The Official Martha Stewart Blog - The Martha Blog

Time 2020-06-19 08:03:58

Web Name: The Official Martha Stewart Blog - The Martha Blog

WebSite: http://www.themarthablog.com

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Here in the Northeast, the weather has been sunny, warm, and just perfect for cutting, drying and baling hay at my Bedford, New York farm.When I moved here, I designated three separate areas as hayfields and planted them with a mixture of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass, and clovers - all great for producing good quality hay. The hay is also treated with agricultural lime, a soil additive made from pulverized limestone or chalk that works to correct the acidity of the soil, eradicate any noxious weeds, and raise the overall health of the land. Over the last week, we cut the hayfields, tossed the grass for the crucial drying process, and then baled the hay.If you follow my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48, you may have seen some of the photos and videos.Here are a few more, enjoy. Time to make hay for my horses! I was so pleased to see the forecast for the week. The weather was expected to be pleasant and dry for the next five days – perfect for working on the hayfields. Here s the tractor ready to go out to cut. Carlos Triguero, a very skilled hay baler came over to prepare the fields. I am fortunate to have all the necessary equipment here at the farm. This is our mower-conditioner. A hay conditioner crimps and crushes the hay after it is cut to promote faster and more even drying. Carlos will rake the middle fields, the upper fields, and our run-in field before the day is done. And the weather looks great for baling over the next two days. Here in the Northeast, this was a perfect week for this first cut of the season. By day s end, here is our run-in paddock, ready for baling. I am excited to see how many bales of hay we get from this cutting. I ll share the very interesting process of baling hay in my next blog. My Bedford, New York farm looks so eerie covered in fog.Early morning mist and fog are quite common in this area. Fog is essentially made up of condensed water droplets - a result of the air being cooled to the point where it can no longer hold all the water vapor it contains. Fog reduces visibility below one-kilometer, or six-tenths of a mile, making it very difficult for driving and at times even walking.Here are some recent glimpses of this atmospheric phenomenon and the beautiful spring morning views that followed. Enjoy. On this day, the atmosphere is thick with fog. It’s very hard to see across the hayfields and this allee of London planes, Platanus × acerifolia. Colleague, Liz Malone, who sometimes runs at my Cantitoe Corners property early in the morning before work, took this photo at 5:30am. These hayfields produce hay for my horses it is all being mowed and baled this week. I will share photos of that project in another blog. I live in a region where there is additional moisture, so when the air is cooled, and the vapor starts to condense, patches of fog emerge. Here is a photo that was taken across the field. Fog reduces visibility quite a bit. Here, one can see the fog starting to lift off the grassy lawn in this paddock. Do you know the foggiest place in the world is the Grand Banks off the island of Newfoundland, Canada? It gets more than 200-days of fog per year. The fog can be seen just below the great pines. Fog is actually made up of millions of tiny droplets of water floating in the air. It can form in two ways: either by cooling the air to its dew point or by evaporation and mixing – this happens often when the earth radiates heat at night or in the early morning. Liz also likes to capture images of the sky as the fog dissipates. Here, more fog lifts over the field. Dense fog is when visibility is at least one-quarter mile or lower. And, when fog mixes with air pollution, it’s called smog. Some describe fog to be “as thick as pea soup”. This was originally used to describe the dingy yellow smog from burning soft coal common in Europe. Such fogs occurred in London until the Clean Air Act of 1956. The long pergola is just about to go through another transformation. Soon, the gorgeous orange lilies will fill the gardens. Right now, in between the boxwood shrubs, one can see Allium schubertii, grown for its unique and attractive display. The smaller trees in the foreground are beautiful European beech trees, Fagus sylvatica, or the common beech a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae and native to the woodlands of central and southern Europe. We planted these last year and they re doing great. Look at the skies above the ancient apple trees and the gorgeous landscape. We ve had some wonderful and clear spring days here in the Northeast. How are your gardens doing? Share your comments with me below. My gardens at Lily Pond are thriving.Every year, I try to make several visits to my home in East Hampton, New York - especially during late spring and summer when I can check out the gardens in full bloom, and see how the perennials and other plantings have progressed. Many of the beds have been planted for years, while others have been transformed and revitalized. I went for a brief day trip over the weekend - the weather was just lovely here in the Northeast. In the evening, I visited my longtime publicist and dear friend, Susan Magrino, for a delicious al fresco dinner at her home.Enjoy my photos. Lily Pond s large front yard has a circular lawn surrounded by four-quadrant gardens filled with perennials. In each quadrant, I planted one Parrotia persica tree, also known as Persian Ironwood. These trees have grown magnificently and are always so admired by guests. This plant goes by several names such as smoke bush, smoke tree, Cotinus, cloud tree, and wig tree. It’s an easy-to-grow, wonderful addition to any garden. The stunning dark red-purple foliage turns scarlet in autumn and has plume-like seed clusters, which appear after the flowers and give a long-lasting, smoky haze to branch tips. I have many hostas at Lily Pond. Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies, and occasionally by the Japanese name, giboshi. They are native to northeast Asia and include hundreds of different cultivars. When planting, be sure to give them adequate room to grow. Small varieties spread three times as wide as they are tall. Medium-size varieties spread twice their height, and the larger varieties are at least as wide as they are tall. The Japanese maples have done very well here and I expect they will thrive for years to come. With more than a thousand varieties and cultivars including hybrids, the iconic Japanese maple tree is among the most versatile small trees. This view is from the east looking down the beautiful swimming pool towards the guest cottage. The swimming pool is adorned with aqua glazed strawberry pots which are planted with many different tropicals. The tall trees are European hornbeam. The smaller shrubs are boxwood. This garden surrounds this male Ginkgo biloba tree I planted about 20 years ago. Luckily it does not drop all the billions of berries that the great old Bedford tree behind my Summer House does. I planted this garden with red Japanese maples, hostas, ferns, and boxwood. It is so nice to see all the plantings doing so wonderfully I hope to visit my beloved Lily Pond home again very soon. Their gardens are looking so vibrant look at these hydrangeas. Hydrangeas feature an old-fashioned charm that is hard to resist. They are easy to cultivate, tolerate almost any soil, and produce abundant blooms in blue, pink, white, lavender, and rose blossoms —sometimes all on the same plant.

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