Home Farm Herbery

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2579546k5855665o1/42612-arlenes--farmers-market-baking

4/29/12

We did not have any rain last night so the morning was divided between running the sprinklers in various parts of the gardens for intervals of 30 minutes. It is a real pain in the neck since the automatic sprinkler system pipes in the ground froze up a few years back, but it gives me a chance to get all my computer work done during the 2.5 hours it takes to give everything a good drink of water. 

I am doing well selling my herb and vegetable plants and baked goods at the Hart County Farmer’s Market on Tuesdays and Friday mornings and each time I am able to send a nice little check off to St. Jude Children’s ResearchHospital.  We are all still waiting for the covered pavilion to be finished and we hope to see it by the beginning of June.

Our veggies are starting to look good and I am running around and staking things, plus repotting things in the green house.

Here is what we look like around here this morning and remember just hit the first picture to make it full screen.

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2590054k6464155o1/42912-arlenes-gardens-at-home-farm

4/7/12

It was 40 degrees this morning but a clear sky at 6:30 am and I got the watering started.  Gloria came in to work at 8 am and we put in the new azalea beds and got the weed fabric down between the aisles so we could put hay on it.  Then she started the weeding in the Cottage Garden and is just about finished with it.  By noon it was 70 degrees.

Glynis saved some cantalope seed, but I do not know whether or not it was from heirloom cantalope or just a supermarket one so we have an experimental patch going.

Even though all the photos say 4/6/12 I did not realize today was 4/7/12.  In the event you want to watch the slide show click here now and remember you can click on any photo to stop it and then start it again. 

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2499171k6099240o1/4712-arlenes-gardens-at-home-farm

4/5/12

It was a great overcast grey sky morning and I was out at 6:30 am weeding, bringing out the about 12 old containers to be filled and then planted with the following varieties of Zinnias: Cactus Flowered Mix, Luminosa Pink, Orange King, Cherry Queen, Polar Bear, Purple Prince, Dahlia Flowered Mix, Lilliput Mix, Zinnia Scabiosa, and Canary Bird.

I love Zinnias and Sun Flowers!

Gloria arrived at 8 am and she and I created a new medium size flower bed and a new small flower bed where I planted Cosmos, Shasta daisy, Cleome and the following varieties of Sunflowers: Vanilla Ice, Santa Fe, Maya, Teddy Bear, Sunspot, Autumn Beauty Mix, Grey Stripe, Velvet Queen, and Lemmon Queen.  I also planted some of the sun flowers down by the orchard at the end of the Mediterranean herb beds.

I started a dozen or so seed geraniums in the green house now that I have some room.  I have never started geraniums from seed so it is another experiment.’

Gloria also tackled the CottageGarden which is always a mega weed magnet among the perennials.

You can see what they will look like by clicking on this slide show link.

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2490743k1715157o1/4512-arlenes-gardens-at-home-farm

I planted Glynis’ string bean mix and I set out some Martino’s Roma tomato plants, Emerald Giant peppers plants, Marketmore 76 cucumbers plants, Napoleon Sweet Pepper plants and some Japanese Long Cucumber plants.  After I finished the inside work I was able to get back out at 4 pm and work for another couple of hours and planted a lot of flowers and some new herb beds that you can see on the slide show link.  http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2481432k4613598o1/4212-arlenes-gardens-at-home-farm

3/18/12

It was a beautiful day today and I had a lot to do on the computer so it was about 10:30 am before I got out to the greenhouse where the thermometer said 110 degrees!  I quickly propped open the door and window and gave everything a much needed drink just in the nick of time.

The Stevia is coming up and the cucumbers are really doing their thing and I would put some out but we are still in mid March and who knows whether we will have a frost again.  I guess I will wait another 2 weeks.

I cleaned out some more containers today and I planted some more bulbs. I planted Mixed Single Freesia and De Caen Mixed Anemone and both are mid summer blooming perennials. 

Carl put up 6 hanging planter racks for me in various places in the gardens and Ken brought in the last (hopefully) of the top soil. 

