Moving Out #3 - May 31, 2023 @goldenoakfarm

On Wednesday I was pretty wiped out. There were 6 trays of seedlings that could go out as the cold nights were past. I got them into the cold frame and watered them.

That left 4 trays of sprawly plants (pumpkins, etc.) and 2 trays of collards that were too little to go out yet. (They’d been started a week too late.) I moved all of those into the dining room window as it only gets direct light until 11AM and I can pull the shades a bit.

That freed up the roundtop window (that gets sun from 9AM to 6PM) to be cleaned out and the shade put up. It was to be 84F on Wednesday but soar into the low 90’s on Thursday and Friday.

So the next job was to get the equipment out of the Roundtop. I puttered away at that until about 10 AM. I was also picking up the mess from washing windows in a desultory way and trying to get grills back into windows.

Part of moving things back where they belonged made me realize the fairy could go out to the New Herb garden.

As could the birdbath. There were a lot of the new invasive in the bee balm and I got caught up in pulling it out. (See pile back right) Tom was here, back from his vacation, and he came out about this time.

I pointed this odd looking plant out, remarking I’d planted it last year as a form of arnica, which it clearly was not. He has the plant ID app and tried to find it but no luck. It has very odd fluted stems, very thick, and squared off. We decided to wait and see if it flowered. It’s very healthy and happy in the arnica bed.

I also got the rain gauge out as we are due to get some over the weekend.

On the other side of the porch steps the verbascum and dianthus are lovely. The pink primroses barely survived the winter but they have a few flowers. (Please ignore weeds.)

I had to sit down to rest a while after all this and got up about 11:15 to see what else I could do.

In the New Herb garden, the lady’s mantle was pretty.

In Row 2, the pink soapwort is being overrun by the creeping veronica.

In the South Herb garden the peonies were glorious.

The spirea ‘Bridal Veil’ is in full bloom.

Rest over, I started moving plants back into the roundtop window. I lasted until about 12:30. I’d managed to clean off the couch and after lunch I was on it for a nap.

I got up at 2:15 to call the Registry of Motor Vehicles about my car registration. I had to transfer family plates to my car on Thursday and wanted to make sure I had everything when I got there. Well, in the process of removing the plates from my brother’s wife’s car and getting new ones, the process got messed up. I was on hold until 3:45 when they finally sorted it out.

I went out and got supper started and my brother was home early. Production had been shortened due to a sort of open house for Ag officials at the new creamery.

My tenant had been out late on Tuesday night and dug a good hole around the hydrant in the barn.

Tom had gone out to check it out and determined it was just filled with soil. We think it served to hold the hydrant vertical while the hole was being refilled. It will support the hydrant until we can get to the job of repairing it.

The Kousa dogwood is in full bloom and I can see it from the bedroom windows.

On Thursday my general helper and I have to move hay from the neighbor’s barn at 8:30, then head south to deal with the Registry, look for parsley, and finish the grocery shopping if there’s time. I have to be back by 11:30 when my helper friend arrives. It will be hot so we will work on getting the seed starting stuff to the cellar and put away.

I’d hoped to mulch all the newly planted rows, but that will have to wait until Friday. I don’t know how much we will get done as it soars into the 90’s…