Mowing at the farm

Wow, I'm tipsy. To say the least. I drank a really generously sized glass of sherry to warm myself up after returning home from the farm. As I mentioned two posts before the last one, the sherry is delicious and so I had more than I should have. It's alcohol content is 17% as opposed to 13% present in wines.. Perfect for a good night's sleep without hangover, I observed. It also gives you dreams.

I basically spent the day mowing - I did the first mowing this season. I found the grass almost knee high when I arrived, full of spent dandelion flowers ready to spread their seed. Disgusting. I started mowing no later than ten minutes after jumping out of the car. That's because rain was in the air, as well as forecasted, so it would no doubt fall any minute. Fortunately, I managed to mow both around the house and the field road leading to the gate, that is, everything that usually gets mowed, right before the first drops fell. I was most pleased.

I didn't get to weed the flowerbeds at all but I did take a few pictures of what they look like at this point of spring. Much fuller compared to what they looked like when I last photographed them a month ago.

I was happy to discover that the pale yellow iris I transplanted from my city garden last August (visible at the very front) is actually going to bloom. By the look of it four weeks ago, I became convinced it wouldn't bloom until next spring.. The second batch of the same iris, which I transplanted at least one month later last year, is only going to produce one flower stalk, though. It seems that timing is crucial when digging up and moving iris.

The ferns are getting out of control and will need to be thinned at the first opportunity. Obviously, I don't mean to throw any away but hope to dig a new bed for them somewhere.

Pictured below is the lawn on the east side of the house post-mowing. The yellow-leaved oregano, baby angelica archangelica and phlox subulata at the very front are this spring's additions to the bed. I really like seeing yellow leaved plants in the spring.. I think I might need to find room for a variegated hosta or two I saw at a nearby garden center today, priced about USD 3.00 per pot.

The photos are not very clear because I was taking them caped in the pouring rain. I hope to take some better ones next week when I'll be on vacation and the weather is expected to be sunny and warm.