still too cold out there yet to go out, but hopefully it will warm up by the time i feel like going outside.
it was supposed to snow last night yet that did not happen much. need to get some peas and strawberries watered. hoses might be too hard to run if it is cold. hmm... i may be too lazy and unmotivated to dig them out and put them in the sun...
i guess i need to talk myself into it and just do it.
ok, that worked. :) i'll go do that and then read for a while longer.
songbird
You poor poor baby , I feel your pain ! Actually I feel my own pain , been up working on the roof of the camper-port (giant carport) . Today is rafter-setting day , got 3 pairs up so far . Only 8 more to go ... it wouldn't be so bad , but it's 12 feet up and I haven't got the permanent bracing installed yet . Temp bracing halfway up the posts and it's got a bit of sway up on top . 20 years ago I'd have laughed , but these days I don't bounce when I hit , I break . Got way too much on my plate to be laid up healing right now .
Last night was supposed to reach freezing (it didn't by 8 degrees), and tonight a few degrees below. So, yesterday I shut off the inside valve to the outside sillcock, and drained the attached hose, so hopefully none of the fittings will get frozen/broken. The 30-gallon plastic barrels of water under greenhouse benches kept temps there in the upper 40s, so the tomato plants look content. Light rain/41F currently.
Good day to do whatever SWMBO wants done indoors!
We've had a warm spell here north of Baltimore but tonight it's supposed to dip down to 41. Nothing to panic about and the trend is warming later in the week. Unfortunately, it's going to be on-and-off rain so I'll need a machete to cut the lawn.
Wastern Ohio isn't so bad. We're in the "which jacket?" transitional phase, where one day will be a wind breaker and the next will be a heavy coat. But even the heavy coat days are above freazing for now.
I've been working on getting the food garden mulched, but the rain is making that tricky. The county has free mulch (made from the free dumping of brush -- the circle of mulch), but loading in the rain is no fun.
The coming week has rain forecast for every day. But just a tiny bit of rain, sometime. I'm hoping for some good windows.
Last year, I didn't get the full bed mulched before I planted, and things were a disaster. Mulching before planting is just dumping wheel-barrows of mulch. After planting, it is tedious, back-ache, work.
I had a plan.
In the plan, I would get the mulch done in March, well before last frost.
So far, my master plan has slipped by a month on all metrics.
Well, maybe next spring.
We seem to be past the snow (but no guarantees), and have thunderstorms on the horizon (and a few already happened).
About 10 (ish) years ago, we had one of those springs from hell -- where it rained every weekend for 6-8 weeks. The grass got nearly knee high.
When a dry window happened, I took the string trimmer and cut a path up the middle of the back yard. Then two cross paths. And I dealt with each 1/6th grid as a challenge.
And THEN I got out the mower.
This spring, so far, is being a bit more cooperative.
Terry Coombs wrote: ...
getting old ain't for the weak!
i am not someone you'd want up on rafters or a roof for doing much. i will go up once in a while to inspect or as we are currently tarped over part of the top (chimney cap) i have to put the tarp back under the straps to keep it from making too much noise in the wind. i have to call the roofing people this week to see what is up and when they might be back. it would be really nice to be done with this.
my leg is still trying to heal up from last fall. taking a long time - just the way things are i guess
- at least my arm is ok. last time i visited the chiropractor i mentioned my shoulder was still a bit messed up from when i pulled it a few years ago like it was a residual that would not move right. he did a few things to it and it took care of it - feels like normal - but i sure won't be shovelling heavy clay from a hole up into a wheelbarrow any longer. i'll do half buckets at a time instead if i need to move any more subsoil (not expecting to have to do that but you never know...).
good luck on getting that done. i wouldn't even attempt it.
songbird
Gary Woods wrote: ...
we're forecast for rain/snow/whatever happens off and on all this week including this afternoon. looking at the radar it looks like we'll get something for a change but that can also change. i.e. pretty much normal spring weather.
i may take a nap. i took out the trash earlier (normally i don't because it isn't my chore :) but today i was up anyways so i did it - doesn't hurt to give a gift/surprise once in a while :) )...
it was getting too dry out there and so i did get a little watering done yesterday and one of the hoses is set up.
songbird
Our county has free mulch if you load it yourself, but for $10 they'll use their front-end loader to put a cubic yard into your pickup truck. I pay the $10 to save all that work. They'll have the same deal on compost in another month or so.
We got a load of mulch a few weeks ago and it's all spread. This week I'm shoveling a winter's worth of manure out of the sheep barn to put on the garden and compost piles.
