At the Farm During the Pandemic December 25, 2020 - January 3, 2021

 

This is White By The Gate camellia.  I think the flowers on this shrub are the clearest, purest white that I have ever seen in a white flower.

• Last weekend Christmas with the Bonassin family.  December 24th Christmas with the Stevenson family.  No Lopez folks attended due to the pandemic.  2020, please go away and never come back.
• Carol Montgomery, an amazing lady in our little community here, passed away on Christmas day at the age of 90.  So sad that she is suddenly gone, but can't help but think how lucky she is to leave this human earth - until the very end - independent  and strong.
• We have been gone for a week (arrived on Christmas morning), so first thing, I watered all the pots in the back.  And I watered all my young camellias.  I am fiercely guarding my precious camellias, I don't want to lose them.  I am already completely invested in them and already love them.
• I walked and walked and walked the gardens looking at every single wildflower seedling and plant with the greatest attention to detail.  And I walked my mother's garden (unfinished though it is) to see what I would do next and imagining what it would look like when it is finished.  The weather was lovely, and the robins were all around me, bathing in the bird baths and scratching in the leaves looking for insects.  I stayed outside until darkness forced me in.
• Saturday.  I worked outside all day.
• I raked 2 truckloads of pine needles and spread them under the blackberries in the Orchard.
• I raked many truckloads of leaves and made a big pile by the back fence of the Vegetable Garden.  I will use them throughout the summer to mix into my compost.
• I turned the compost piles.
• I pulled up lots of castor debris behind the Vegetable Garden .  Each of those stalks requires a bunch of tugs.  I pulled up about half of them.
• I spread some of the leaves in the unfinished part of the Star Garden.  And I spread some in the Rose Edge border.  
• I pulled up the trellis in the Star Garden where I had some morning glories growing.  I gathered the seed and tossed them on the ground next to the arbor at the entrance to the Star Garden.  In that place I planted 3 Kordana miniature roses.  Amy gave them to me for Christmas.  They are red.  I've never grown miniatures before.  I'm intrigued.  
• I dug up 4 large clumps of purple red cannas in the Star Garden and moved them to the Long Border.  I intend to clear out that part of the bed and cover it with decomposed granite.  It's too crowded in that part of the garden.  You can't move through it without having plants rub against you.  I still have probably a half dozen more clumps of cannas to move.  No idea where I'm going to put them.  These cannas are very beautiful  I want to keep them. 
• Sunday.  I spent several hours cleaning out the Vegetable Garden.  I cut down all the asparagus dead vegetation and the sugarcane.  I raked the paths.  I spent some time gathering Grandpa Ott seed from the morning glory remnants and throwing them over the fence into the Hot Border.  I'm hoping next spring the seed will germinate and cover the fence.  We'll see.  
• I watered the top section of the Meadow.
• I moved two more clumps of cannas from the Star Garden to the Long Border.  There are some Oxblood lilies growing amongst the cannas, a complete waste since the cannas overtake them.  I dug up about 30 of them and moved them to other places in my gardens where they will show to better effect.  I moved some to the beds that sit adjacent to the garden I am building for my mom.  And I moved a bunch of them to the Rose Edge Border.  I think I will move the rest of them once I have amended the beds in my mom's garden.  There is also another good spot in the Rose Edge Border where they would display very nicely.  Not sure yet what I will do.
• I took the loppers and my diesel / Remedy mix and cut down about 30 yaupon along the edge of the Meadow.  Those things will encroach upon the cleared land if I am not vigilant.  
• I raked 3 or 4 truckloads of leaves and piled them behind the Vegetable Garden.  
• Monday.  Worked.
• I took my poison and loppers into the Shade Garden and cut down some yaupons that were big around as my pinkie.  I've been meaning to get in there and do that for a while now, so - good for me!  There weren't a lot of them, but yaupon will take over if you don't watch out.  It looks really pretty in the Shade Garden right now.  The ferns have not been hit by the freeze yet, and they are so pretty and green.
• I poured water into my compost buckets.  One of them is infested with ants.  I read that it's not entirely bad for ants to be in the compost, but I can't use it if I can't touch it.  The article said to water the compost pile to get rid of the ants.  I tuned the piles again.
• Tuesday.  Worked.
• I shoveled a bunch of soil from my compost heap into an armadillo burrow next to my butterfly vine in the Star Garden.  I've done that several times before.  Armadillos keep coming back to the same spot year after year.
• I raked in the Rose Garden and dumped the leaves into the Daffodil Border and the Rose Edge Border.  I watered both borders.  The daffodils are coming up, so I'm giving them a little encouragement.  I fertilized the Daffodil Border a couple of weeks ago.  Both of those borders are completely mulched with leaves year round.  I don't grow anything in either border except the bulbs.
