The Spring Rush is Real
So much to do, so little time to do it all...
We did get the Cabana up a couple a weeks early for Mothers day, we normally wait 'till a couple weeks after as we've had some wicked winds go through about that time that have taken down cabana's in the past. As it was we had to fold over the cushions and put bricks on them to prevent fly-away cushions and pillows.
Victory Garden 2020
Clearing the unused garden plot was quite the chore Rose did a great job and tore though the vines, roots, etc., We had to use the car to pull some of the rogue plum trees out of the ground. Chainsawed several of the larger trees and some old 6' dead ornamental shrubs, 6+ trailer loads of debris and branches, etc. later we had tillable ground.
Rose's dad's 50+ year old Troybuilt rototiller, we replaced the
engine 5 years ago. I filled it up with high test and It started up on the first pull. I think the best
thing to happen to small engines is a fuel shutoff valve. That is until you forget to turn it on first... Once
I figured out the tiller controls, the control markings were gone long ago, it
moved forward the tines turned and the tilling commenced. The 20'x75' garden took about 2
hours to finish up. Several years of leaves and grass clippings were
raked over the beds and tilled in. Lime, peat-moss, and fertilizer went down all tilled into the loose soil. Rose cleaned up a smaller 3'x75' foot bed for flowers along the back edge. Tiller ran great, my understanding of exactly what the various controls and plethora of adjustments is getting better as I go, go figure... We did finally burn through adrive belt I'll have to replace before we put the tiller away for the summer.
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| Tilling in the leaves and grass clippings |
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| Rose tilling with her dads 50 year old Troybuilt tiller. (Look how much fun she's having) "I could do this all day she quipped"! |
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| Rhubarb on the left from the homes original owner, Grassy area on the left are blueberry plants |
I
hoed, "is that a word" up the raised beds 3' wide and 20' long, Rose will start planting everything tomorrow, and putting in poles for the pole beans, we're
only a day late this year from our yearly goal of Memorial day. We're
putting in 3 varieties of Tomatoes, Brandy-wine, Mr Stripey, and a black
cherry tomato we love, pole beans, a wax bush bean, peas, potatoes,
parsnips, summer and winter squash, kale and Swiss chard.
Garden Fencing went in on Sunday, we've several woodchucks this year, we used all but 3 or 4 of the pig panels we'd accumulated over the years, framed 4'x10' panels of heavy wire, and 3 gates were erected, 6' fence posts were pounded in at each panel junction. Looks way better than I thought it would.
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| Rose planting flower seed Monday |
Funny we thought we were weeks ahead with the yard work earlier this spring... We cleared a couple areas of the yard that were neglected then covid-19 came and priorities changed. During the brush clearing we managed to pull Nana's glider out of the Raspberries, we'll sandblast it, have the broken frame welded, and repaint it, hopefully be good for another 75 years.
The bees seem to be back, I'm amazed at the qty of honeybees and even numerous bumblebees that alight the flowering trees, bushes, and low growing flowers in the yard. I ducked under a Russian Olive tree branch and all I heard was the buzzing above. More bees than I' saw the entire year the last two years.
The yellow-jackets that we ran into last fall don't seem to be back this year, good riddance.
Put in some grass seed, the dogs have made a bloody mess of the yard. $40 worth of grass seed and no rain since the day I put it down.
We went for a drive to the hardware store Saturday and I swear Covid-19 was over, thousands of motorcycles, boats, campers etc. all on the roads going somewhere.
There's always hope I guess.
And the beat goes on.
