Late June Chores Around My Farm
Rain or shine, chores have to be done each and every day.
Here at my farm, my gardeners, housekeepers, stable team, and outdoor grounds crew are constantly working off a running list of important tasks. During the summer season, these include pruning and grooming the many trees and shrubs, cleaning various outbuildings, edging the roads, weeding, polishing the stable walls and stall doors, and of course, tending the vegetable garden and harvesting what is ready. What's on your to-do list?
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- It’s late June and the gardens are lush and green, but this time of year, we’re constantly weeding and grooming the plants. Here’s Phurba in the garden behind my Tenant House.
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- Pasang grooms the apple espaliers outside my Winter House.
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- Any clippings are placed onto a tarp, so cleanup is quick and easy.
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- Here’s Pete edging the carriage road at my long Boxwood Allée. Edging roads, lawns, and around garden beds can be done manually with a variety of spades or edging type tools, but depending on the size of the space, it can also be very time-consuming. Rotary edgers, powered by gasoline, electricity, or portable battery reduce the time it takes to complete this job. These machines feature a spinning blade that cuts through the turf as the edger is pushed along the road where it meets the grass border.
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- Here is the finished line made by the edger – so clean and crisp. In this section, one can see where the edger has passed and made a clean line through the turf.
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- Next, our friends from Lawton Adams Materials, Supplies & Recycling – a company in Somers, New York drops loads of 3/8-inch native stone gravel. A fresh coating of gravel always looks so pretty.
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- Pete uses the bottom of the tractor bucket to spread the gravel along the road.
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- The gravel needs to be spread evenly across the 12-foot wide surface. During this time, we block the road, so no other vehicles can come through.
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- On the other end of the tractor is our Land Pride PR1690 Power Rake. This piece of equipment has a 90-inch rake to work on large properties. We use it to rake and grade the carriage roads. When it is lowered onto the road surface and tilted to the proper angle, this attachment moves the gravel to the center, creating the proper crown. There should be about a three-percent slope from the shoulder to the center of the road.
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- Mulch is put down and spread in the beds of my Linden Allée.
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- Mulch as well as compost are essential for healthy garden soils and thriving plants.
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- Carlos cleans the windows of the stable buildings, which also my Carriage House and my business offices.
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- Inside the stable, maintenance work is done on the stalls.
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- These beautiful wooden stable stall walls and gates often get kicked and marred by hooves. They need to be scrubbed down and treated regularly.
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- Color Reviver Tonic by my friend Christophe Pourny adds a boost to the wood finish and helps hide any nicks and scratches. Once a year, my stable team cleans and coats the stalls. Whether you use Christophe’s light or dark Furniture Tonic, I know you’ll love the results. And please look at his web site to see all his other furniture care products, including wood and leather cleaners, conditioners, waxes, serums, and soaps.
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- This stable has eight stalls, so the entire project takes a full day, but the results speak for themselves.
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- Treating the wood not only returns it to its original lustre, but it also creates a protective layer that adds to the wood’s durability – regular maintenance is time consuming, but key.
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- Ryan places more evergreens in various areas around the farm. All of my trees and shrubs from Monrovia are in such excellent condition. This arborvitae is one of several being planted as part of a privacy screen.
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- In the vegetable garden, peas are ready for harvest. Every year I plant one side for shelling peas, which need to be removed from their pods before eating, and the other side for edible pods, which can be eaten whole.
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- It’s important to plant peas as soon as possible in spring in order to get a bountiful harvest come summer. I always have large bounties of delicious fresh peas.
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- And here’s my Equipment Barn. It’s about 40 by 120 feet, with a substantial amount of height. It is where we keep our mowers, blowers, tractors, tools, and other pieces of important machinery. At least once a year, my crew clears the entire space, power washes the floors, and then inspects and organizes every item before returning it neatly to its place, so everything is in good order and ready to use.
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- Keeping things well maintained and properly stored will always save time in the long run. This week is expected to be a hot one here in the Northeast with temperatures soaring into the 90s. My farm crew works hard rain or shine, in hot weather and cold, to ensure everything functions at its best.
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