• I turned the compost piles again.  Take that ants!
• I gathered lots of seed off my Malabar spinach and dropped them on the ground around the front arbor.  
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• I moved a scraggly rosemary in the Long Border to another spot in the Long Border out of the way.  Then I dug up a clump of my purple cannas in the Star Garden and moved them into that space.
• In the Greenhouse Gardens I dug out some sweetspire that has not performed well for several years.  In its place I planted more purple cannas.  
• I dug up a hydrangea in the Star Garden that is getting too much sun and not enough water.  I moved it amongst the columbine in the Greenhouse Gardens.
• And I moved one of my agave growing in a pot into the spot where the hydrangea was.  The other agave in a pot by the pool, I moved to a spot in a bed where nothing was growing in the hinterlands of the Star Garden.
• I moved a copper canyon daisy in a pot by the pool over to the copper canyon bed in the Star Garden.  The other copper canyon in a pot looks dead, so I didn't bother with it.  But I watered it just in case.  I would have checked for green by scratching one of the branches, but I misplaced my scissors.
• Hunted (successfully) for my scissors.
• Watered in all my new transplants.  Moving all those plants around has been on my To Do list for a long time, so good for me.
• I spread tall poppy mallow seed in the small section of the Rose Garden where I have some yellow daffodils planted.  I can't recall what kind of daffodils they are, I think St. Keverne.
• Thursday.  Worked.  New Years Eve.  I babysat Blake's kids, so I met her halfway and brought them here to spend the night.
• We had some really good rain during the night and throughout the day.  Finally. 
• Something fun that happens each fall is the pleasant surprise that I experience when I see bulbs popping up that I forgot I planted the year before.  It's happened twice so far.  I had completely forgotten that I planted several dozen Lycoris (Hurricane Lilies) in the Rose Edge Border.  I remember planting a bunch of paperwhites in there last year but I had completely forgotten about the Lycoris.  The other pleasant surprise was in the Greenhouse Gardens.  I planted some paperwhites in between the hydrangeas.  What is funny about that is that I sowed Ox Eye daisy seed in there this fall because I thought that space was too bare in there.  Then up pop the paperwhites right on top of the seedlings.  Obviously last year I had the same idea but with different plants!
• Friday.  New Years Day.  The kids and I played all day, and then I drove them halfway and passed them over to Blake.
• Saturday.  I decided to clear out the Long Border and sow some of the seeds I still had in my seed box.  
• I raked and in many cases hand scraped / gathered leaves and pine needs from around the plants in the Long Border.  My long term goal is to have no space in there for seeds.  Last winter and spring I planted many crinums in there.  I have some perennial salvia, several varieties of cannas and crinums, two climbing roses, a verbena ground cover, a couple of lantanas (not sure how they will perform when spring arrives), some rosemary, 3 varieties of altheas, cypress vine (that comes back from seed every year), and an almond verbena.  But right now I still have space.  I'm expecting the cannas and crinums to spread and take up all the space, but that will take a couple of years.  After I cleared all the leaves and pine needles I punched the soil with the edge of a shovel to loosen the soil.  Then I spread handfuls (because I can't help myself - I crowd everything) of tall poppy mallow, clasping coneflower and black eyed Susans.
• I spent some time in my mother's garden turning the soil in the beds I have built.  Yesterday on the way home from dropping off the kids I stopped at Home Depot and bought 3 more green edging strips.  They only had 3 in stock or I would have purchased a few more.  I laid down the 3 green strips I bought.  And I pulled up some edging at the edge of where the garden used to end and re-set it to extend the bed.
• Bert cut down the huge almond verbena in the Long Border.  It will come up from the roots in the spring.  I've never cut that one down before, so it was huge.  It will bloom better next season on all its new growth.  That left a huge area in the Long Border with nothing growing, so I worked the soil and sowed zillions of seed (Clasping Coneflower and Black Eyes Susans).  Watered them in well.
• I raked quite a bit in the Greenhouse Gardens and dumped all the leaves behind the Vegetable Garden.  
• We met our new neighbors.  They just bought Pam and Eric's house.  Matt and Katy and their 3 kids Dash, Rory, and May.  Sweet family.
• Sunday.  Bert and I took a walk around the property.  It was a cold and sunny morning.
• I worked on my mom's garden for about an hour and a half.
• Turned the compost piles.
• Did lots of raking.  I dumped 2 wheelbarrows of leaves around the Mexican Buckeye in mom's garden.  And I dumped many wheelbarrows of leaves behind the Vegetable Garden.
• I walked all the gardens and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
• I watered the Mexican Buckeye that I surrounded with leaves so that they would mush down.  I watered my snowflakes in the Star Garden that are just beginning to appear.
• Headed to Houston around 3:00.

