Weekend at the Farm February 9 - 10, 2019

My yellow daffodils are beginning to bloom.  Most of them were leaning over and plastered to the ground from the rain we have been having, but they were still cheery bright spots in the landscape.

Cleo and Koy spent the night with me on Friday.  I took the girls to the toy store on Saturday morning to pick out toys.  Then over to Josh and Amy's for Cleo's second birthday party.  Bert met me there.  The party was lots of fun.  Then we drove separately to the farm.

• We had a 12 yards of decomposed granite delivered on Friday morning.  So on Sunday morning I started re-doing the paths in the Rose Garden.  I worked all day from early morning until 3:00.  First, I raked the area, then I pulled the biggest weeds from the paths, then I dumped a load of crushed granite and spread it around about an inch or two thick.  In the old days I spread it a lot thicker, but I'm older now and not as enthusiastic.  One wheelbarrow of crushed granite spreads out to about four feet by four feet.  I got half of the Rose Garden finished.  I was pretty surprised that I completed that much, I have to say.  Man, that is hard work.  It was helpful that the weather was cold, wet, misty and cloudy.  I can work a long time in favorable conditions such as those.
• Throughout the day in between wheel barrows of rock, I pulled grass and weeds out of the Daffodil Border.
• That's it.  Called it a day at 3:00 and laid comatose on the couch.  
• I bought the train tickets for our Alaska trip.  Things are ramping up for out July trip
• Drove in to work on Monday morning.

Red Buckeye Breaking Dormancy Feb 2, 2019

Every year I look forward to my Red Buckeye breaking dormancy.  I love every stage of this little native tree's life cycle.  See the big fat buds, and then they open to reveal the golden yellow tips of the leaves.  Just so pretty.  It is very tropical-looking tree to my way of thinking with large five-lobed leaves.  It blooms in the spring, large red clusters of flowers.  It will lose all its leaves by mid summer.  The pictures below are one of the main reasons I love this tree.  It is one of the very first things I planted when we built here.

 

Weekend at the Farm January 26 - 27, 2019

Here is one of my first paperwhites of the season.  Paperwhites typically bloom in January in this area.
I worked a half day on Saturday, arrived at the farm in the afternoon.  Bert was already here.  Weather was very cool and cloudy.

• Saturday evening we had carrots and mustard greens from the garden with our dinner.
• Sunday morning I weeded in the Vegetable Garden.  Many of the beds are mulched, and that has been extremely effective.  I ran out of mulch before I could mulch everywhere, though.  Time to get more mulch!
• Things look pretty bedraggled right now.  I don't spry herbicide in the winter.  The winter weeds are growing in all the paths (which happens every winter).  Despite the unkempt appearance of the gardens, all I care about and all I absorb is the promise of spring - the wildflower seedlings, the fat leaf buds on the trees and shrubs, the green points of the spring bulbs emerging from the soil.  It is captivating.  There will be plenty of time to clean up the paths as March approaches.
• Bert and I spent some time cutting yaupon in the little glen that I'm encouraging at the edge of the wildflower meadow.  I started this project last weekend by myself cutting yaupon that were skinny enough to get with loppers.  I use a little oil can filled with poison to squirt on the cut so that the yaupon won't grow back.  Bert cut the thick yaupons with the chain saw, I poisoned, and we both dragged them into the woods where we dump stuff.  He gave up after about 45 minutes, but with the area now really cleared out, I spent another hour or so continuing on cutting the skinny yaupon and penetrating the woods a bit further.  I don't know, maybe I'm crazy to do this, but if it turns out in the summer to be not noticeable or impressive or inviting, then I'll let it grow back wild.
• I walk the meadow every time I'm here now.  The weather is so forgiving in the winter months that it is a pleasure to wander around and see what is coming up through the dead winter debris.
• I dug up a clump of Rudbeckia that was growing right at the edge of the flowerbed outside the dining room window and moved it to the front flowerbed.  The flowers always lean into the path and become a nuisance during their summer bloom-time.  
• I moved a half dozen or so clumps of Ox Eye Daisies growing in paths over to the Medicine Garden.
• And I moved four clumps of asters from the Star Garden to the Long Border.  I hope they take over there as successfully as they have taken over in the Star Garden. 
• Went inside for a little lunch, then back out again to work.
• I weeded the blue-green grass out of the Daffodil Bed for a while.
• I dug up 20 or so Philippine Lily seedlings out of the white rock paths in the Circle Drive and planted them in the Shade Garden.  They are about two years away from being mature enough to bloom.  I have some brand new seedlings in there that I sowed this fall, and some tiny seedlings here and there that I sowed last fall.  The leaf drop is so heavy in there that I decided I would have to plant seedlings rather than sow seed in that garden. But, as it turns out, I am having some success with the seeds. 
• Bert and I walked around all the gardens in the dusk of early evening.  The temperature was perfect.  
• I drove in to work on Monday morning.

