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July 12, 2007 |
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I can't believe it has been a month since I wrote in this journal! Just don't know where the days go! We have done a bit of traveling since I wrote last. David and I escaped for a weekend to "do" the Brown County (IN) Garden and Artist's Studio tour. It was great fun driving my little car in the beautiful hills of southern Indiana. We saw some great art, some not so great gardens, but we appreciated the effort and the weather was gorgeous. Had a wonderful meal at the famous Story Inn, and just enjoyed some time together. Then it was busy, busy, busy prepping for Lavender Daze at the farm. The lavenders came into bloom so early this year, that I was nervous that we would have the darkest lavenders still in bloom....they were, but barely. Since that weekend, the girls have been harvesting as fast as they can to cut while the plants are still at their prime. With the heat, and no rain, they change in just a few days.
David and I went to the International Barbershop Competition in Denver last week. We left two days early, so we could spend some time at Rocky Mountain National Park. What a beautiful place! We walked around Bear Lake, and enjoyed all the wildflowers that were just popping up. It is a short growing season in Denver, but the gardens at the Botanical Gardens were just amazing. I'm trying to work out if we can do a bus trip there in the future.
Since then, I've been watering (still no significant rain) and weeding, collecting seeds, taking cuttings, and enjoying the barn full of hanging lavender. The flowers are just gorgeous right not....lots and lots of things in bloom. What a great time of year...now if it would just RAIN! |
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June 13, 2007 |
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Still no rain, so we are spending all our time dragging hoses, trying to keep what we have planted alive. Some days, when the drying wind/breeze is blowing, we are having to water the flats three times! The greenhouse was 126 degrees today, so keeping the plants that are still in there happy is not an easy chore. I'd love to get them all moved out, but we're too busy dragging hoses!
The extreme heat and drought has brought the lavender into bloom early. We began picking today. I hate to see the purple rows disappear already, but they are (like all the flowers this year)budding one day, blooming the next, and drying up the third! It is sad to see things changing so quickly that we barely have time to enjoy them.
In any spare moments from watering, usually between 6 and 9:30 p.m. I am trying to get mulch on the gardens. They are actually looking pretty good as long as they are watered, but miss their every third day routine, and everybody wilts (some to the crispy, never to return point!) I'm ready to go to Ireland, where everything is green!
Packed into the watering, are all the preparations for Lavender Daze, plus trying to find time to spend with my daughter's family as they prepare to move to Germany for four years. We kept their yellow lab for a year and a half while they were in England, but somehow we aren't getting to keep the 3year old Thomas the Train lover Evan, and fairy-child Eleanor, who just had her first birthday while they go to Germany......something just doesn't seem right here! Time to water...that's it for today. |
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May 27, 2007 |
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I should be at the farm planting. After the nice (but too brief) shower we had on Friday, the ground is finally softened a bit for digging, and the overcast skies and forecast for rain is perfect planting weather. I'll go over in just a bit. The gardens are really coming along, especially the Cottage, Purple, Shade and Enchanted Forest. They are filled with colorful perennials. Now, if I can just get the annuals added, then mulched, we'll be set for the summer! The Cook's Garden is already providing dozens of tasty salads. I've been mixing beautiful lettuces, chickory, sorrel and chives with various herbs and edible flowers, then dressed with a light balsamic/basil viniagrette. Yum! The peas, beans, and salsify are up, but no sign of the beets:( I've just begun planting in the Moonlight Garden. Should have gotten the sweet alyssum in sooner, but it was just so hot and dry that I decided to wait. Of course, the Fairy Garden has been charming and pretty since April 1, and it is still looking great. The miniature coral bells, Pixie Dianthus and sweet woodruff have added their color to the primroses, violas and other tiny plants that have been blooming since early Spring. The Butterfly & Hummingbird Garden is already doing its job--providing lots of nectar for its flying visitors. The Dames Rocket has been blooming for weeks, and is now being joined by lots of other perennials, and a few annuals that I put in a week ago. All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with the gardens at the moment. I just haven't had time to work in them, because I've spent most hours of the day dragging hoses trying to keep the plants watered! The sales areas are just bursting with plants, and the greenhouses are STILL full, so it's a major time-grabber. Better get planting! |
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April 29, 2007 |
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Spring is back! It doesn't seem possible that all of the early bloomers are already gone. We had such a very brief time to enjoy them! Now the fruit trees are blooming, and the last of the narcissus, and of course zillions of dandelions. I can't believe that it is almost the first of May, and I only have 2 gardens tidied! We have not even been able to mow the entire farm yet, just spots here and there between rains. We did manage to get the Cottage opened for sales this week since we couldn't work in the gardens. We store all the picnic tables, benches, and fairy garden decor in there over the winter. After we moved all that out, we were able to sweep and unpack boxes. It still need a bit of "decorating", but it will do for now. I hope I can do lots in the gardens this week, but we have standing water everywhere and the ground is soggy, soggy, dripping wet. |
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