Calendulas AKA Pot Marigolds December 29, 2020

 I sowed these seeds a couple of months ago.  I sowed them in the Vegetable Garden (the leaves and petals are edible).  I wasn't really expecting to get blooms this winter.  I was expecting them to remain as small seedlings until the spring arrived at which time they would burst forth.  That's how my beets and carrots, etc behave.  So it has been a delightful surprise to see blooms in December.

The bees are all over these flowers because they are one of the only things blooming right now.

Purple Wave Mustard Greens December 29, 2020

 These mustard greens are so pretty!

Bears Breeches December 15, 2020

 I have several of these planted throughout the shady parts of my garden.  They look really good right now, so pretty and green.  I am a big fan of large leaf plants.  We have had several freezes so far this year, but it hasn't affected these plants yet.  I've read a lot of descriptions about Bears Breeches being invasive.  Mine have not spread at all, and the clumps seem to be only marginally more substantial than when I first planted them.

Plant Sassafras for Fall Color

 Here in the southern part of Texas you don't get those wonderful autumn colors.  But sassafras trees give you a little bit of pretty color in the fall.  And you get yellow flowers in the spring.  And on top of those two benefits, it is an herb (I call any plant that is useful an herb).  Gumbo file is made from the leaves of the sassafras tree, and root beer is made from the roots.  

 

At the Farm During the Pandemic December 7 - 13, 2020

 

La Marne rose is still growing strong despite the freezes.

• Arrived on Sunday afternoon by myself.  Bert joined me the next day.  We had Airbnb guests over the weekend.
• I did a lot of walking around but not much else.  Weather was beautiful.
• Monday.  Worked.  Beautiful weather.
• Pulled up a bunch of ageratum from the front bed and in the Star Garden.
• I and going to build another garden off the end of the Greenhouse Gardens.  So I spray painted the design on the ground with blue spray paint.  It will be at least $1410 to buy the materials, and I am pretty good at estimating that kind of expense.  I will do all the labor myself, but I'm hesitant about jumping in right at Christmas.
• Tuesday. Worked.  Beautiful day!
• I fertilized the Brussels sprouts with cottonseed meal.
•  I planted 3 Georgia collards in the Vegetable Garden.  I planted 2 about a month ago but something got them.  Not sure what.  But they just withered and died.  I've never had that happen before.
• I pulled up a big basil in the Rose Garden that froze.  Sowed seed in the spot. 
• Sowed seed in the spot where I pulled up ageratum in the Star Garden on Monday.
• I filled my new sprayer with fish emulsion and water and sprayed my tangerine tree and all my camellias.  I had no idea how many parts fish emulsion to parts water I should use.  I can only hope I didn't go overboard.  I cleaned the sprayer for its intended use as a herbicide sprayer.
• I spread most of a 50 pound bag of cottonseed meal over my Daffodil Border.  The greenery is just beginning to appear. 
• Wednesday.  Worked.
• I gathered seed from my Sweet Autumn Clematis in the Orchard so that I can plant it in the spring in the garden I'm building for my mom.
• I pulled up some dead castor vegetation in the Rose Garden and piled up the seed pods to store for later vole killing.
• Bert and I drove to the Hardware store in town and bought 10 metal landscape edging pieces so I can begin building my garden. 
• Thursday.  Worked.
• I began laying down the landscape edging in the Water Garden (the garden I'm building for my mom).
• I started on the side with the Mexican Buckeye. That used 7 pieces of edging - 8 feet long each. 
• Friday.  Vacation
• I drove in to town and bought 5 more pieces of landscape edging.  
• I laid down the remaining 8.  And I dug out some edging and rock where the paths previously ended.
• Picked up Blake's kids for the weekend.  Nothing but kid activities for the rest of the weekend.
• There was some pretty good rain on Sunday.  Keep it coming!  My seeds in the Meadow need it.

At the Farm During the Pandemic November 21 - December 3, 2020

 