Woodland Violets January 27, 2018

Woodland Violets are clump forming shade-loving evergreen perennials.  They spread by underground stolons.  They like cool weather, and that is when they bloom - fall, winter, and early spring.  The flowers are edible and they can be used in salads, soups, and on cakes.  Last weekend I dug some up that had spread into the path next to the flowerbed where they are growing, and I planted them in a bed in the Medicine Garden.  This weekend they are happy as can be in their new spot, tolerant of being moved in other words.

Day at the Farm January 20, 2019

My White by the Gate Camellia looked really pretty today.

The last couple of weekends I have had grandkids here, so I didn't do any gardening.  Yesterday we went to Oliver's birthday party and drove up here on Sunday to check things out - the pool, etc.

• I dug up about 12 plugs of Swamp Sunflower out of the bed in the Orchard and moved them to the low spot in the Meadow.
• I moved a half dozen or so plugs of Ox Eye Daisies growing in paths and moved them to the Boardwalk path.
• I have decided to clear out a swath of woods adjacent to the Meadow.  I'm only clearing out the yaupon.  I have a little oil can filled with a powerful herbicide (more powerful than Round Up, can't remember the name) mixed with diesel.  The process is that I lop off the yaupon close to the ground and squirt a few drops of the poison on the cut.  Yes, this is a very slow-going project because I am cutting one yaupon at a time.  I don't want to disturb the soil any more than I have to.  When we cleared out the meadow with the bulldozer, we ended up with crab grass - I don't want to repeat that mistake. When I am done I think it will be really pretty.  The forest floor of this area  is covered with a pretty woodland bunch grass.  The sun shines through the post oaks and casts a very lovely light on the grasses.  I cut down 30 or so yaupon, poisoned them and hauled them away.
• The chicken wire I laid down in the Rose Garden to keep the deer away is not working.  I'm going to call the Chamber of Commerce and find someone that can put up an electric fence structure of some kind.
• I pulled up grass in the Daffodil Border.  It's actually very pretty grass, but I don't want it interfering with my bulbs.
• That's it, we drove home around 2:00.

Day at the Farm December 30, 2018

The only things blooming right now are my camellias and these little woodland violets.

Christmas on Saturday with my side of the family.  It was at my house in Houston.  Gretchen and family were there.  Drove to Burton on Saturday night after we cleaned up the party.  Stayed through Monday and drove home for New Year's Eve with Mom, Dad, Nan, Lisa, and the New York contingent.  Dinner at Café Annie's.

• I trimmed the Yuletide camellia here and there trying to encourage a little more branching.  I really hate to cut a camellia since they grow so slowly.
• I transplanted 40 or so plants from paths into flowerbeds.  I moved Homestead Purple Verbena into beds throughout the Rose Garden, and I moved Ox Eye Daisies into the flowerbed that is adjacent to the path that leads to the Boardwalk.  I now have that long bed almost completely filled in with daisies, and I think it will be very pretty in the spring.  That has been a fairly sizeable project for me because they have to be dug up and moved there.  Up to this point that bed has basically been just mulch and a few random plants here and there.  I watered them in.
• Raked here and there.
• I laid down chicken wire in various paths in the Rose Garden.  I read somewhere that deer don't like to walk on strange surfaces.  We'll see how effective that is.  I'm not holding out much hope.  It certainly does a number on me, though.   I've tripped over it about 10 times now. 
• Next morning I was sore!
• I moved a dozen or so transplants to various beds including the front flower bed.   I decided that the verbena would look pretty there as well as keep down weeds and slow down erosion.
• I fertilized my parsnips, beets, and garlic in the Vegetable Garden.  Also did a little weeding.  It's important to keep the weeds away from the veggie seedlings.
• I put some fertilizer around my little species gladiolas that are just coming up.
• Decided to go down to the Orchard and putter around for a while.  But I ended up doing a great thing!  I tackled the Swamp Sunflower problem.  I have a skinny bed at the back of the Orchard in which I planted a couple of clumps of Swamp Sunflower two years ago.  That is a massive, unruly plant that spreads quickly.  And it has quickly grown out of that spot and needs to be moved again.  I cut away all the dead vegetation.  Then I dug out clumps of it and moved it over to the meadow.  The part of the meadow that is at the bottom of the hill is one the wettest parts of our property.  I tossed the clumps of plants into the standing water (we have had a lot of rain lately).  I planted some here and there in that part of the meadow, but most of it I just set in the water.  I transplanted 10 or so clumps - heavy!  It was hard work, but if they take off, they will be amazing in the meadow.  It's (I think I have finally found the perfect spot for these giants) the perfect spot for my Swamp Sunflower.
• Headed home about 2:30.  

Pretty Greens December 30, 2018

I've always thought that greens - mustard and collard - are so pretty.  They have these wonderful, massive leaves.  And the color of collards is a beautiful blue-grey.

I'm growing greens, parsnips, beets, lettuce, carrots, garlic, parsley, dill, and cilantro in my Vegetable Garden right now.  And I have my two beds of asparagus in there lying dormant.

 And a picture of my lettuces...