings around my beds will sink down, so I lift them out of the dirt.  It really improves the look of the gardens. 
• I spread compost around my Snowball Bush.
• I spread compost around the Sweetshrub next to the Greenhouse.
•  I spread compost around the Noisette in the Roe Garden.
• I raked the Rose Garden and did some light puttering around in there.
• I sowed a packet of Feverfew and some parsley in the big pot in the Star Garden.  I have no idea if the Feverfew will germinate in cold / cool weather.
• Bert cut a cedar log into pieces so that I can build up a bed in the Vegetable Garden.  Filling it with soil is a project for another day.  While I was in there I loosened the soil in one of the 16 foot beds and sowed the rest of my hairy vetch.  I will plant tomatoes in that spot next spring.
• Throughout the day I weeded here and there and laid down compost. 

Weekend at the Farm November 2 - 3, 2019

 I thought my sassafras tree looked pretty this weekend.

Drove up early Saturday morning.  Bert went hunting with Will.  Blake and family came up for the day.  We had beautiful weather, took a walk, built a fire, had lunch.

• Sunday morning.  I decided to plant the bulbs Amy gave me last weekend.  They have already sprouted, and they needed to be in the ground.  We don't know what they are, but I suspect they are Lycoris.  Based on that assumption, I planted them along the path that leads to the shed -  which is crappy / un-medicated soil, but they are okay with that.  I did put some mushroom compost in the trench I dug, so I gave them a little boost.  There were a lot of bulbs in the bag, maybe 40.
• I dug up a red / purple leaved canna that was growing in the path, and I transplanted it to a bed in the Star Garden.
• Cut back all my Pringle Aster and dumped them in the lower Meadow to see if any of the seeds will take root.  They are native, although we don't have any around here.  We have all sorts of asters, but not this particular variety.
• I planted two White Mist Flower shrubs in the Ehrlicheer bed.  I re-panted the bulbs that I dug up.  That bed looks good once a year - after that it is kind of weedy and messy.  So I decided to plant a few things in there that will take up space and have interest at a different time of year - they are fall bloomers.
• I planted a Beverly Eleganza hybrid rose in the front bed, and I am already regretting where I put it, but I'm not going to dig it back out and move it.  Too much trouble. 
• Planted a Gorizia rosemary in the dry part of the front bed.  Hopefully it will survive and take up some space there.
• I drove to the Antique Rose Emporium about 12:30.  I bought 2 altheas:  Minerva (a very old althea) and Blueberry Smoothie, 3 May Night salvia nemorosa, and 2 White Mist flower shrubs. I planted one of the altheas in the Long Border and one of them in the Rose Garden.  I planted the nemorosas in the Rose Garden around the althea.  The white mist flowers will be planted another day.
• I had a sackful of Ehrlicheer bulbs that I dug up last summer.  I planted them all around a tree in the Star Garden.
• I sprayed herbicide in the Daffodil Border.  I allowed a very bad grass with a seed head to take up residence in the Daffodil Border last spring.  By "allowed", I mean that I didn't handle the infestation before the daffodils emerged.  After that, I couldn't spray or else I would have killed my daffodils.  I tried pulling it up, but there was way too much of it.  The spraying and a layer of leaves should help, although I don't think I've seen the last of that grass.
• Sprayed fungicide on the roses.  Of course it was about two weeks too late.  I already see blackspot.
• I spread compost here and there.  Around some of my roses and in several places in the Star Garden.
• Wherever I spread compost in the Rose Garden, I prepped the bed and sowed seeds:  Moss Verbena, Cornflower, Spurred Snapdragon, and red poppies. 
• Bert won't be happy about this, but I sowed half a pound of red poppies next to the Orchard.  It will look pretty if he doesn't insist on mowing it down.
• I also sowed half a pound of Dwarf Plains Coreopsis at the bottom of the slope in the Meadow.  It is the wettest spot, and this variety of coreopsis likes to be wet.  I have never tried to grow it, it is an expreriment. 

Country Girl Mums and Swamp Sunflower October 27, 2019

White Philippine Violet October 27, 2019

White Philippine Violet is an unreliable perennial but a heavy re-seeder.  It has popped up in so many places!  I think the seeds burst out of the pods rather than just drop to the ground, because plants are scattered far and wide in several of my gardens.  I have tried to grow the purple variety several times, but with no luck.  I really love the purple variety, so I'm disappointed about that.  I think of Philippine Violet as a shade plant, but it seems to be doing fine in the sunny spots where it has popped up.

Fall Flowers

 Dependable zinnias.

 This is Texas Aster.

 This is ageratum and Mint Marigold.

 A bud from La Vesuve rose.

 A cluster of flowers - Caldwell Pink.

All the blue salvias are an intense blue due to the cooler weather.

Week at the Farm October 23 - 27, 2019

Monday and Tuesday procedures for skin cancer on my nose.  Drove to the farm on Wednesday morning to rest.  Last weekend was an Airbnb guest, and the weekend before that we were in Florida for Al's 100 birthday (Dad, Nan, Me, Josh and family, and Max - Mom too sick to go).  And the two weeks before were something else.  So, despite the fact that I cannot work, it is really good to be here.

I wandered quite a bit looking at everything.  It has held up well considering I have not been here for 5 weeks - a record for us. 

• I walked through the gardens when we arrived.  The weather was so beautiful, and the garden were looking pretty good considering our lengthy absence.
• I deadheaded some roses - nice easy pleasant work.
• I felt so happy.
• There are so many things I want to work on, but I am successfully refraining from working.  And instead I'm making lists of plants that I want to buy to fill empty spaces.
• I had 5 yards of mushroom compost delivered on Friday.  It is there for when I can work again.
• Under my supervision, Bert amended the soil and planted 2 mustards and 3 collards.
• Saturday Josh, Amy and the girls came for a visit.  The girls weren't too freaked out by my black eye, etc., so I guess it's time to go back to work!   
• I did very little the entire time we were here - including walking around.  Slept a lot and healed.  Drove home to Houston on Sunday.  

Day at the Farm October 6, 2019

The Airbnb folks left at noon on Sunday, and Bert and I drove up for the remainder of the day.  We spent the night, and I drove in to work on Monday morning.  Bert took poor Rocky to the vet to get him a steroid shot and re-fill his itch-meds.  Next weekend is Bert's 50th reunion in New York, and the next weekend is Airbnb again. So we made a quick trip.  I watered a few areas where the plants were in distress.  It's dry.

• Watered in the Medicine Garden, the dry parts of the Star Garden, and the Rose Garden.
• Weeded here and there.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Vegetable Garden.  Spending money and effort and time on that soil mix was a waste.  I need compost for the Vegetable Garden, and I should have sprung for the large up-front cost rather than the dribs and drabs cost of the soil mix.  The seeds have performed horribly except for the Edamame - and I prepped that bed perfectly.
• Sprayed herbicide in the area around the Medicine Garden.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Star Garden.  I saw that my Senna tree / shrub died.  I thought it was going to die the last time I was here, and sure enough.
• Sprayed herbicide on the driveway.
• Sprayed herbicide in the Rose Garden.
• That's about it.