We had a lovely shower about 1 pm or so and that was nice for the newly planted containers.

The first of the tulips I planted in the old Iris bed are blooming right now.

3/17/12

It was an overcast day today with rain off and on so I started working at 8 am.  I finished the last little bit of the wild flower garden after putting in 400 pounds of top soil and the rest of the perennial wildflower seeds.  I thinned out the Roma tomatoes, the orange Amana tomatoes and some peppers and have over 40 more pots of plants growing.  I started to move planters and birdbaths outside today and by noon I was pooped.

3/13/12

It was a beautiful day today in the mid 70’s and we had the French doors open and the heat off.  Ken brought the rest of the top soil in and Carl finished the 4 big planters and now they need to be filled up which Ken will do tomorrow for me.

The grape hyacinths are up all over the place and the fruit trees are starting to bud as are the Japanese weeping cherry trees and all the Bradford and Cleveland pear trees.  The daffodils are rampant around here and the green house is really doing its thing. I see the violets are starting to immerge all over the place.

3/14/12

Ken built 2 new planters for me.  He will build one more in the same area. He will fill them for me when he gets to make a couple of trips to town with his truck.

Carl finished the other planters yesterday and Ken helped me fill them today with me being the director and him doing 95% of the work.

Everything is popping out around here and the violets are starting to carpet many areas of our garden walkways.  The temperature got to be 77 degrees today and blossoming trees are breaking out all over the place.  All the Bradford Pear trees half way down the driveway are out in full force and one more good rain will bring the Cleveland Pear trees on the other end out in a day or two.

3/7/12

It was a beautiful day today at Home Farm, but very windy.

Carl and I worked on the new beds he is building.  We got the weed bedding down dispite the wind and two sections of wood placed on each bed.  Rain is predicted for all day tomorrow so that puts the damper on this project and also keeps the workers from coming in to work on our other projects.

The herbs in the green house are looking good.

Ken brought the cardboard down for me today. 

I got the last 12 solar lights installed today

3/4/12

 It was very windy today and about 40 degrees even though the greenhouse was a balmy 72 degrees. Today I added 5’ x 3’ to the old Iris bed & I planted 25 Blazing Star Liatris.

 I also added 15 African Corn Lily bulbs to the enlarged area of the old Iris bed.

 Kate Kenny was here working on her stained glass lamp she is creating and she hauled down an 80 pound bag of mulch to new bed for me and then hauled 2 more up to the new bulb bed I am making towards the front of the house. It will have bulbs on the driveway side and perennial wildflowers on the lawn side.

I also planted 23 Oriental Star Gazer Lilies in that area. They are fragrant and return year after year. I added 10 Mixed Asiatic Lily bulbs to that area also and 10 Star Gladiolus bulbs. I want to have color in that area all the time so I have planted early, mid and late blooming bulbs such as these Ithuriel’s Spear bulbs which are mid blooming.

 I also planted 1 yellow Seattle Dahlia in that bed. The Grape Hyacinths are popping up.

 I got everything planted outside even though the wind was blowing me away and it seemed colder than it was. I started at 8:30 am and finished at 11:30 am. I was even able to install 12 more solar lights during that time thus finishing up one whole walkway.

I came in and did a half hour on the computer and then made lunch for Carl and Kate Kenny who was here working in the studio. They went back to work in the studio and I had a pile of computer work to do and then at 2 pm I was able to get back into the greenhouse.

2/29/12

Tornado warnings all morning today and big winds, rains, thunder and lightening until 2 pm. today.

3/1/12
Today was a lovely, but busy day in the mid fifties. Gloria came to clean today and before going over to George’s to do the same she did a lot of yard work for me. However, I had turned the heat lamps off in the greenhouse at 8 am and apparently she turned on the strip they were connected to when she vacuumed the screened in patio and neglected to turn them off so when I went into the greenhouse at 10 am and started watering I could not see that they were on again and bulbs started exploding when the water hit them.

