Several days at the Farm February 2022

 

Spirea looked pretty - February 25.

Feb 15 - I planted a flat of Self Heal in the Medicine Garden.  And I planted 3 Comfrey and 7 Rosemary.  

Feb 15 - I planted 4 Sweet Peas in the Rose Garden that will climb on the mattress springs tied around the old dead oak tree.  I had sown my own seed at the beginning of the cool weather, but the freak 8 degree weekend killed them. 

Feb 20 - Most of the weekend was taken up by grandkids (Nathan and Jess).  But I managed to do a few things.

I planted a sack of Yukon Gold potatoes.  I prepped a 4 x 4 bed and planted them all.  They are going to be crowded if they survive the vole attacks which is a big "if". 

I planted most of a flat of Mexican Mint Marigold in the Star Garden.  

I planted a flat of Tansy in the Medicine Garden.

I planted 6 Mexican Oregano in the Star Garden in an area that stays pretty dry.  

I also planted 3 Desert Mallow plants - these were a real find, very happy to have them.  Also drought tolerant, so I planted them in a dry, sunny spot in the Star Garden.

And finally, I planted 6 Skullcap, also in dry areas.  

I sowed a bunch of dill in the Rose Garden for my butterflies.

I sowed some African Daisy seed in the Vegetable Garden. 

Feb 22 - Raked in the Star Garden for quite a while.  

Watered all my new transplants in the Star Garden and the Medicine Garden.

Watered all my roses in pots in the Rose Garden.  Spot watered here and there.

I watered and fertilized my Pineland Wattle, Anacachoe Orchid Tree and both my Two Winged Silverbells. 

I raked in the Greenhouse Gardens and made mulch circles around some of my trees.

Cut back all the Shrimp Plant in the Star Garden.

Spot watered in the Star Garden.

I planted 3 Mexican Mint Marigold in the Star Garden, 4 Australian Violets in the Camellia Garden and half dozen in Mom's Garden.

I transplanted some Woodland Violet plugs that had spread into paths back into the bed.  

I sowed pink Cosmos and orange Cosmos in the Rose Garden.  I threw down some Laura Bush petunia seed also.

Pruned the roses in the Front Bed.  And cut back a clump of Moudry grass and Siberian iris debris.

Planted some Pirates Pearl in the Rose Garden.

My Desert Mallow is in bloom, so I am very excited.  

The paperwhites are in full bloom right now.  And the Daffodil border is blooming.  

Day at the Farm February 4 - 5, 2023

This is the Daffodil Border.

I came up Saturday evening.  

Sunday.  Beautiful weather.  Sunny and cool.  

I worked in the Orchard for several hours.  I planted 2 Goji Berry shrubs , 3 Kiowa Blackberry and a Desertnyi pomegranate. I watered everything in well.  Raked up some pine straw and spread it around all my new transplants.  Weeded, weeded, weeded.

I planted one bunch of 1015 onion starts, mostly in pots since the voles ate them all last year.  Raked a bit.

Sprayed herbicide here and there in the Vegetable Garden, the Star Garden and the Rose Garden.

Cut back bunch grasses along the back path and the back beds.  Fertilized the grasses and Siberian iris.

I pulled some Giant Rudbeckia out of a pot sitting in the Vegetable Garden and planted it in the back bed.

Planted 3 Colonial White verbena in the Water Garden.

Headed home about 5:00.

 

Day at the Farm January 28 - 29, 2023

 This is one tough vine.  This is native honeysuckle.  It has 10 or so blooms and buds on it.  And it's January!  Pretty cool. I have had it planted in that spot for 2 years now.  Most perennial vines really take off in the third year.  I am looking forward to being amazed.

 

Bert and I drove up after Rick's funeral.  It has been raining, there are about 2 inches in the rain gauge.

I turned the compost pile.

Picked leaves out of my Columbine seedling beds.

I planted 4 Toad Lily next to the ones I planted some weeks ago.  Two of them are variegated.  These are fall bloomers that like shade.  I think I am planting them in a good spot, because you have to walk right by them to get to the shed.  They have beautiful, orchid-like spotted flowers that are very small.  You don't notice them unless you come upon them. But they are very special.

I turned under the rest of the rye grass in the Vegetable Garden.  I'm planning to grow cucumbers on the goat wire arbor in that spot come springtime.

I spent a couple of hours moving plants from paths to flowerbeds.  Three Ox Eyes to the Rose Garden, three large plugs of Inland Sea Oats from the Dining Room bed to the shady part of the Star Garden, five plugs of Passalong Pink Verbena to the Dining Room bed, one large Colonial White Verbena to a bed in the White Garden.

I cut back the dead winter debris from the purple Trailing Lantana in the Rose Garden.  I tied up long canes of Peggy Martin along the top of the little fence that surrounds the Rose Garden. 

   

Weekend at the Farm January 20 - 22, 2023

 

This is Autumn Joy Stonecrop coming up.  

Saturday.  I worked in the Meadow for several hours cutting down yaupon and dragging them to the fire pile.  Bert had a good fire going and we burned off the pile that I created over the last several weeks.  Bert cut down some yaupons that were too thick for my little saw.

I worked in the Star Garden for a couple of hours.  I cut down canna debris and did some raking and weeding.  

My paperwhites are in bud.  The freak cold weather in December damaged the greenery but they are going to flower.

After lunch I planted 5 Self-Heal in the Medicine Garden.  I planted 3 blue larkspur seedlings in the Rose Garden.

I cut down the asparagus debris in the big asparagus bed in the Vegetable Garden.  Fertilized.  Picked 4 asparagus.