• Saturday.  The official start to my week of vacation.  Next week was supposed to be my first week back at the office, but since I'm taking the week of Thanksgiving as vacation, my start day will be the last week of December. 
• I started first thing raking in the Star Garden.  I filled the wheel barrow with leaves and dumped them in the shady part of the Star Garden.
• Then I spent about 30 minutes cutting down Philippine Lily stalks in the Circle Drive.  I spread the lily seeds in all the beds in the Circle Drive.
• Next, I sprayed herbicide on the walkways around the house and the driveway in front of the house.  I also sprayed along the edge of the Daffodil Border where the winter weeds were about to encroach into the bed. 
• I drove the cadet down to the Orchard after that, and I spent the rest of the day cleaning up in there.  I did some raking, although the lion's share of that was done the day before.  
• A couple of months ago Bert and I had surrounded a stand of swamp sunflower with some goat wire.  It had finished blooming, and so I pulled away the wire enclosure and cut all the swamp sunflower down to the ground.  I loaded it into the back of the cadet and hauled it away to the debris pile.  
• I did a lot of cleanup in the the blackberry beds where the large-leaf winter weeds are already taking hold.  I drove to my good pine needle spot, raked up two truckloads of pine needles and spread them everywhere that I pulled weeds.  
• The blackberry bramble in one of the beds was leaning into a rose and blocking the path.  So I pushed it up with a long piece of rebar and hammered the rebar into the ground. 
• I spent some time weaving long blackberry canes into other canes to keep them from hanging out into the paths.  
• I pulled all the ageratum.
• I cut back gangly limbs of blue salvia.  
• I spread seed in all the spots where I pulled up ageratum.  
• I cut some nasty vines down to the ground and poisoned the cuts with my oil can of poison.
• I sprayed herbicide around the outside of the Orchard and on some of the paths.
• Sunday.
• I raked in the Star Garden and dumped several wheelbarrows-ful in the wild part of the Star Garden.  
• I pulled up lots of lily stalks.
• I moved several Ox Eye daisies growing in paths over to some flower beds, but then I started thinking that was a waste of time since I have a bagful of seeds.  So I started just pulling them up.
• I raked up a truckload of pine needles from my good spot and mulched several spots in the Orchard.  
• Raked some more in the Orchard.  Pulled weeds.
• Then I got my long leather gloves and spent about an hour cutting and pulling out dead canes from my small blackberry bramble at the back of the Orchard.  That bed was the only one I hadn't cleared out for the season.  Worst job in the world.
• Into the house for lunch.
• The rest of the day was spent piddling around.  Weeding here and there, spreading seed, deadheading flowers.
• Monday.  
• Bert and I went to the grocery store and liquor store with our Thanksgiving list.  We stopped at the hardware store and I bought a sprinkler. 
• I sowed s half pound each of black eyed Susans and Drummond Phlox in the top part of the Meadow.  I set the new sprinkler out to water it.  
• Fast forward to Thursday Thanksgiving.  I had a super-spreader event with all of our kids (sans Josh and family who thought it was too many people during a pandemic) and their kids.  A big group.  We ate outside - our nod to the virus.  It was a wonderful day.  So many children running around playing.  A good day.
• Friday.  Will and family spent the night on Thursday and headed home around noon on Friday.  Bert went to Groesbeck for a father, son, grandfather weekend.  I took a nap and did nothing much else.
• Rainy and grey, perfect for spreading all the remaining seed I had.  Red Drummond phlox, clasping cone flower, back eyed Susans, tall poppy mallow, moss verbena, Maximillian sunflower, and red poppies.  I held back some handfuls so I could spread more seed in my gardens.
• Saturday.  rainy and grey - perfect again!  Keep it coming so that my seeds can get a good start.
• I spent the day going through the closets, cabinets, drawers, shelves, and laundry room.  I packed up several dozen sacks full of junk, clutter, trash and goodwill:  cords to electronics we got rid of long ago, partial sets of linens, clothes I've out grown or won't wear, an old coffee machine, old rugs, broken toys and mysterious toy pieces, old receipts and papers we saved for some reason, a box full of cups from previous crawfish boils, yucky blankets, worn out towels, placemats I will never use (because I have 8 other sets), mismatched glassware, a broken electric wine opener, all the expired medicines in the cabinet, all chipped plates and bowls, empty bags we kept "just in case", old broken window blinds - why?, and countless other things that, frankly, I don't know how they got here or what they are.  It will be a real nuisance packing it all in the car to take to Houston.  But there is no way to get rid of it here - no trash service!
• Sunday.  Cold and grey, but no rain.
• I went to the grocery store.  
• Monday.  Worked.
• Took a long walk during my lunch hour.
• Tuesday.  Worked.
• We had our first hard frost of the winter, so all my plants with tender vegetation died.  
• I worked in the Vegetable Garden during my lunch hour.  I pulled up the remaining basil plants.  And I pulled up the Poblano pepper plants.  I harvested all the poblano peppers.  There were 50 or so - yuck -what am I going to do with all those peppers?  I raked up a big wheel barrow full of pine needles and spread them in several places in the Vegetable Garden where I won't be growing anything this winter.  I sprayed a little herbicide along the side fence.  I did some weeding, and I pulled up what was left of my green bean plants. 
• I pulled up some more ageratum and spread clasping coneflower and poppy seeds.
• I pulled up some stands of zinnias.  What was left of the zinnias are dead now due to the freeze.
• Thursday.  Worked.
• I raked up one more wheel barrow of pine needles and mulched in the Vegetable Garden.
• I cut away some frozen cannas that had fallen into paths.
• I watered in the Long Border and I watered my new camellias.
• Headed home to Houston for the weekend.  We have Airbnb guests arriving on Friday.  They booked out of the blue, kind of a random time to be vacationing, but there you have it.