Fixing, Weeding, & Soil Prep.

First thing after breakfast is to water the baskets.  Then I fixed the thermostat in house six.  I had to take off the cover and move the red wire on the right so it did not touch any metal.  Of course, I turned off the power.  I fixed it and turned the power back on.  When it got hotter in the late morning, the fans turned on automatically.

 I filled the little sprayer with water and a half cup of round-up. I sprayed weeds starting north of house one to the tomato plants in the north garden.  There is a lot of morning glory and some annual weeds.  I used a piece of plywood and wood clamps to shield the tomato plants from any weed killer spray.

We drove to Fillmore for groceries and to get a half in garden hose connecter.  I got the hose from Walmart which cost about $8.00  It is picture above.  We also bought some snail, slug, and grasshopper bait.

This evening I looked over a half our before I found it in the car.  It had rolled under the passenger's seat.  I put the bait in to three green houses and the  two flower beds north of the house.

After lunch I prepared the south garden for watermelon and Topaz melon planting.  I used the tiller to make two rows north of the grape vines and two rows south of the grape vined.  Topaz melons will be planted on the north side and Crimson Sweet on the south side.  This should have been nearly two months ago. I tilled the place for the row and then made a farrow. I run water down each row to make the ground softer for planting tomorrow.

While I was making the farrows I saw an apricot on the apricot tree in the orchard.  There was only one.   I picked it and took it two the house.  There I cut it in half.  I ate half and Carol got the other half.

This is a nice Elder Berry plant.  Several years ago I dumped the elderberry fruits in the garden  A couple of years ago seed germinated and has grown into a nice size bush.  It was laying on the ground.  I drove a pipe into the ground and tied it to the pipe with some twine.  It is now standing up like a bush.

There is flowers and fruits on the same stem.

There are a lot of milk weeds growing west of the driveway garden.  I cut off all the blossoms and pods that are beginning to grow.  I wanted to save the plants for the Monarch butterfly, but I didn't want anymore.

I water everyday and sometimes twice a day the plants in house three.  I keep them too wet or not wet enough.  I cleaned out a spot in pad one for the pictured plants above and below.  The pad fills up automatically with water every three days.   These are being tested to see if they will get enough water.  I may have to change it to every other day.

I am getting control of the weeds in house one.  I hoed out the weeds out of the row in the above picture.

I was going out to house two to shut off the water and nearly stepped on this frog/toad.  I haven't seen one of these for several years.

Comments and questions are welcome.

Zinnias, Customer, and Weeds

I got one row ready to plant. I put down pink tape every 18 inches and held them down with a nail.  A tomato plant is placed at each marker.  There are five plants between each post.  I secured the post with a piece of conduit and tie wire.

The posts were not plumb.  I wired a wedge to help hold it plum.

I planted some County Fair Zinnias a couple of weeks ago and transplanted them in to on tray of Jumbo six packs. And another tray of six pack of slim Jims.

 Fremont barberries are new in the above tray.  The old ones are Round leaf Buffaloberry. 

The flowers from an Oak tree in our yard.

Flowers from the Big Tooth maple in our yard.  I little hard to see.  

The early spring look of Stansbury rock daisy, Perityle stansburyi.

How it looks after I cut off all the dead stems.

The above picture and the two below is of the weeding I done on the north native plant garden.

I don't know the name of this plant there are two specimens side by side.  It is a milkweed that bleeds when it is cut.  The milk weed is another one that has to be dug out by the root, if not the weed will grow back.  The seeds blow in the wind.

I dug this type of milk weed up by the roots.  This is about the only war to kill it.

Dug up weeds in the south garden.  There are still a lot more to go.

A Fern Leaf Peonie  which is in full bloom.  Quite a history with this plant.  Got a start from a neighbor, planted it in my yard in American Fork, brought it with us when we moved to Holden, and moved it once to the present location in our backyard.

Comments and questions are welcome.