I cut down the dead debris from the Inland Sea Oats and Southern Woodfern in the Dining Room bed.

Cut down more canna debris.

I pulled up 8 or so plugs of artemisia that had grown into the path in the Water Garden and planted it in one of the Barbados Cherry beds near the pool.

I spent some time moving Passalong Pink from paths to various flowerbeds.

Sunday.  I cut back debris on one of my biggest salvias.

I cut back my trailing white lantana in the Water Garden and cut back scraggly white verbena.  Raked.

Weeded in the Vegetable Garden for a bit.

I used the last of my compost to fill the 3 holes I made in the Star Garden a couple of months ago.  I dug up my miniature roses and planted them in a pot, but I never filled the holes.  That's finally done.  

I dumped my 2 compost piles from the buckets on to the ground where the ripe compost was.  Mixed it up well.

I cut down all the Red Shrimp Plant debris in the Porthole Bed.

Bert and I went to Amy's for a little party to meet the new neighbors.  Headed to Houston after that.  

Weekend at the Farm January 13 - 15, 2023

 

Worked from the farm on Friday.  Cold.  I felt feverish all day.

Amy Thomeson gave me a sackful of bur oak acorns to plant.  It takes about 35 years for a bur oak to produce an acorn, so planting these seeds around the property this weekend is the definition of  contributing to the enjoyment of future generations.  I will never see the acorns, and the trees, if any of them germinate, will only be shoulder height high when I am an old woman.

Saturday.  Up before daylight.  

I worked at the Meadow's edge in the morning clearing yaupons.  The pile of debris that I have created is large.  And it is alive with birds.  I guess they feel protected in there amongst the leaves and branches.  That is really neat.  Easy to see why creating brush piles is one of the activities that qualifies in Wildlife Management plans

Most of the day I felt sick and laid down on the couch.

Sunday.  Turned the compost piles.

I planted all the Bur Oak acorns around the outer edges of the Star Garden and in the Medicine Garden.  I planted them in groups of 3 hoping that some of them will germinate.

Did nothing for the rest of the day.  Sick.  And tired.

Monday.  Martin Luther King holiday.  I watered my roses in pots.

Headed home.

Weekend at the Farm January 7 - 8, 2023

 

This is a bluebonnet seedling.  They are so cute.

I drove up on Saturday morning, Bert joined me later in the day from a duck hunting trip. Cool and sunny.

I spent a good part of the day raking and piling the leaves up behind the Vegetable Garden.  I raked near the pool where lots of leaves gather because of the downward slope from the pool.  I use those leaves throughout the year for browns in my compost heaps.  It was just me and my wheelbarrow since the new cadet is in the shop.  Koy and I were riding together and hit a tree over Christmas.  

I cut away Sweetspire that had creeped out of one of the beds in the Circle Drive.  Poisoned the cuts.  

Walked around into the early evening just looking at everything which is unfortunately rather forlorn-looking since the paths are grown over with vegetation (mostly wildflower seedlings),  I'm not ready to spray poison.  Too cool.

Sunday.  I spent the morning cutting yaupons along the edge of the Meadow.  I am doing this for my wildlife management exemption.  Removal of invasive yaupon is a big part of my plan.  I dragged them into the middle of the Meadow to burn.  I will count that burn as part of my exemption activities as well.  It will drop into the controlled burn bucket.

I sowed a bag of wildflower seeds in the Meadow that Amy Thomeson gave me.  It's late in the season to do it, but I did it anyway.  I also sowed some in the circle in the road in front of our house. 

I did some more raking, this time I dumped all the leaves along the Boardwalk to keep down weeds in those beds.

I picked leaves out of my Columbine seed beds.

Cut back the asparagus debris in the small bed.  Fertilized it and watered.

I dug up 30 or so Schoolhouse Lilies from a bed in the Star Garden where they do not show to their best advantage.  And I planted them in the Medicine Garden around one of the hydrangeas and one of the camellias.

I dug up a dozen or so Lycoris and planted them around Zelda's tree.

Headed home to Houston about 4:00

Day at the Farm December 11, 2022

 This is Debutante Camelia.

I just drove up for the day on Sunday to bring up Christmas stuff.  There is a lot to haul up to get ready for Christmas.  Last night was Josh and Amy's annual Lights in the Heights party.  Fun evening!

It had rained hard the night before.  There were 3 inches in the rain gauge, so that's good.  All my seedlings were pummeled, but they will bounce back.  I picked leaves out of my seed beds.  I have good stands of Columbine seedlings in the Greenhouse Gardens, and I'm very happy about that.  I love those beautiful flowers.  I sowed McKana's Giant, and the color combinations are striking in that variety.  

All the daffodil bulbs are up, and I have buds on the Italicus paperwhites.  Hardly any of the daffodils bloomed last year because of the weird, extreme freeze we had right when everything was in bud. I have hundreds maybe even thousands of Sweetness daffodils in the Daffodil Border, and I have paperwhites growing everywhere.  I so, so, so don't want to miss another year.  

I cut down the blue mist flower.  That took a while because they get massive.  I threw all the debris into the Meadow.  It's native, and the butterfly display on them in the fall is so amazing that, if some of them spread seed, I will be very pleased.   The flowers are all brown, most of the seed is possibly not ripe, but some will be, I'm sure.  Watching the butterflies on this plant when it is in bloom is like watching a National Geographic show. 

The Star of Bethlehem bulbs I planted last weekend are already popping up.  The greenery is sturdier than I thought it would be for such slender, tiny little bulbs.

I pulled up grass growing in the Daffodil Border before it gets out of hand.

I hated to leave, everything right now feels like such a miracle.  But - home I did go.