I started a new 2 ft. x 12 ft. perennial wildflower bed down at the end of our driveway and will be adding to it over the next couple of days. I also added some Shasta daisy to it and I found a large envelope in a drawer yesterday that contained some marigold seeds I had saved from 3 years ago so I threw those in also just to see what will happen.

3/2/12

I awoke to a lot of rain and wind, thunder and lightening which Carl said was going on since 4 am. I never noticed. It was so bad that we just ran into town, did some bank business and was back before 9 am. While in the village I noticed the first blooming dogwood tree in someone’s yard and several people who have tulip trees will see them blooming in a day or two.

Upon returning I started a book because I did not want to turn on the computer or TV which I always unplug in lightening storms. By 10 am it had all settled down so I went out and planted the rest of the new bulb bed with 40 mixed gladioli, 4 mixed Cannas, 24 mixed Montbretia and 30 mixed Freesias, installed 10 solar lights and went down the driveway and finished planting the big new perennial wild flower bed. I finished at noon which was nothing short of a total surprise for this old girl.

Tosee the slide show of the flowers planted and what is growing around here right now click on the link now.

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2370156k4608464o1/march-1--2-in-arlenes-garden

Carl has started the new waist high planters that I will use just for vegetables.

Again it was 24 degrees this morning with a thin layer of ice on the little garden ponds. When I got to the greenhouse everything was nice and toasty and I was able to shut off all the heat lights. I worked in the greenhouse for about 3 hours and I potted the Japanese long cucumbers and the Marketmore 76 cucumbers. I potted 8 different kinds of bulbs for resale and started a new bulb bed out by the iris with 8 different kinds of bulbs for our garden.

I got two rows of Palco Spinach planted in one of the waist high beds and also 2 rows of gourmet blend lettuce. A lot of bulbs are up around here at home farm and I even saw some crocus. I was able to get more garden markers finished today.

Click on link to see all the slide show.

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2355442k8324872o1/feb-26-2012-arlenes-gardening-day

Well I do not know what is happening with this blogging website as I am getting all kinds of weird messages, but apparently there is no hyperlink thingamabob on this site, so if you want to see the slide show, just cut and paste the following into your browser.  or click on the link if it finally shows up.

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2355363k6924998o1/feb-25-2012-arlenes-gardening-day

Tonight we went to the Hart County Farmer’s Market meeting at the county extension office and we joined hoping that our Home Farm Herbery will be able to do something.

As soon as the weather breaks Carl will start building the new waist high planters. Heading into our 80?s requires less bending and higher planters.a

I will need to start cleaning out the green house in a few days and get ready to start the seeds for seedlings at the end of this month.

Feb. 16, 2011 50 degrees at 6 am

It was a mild, but overcast day today. Gloria came and cleaned out the green house. All the lumber came today for 4 new waist high 8 ft x 3 ft. planters and Ken and I went to E-Town to pick up 30 bales of straw.

Feb. 20th to Feb. 22, 2012

Carl has gotten the heat lamps and beds in the green house up and running again. All the heirloom seeds have been coming in. The weather has been extremely mild and their are all kinds of bulbs popping up ahead of time and I hope they do not get zapped. I have been painting new plant stakes in my studio.

Feb. 23, 2012

We got incredible rain, thunder and lightening all through the night.

Feb. 25, 2012

I awoke to a thin layer of ice on the little garden ponds. I checked the greenhouse as we had to put on the heat lights last night and everything in the closed beds was at 72 degrees so I was able to shut the lights off and open the big beds. I worked in the greenhouse for about 4 hours after breakfast. I potted 4 different kinds of peppers and 5 different kinds of tomatoes. I potted the stevia, several herbs and once it warmed up outside I got in a couple of rows of iceberg lettuce, a couple of rows of French breakfast radishes and a couple of rows of Paris market carrots in one of the waist high beds.

Click here to see our slide show.http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d2355363k6924998o1/feb-25-2012-arlenes-gardening-day