Journal Notes..Begin at the Beginning..Winter Clean-Up

Well, spring fever is slowly (very slowly) creeping in.  This winter has been intensely cold.  I felt like I had not seen the sun for days.  But as the temps rose and the sun peaked out, I began to have a change of heart to my aversion of gardening and the subsequent guilt.  Yesterday, I spent seven hours on the front field.  I was really annoyed with myself for not maintaining the property better and how neglected the seem to appear in my view.  So I opted to get started but what an overwhelming task I felt.  So I decided to "begin at the beginning."

The property is 15 acres but the gardens sprawl across about six of those.  The driveway is almost a quarter mile long.  So I opted to begin at the beginning of the drive.

I know the above is a bit dark and gloomy but that is the spigot where the peacock topiary is going.  The sulphur cosmos that regrew from last year is on the side.  I pulled them up and put them in a wheelbarrow.  What was weird is that the inside of these annuals seemed alive.

I am not sure why I do this.  My logic is put the seeds in another location that I want flowers and do not intend to mow.  I put them near the cemetery fence to aid in screening the cemetery from view during growing season.  You can barely see the cemetery at all except in winter.  Once the majority are yanked, I will have my husband run the tractor over it.

After I finished pulling it..still pretty weedy.  Not sure I will let this grow back again..but probably.

Limbs under the oaks I cleaned up.

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The oaks in the front field last year were growing to the ground.  Cleared out the bottoms but they are trying to grow back

Ignore the dates on the photos, below.  Unless you follow my blog heavily you may not know this.  Before I started gardening, the place had been used as an "illegal" dump site.  There was debris and trash everywhere.  It took months to remove all the debris...I mean, car axles, boat trailers, abandoned mobile homes.....  Years later I still run into trash.  When I was cleaning around the tree, this old metal pipe surfaced.  Amazing that even today, I can't dig a hole or even rake without running into trash.

Hanging solar lanterns I bought from lowes two years ago...believe it or not, they still light but as you can see they need to be replaced.  The lowe's one did stand the test of time fairly well.

The solar lights that I bought along the drive have given out mostly.  I need to find replacement tops for these vs buying new ones.

I am glad I am slow about clearing native plants.  While working on the front field I came across this.  Not sure what it is but it is a brilliant red and stands out.  Any idea?

Close up

Next I cleaned up the wildflowers in front of the arches.  I decided to plant the lilies there.  Is the spot optimal?  No idea.  Did I prep the beds right....pretty sure I did not.  It did take me a while ( a few hours) to prep what I did and get them in the ground.  Sometimes, it's not that I don't know better...it's just if I waited to do it perfect...it would never get done at all..(at least, that is my current rationalization)

The philodendron stays in pots outside all year.  This freeze we had finally hit them.  You can see the roots in the pots are so large..I am starting to wonder if there is even soil in the pot anymore.

I left the Mexican petunias in tact but pulled up all the other spent annuals.  At least I hope they were annuals.

At Agnes' lilies had begun sprouting in the greenhouse.  Too exhausted to mulch, I opted to leave them uncovered at the moment.  It is going to rain today, but there will be a freeze on Wednesday.

I wasn't sure how deeply to bury the bulbs.  I, usually, have the habit of burying bulbs too deeply but these I think are too shallow.

I will put mulch but since it is on a downslope, it tends to was away.

The pulled annuals I will do like the cosmos and put in place I would like flowers and don't mow.

Pile of sulphur cosmos.  They appeared alive which was surprising.

Cleaner now.

Peacock will go hear.  This is where the back of the tail will be seen sprawling.

Front driveway

I hate these wheat looking weeds with a passion.  They, truly, offend me.

After finishing the front field the creek clean-up will begin.