Paul
Drew Lawson wrote: ...
this spring/late winter there was a lot of rain and that means i can't do much in the gardens with a lot of them having a lot of clay in the mix. just have to be patient (or you're making bricks).
we've had some nice days this week so i was able to get working on some gardens and do some weeding. the largest garden i'm working on now i have to move a lot of plants (because i want them along the edges where i'll have to hand weed anyways) so eventually the time i put in moving plants will pay off to not have to work around them in the central part of the garden. the areas that don't have plants in the way i can dig a hole, skim the surface and bury that so many of the weed seeds won't be able to sprout. it will take me several years to get this garden back under control because it was mostly neglected last year and a lot of weed seeds were able to fall. i did a pretty good job along the top edge and along the side edge where i have creeping thyme growing and that looks nice, but once i injured my leg that ruined my plans for having that garden done before winter. ah well, stuff happens... :)
at the moment it looks like you may get some rains but most of it looks to be heading further north for a change. i think we'll get some rain from this storm (and that is ok with me - i need a day off).
songbird
The driving force on this one is Mrs Snag ... But if I didn't want to , it wouldn't happen . I'm still pretty spry for my age i guess , people we know that are our age aren't faring so well . I did get my tomatoes in the ground this morning and planted some bunching onions . Went to the co-op this afternoon and got 10 bales of straw for top mulch . The tomatoes are on the trellis I built last year for beans instead of cages . I'll be putting cardboard down around them before the straw mulch to prevent soil splashing up on the plants when watering or raining - that's what caused my blight fungus last year . Potatoes are coming along nicely , bare spaces in the row are gradually filling in . I also found a bunch of volunteer yellow squashes , planted some and potted some more for giveaway . Oh , and did I mention that the strawberry plants are loaded loaded loaded with fruit ? Not much in this world better than fresh strawberry jam on hot from the oven bread slathered with (real) butter . I'm looking for a great year , I learned last year about the pests that my plants have never survived long enough to get before ... and I have an arsenal of "natural" weapons to unleash upon them !
Several years ago, I was told by another guy who was loading mulch that the county people can use the loaders if you have a trailer, but they can't load trucks. (Probably liability concerns.) I may be getting a trailer soon, for other reasons, and need to ask whether that is true (or *still* true).
Best I can figure, the initial blanketing of the vegi garden is around 20 yards. If I only had to unload, life would be much better. It'll be too late for this year, but would be a welcome change for next year.
Not here. Had a warm winter?not unusual for this part of the country?followed by a very early "spring" (February). Lately, daytime temperatures have been topping out in low-to-mid 80s with overnight lows in mid 60s. My poor garden sort of went to the dogs (sad state of dereliction) during the summer of '18, due entirely to inattention, which state continued until very recently, when I've been able to remove weeds from four of the nine beds and get them ready to receive the usual amendments, if not ready for actual planting. Missed fall?winter (Sept. Oct.) as well as spring (Feb) plantings but am optimistic for the summertime. Think there's still time for so-called "southern" peas (white acre "crowders", probably), snap beans (Delinel, contender, provider and/or slenderette), and okra. Had a series of seizures and a stroke this past summer, resulting in three hospitalizations and an extended stay in a "health and rehabilitation" kennel. Learning to walk again, as an adult whose butt is much higher above the ground than a toddler's, has been a real adventure and using the left arm/hand/fingers for any useful purpose remains problemmatical. Afraid my rafter-setting (and Bach-playing) days might be past. Won't be shaving with my old "cutthroat" straight razor any time soon, either. Darn. The latter two of those I truly shall miss; the first, not so much.
Oh, you are so-o-o-o easy. IME, Procrastination is a fine art, never truly to be mastered, but requiring constant practice in order for its practitioners to obtain a high degree of guilt-free competence. ...works for me.
snipped-for-privacy@invalid.com wrote: ...too cold...
any day i can garden outside this time of the year is a bonus day. not looking like i will be doing much this week.
i hope you can avoid further episodes and recover on the left side.
i never could really play music well enough to worry about a loss of ability.
...
well it has taken me how many years to finally get any spring peas planted? 3-4ish? :) i think i seasoned that long enough... now i'm just hoping some of them will grow so i can get some fresh seeds back. i even put those Wando seeds in the mix to see what will happen. i'm asking Momma Nature a lot of questions with this planting so we'll see how she answers.
the strawberries look much better this year than last year so the crop should be there if i can keep the hard frosts off the flowers. it may work out...
a gardener is full of dreams and hopes. :)
songbird
Terry Coombs wrote: ...
those who don't exercise don't usually fare very well from what i'm seeing.
i've tried a lot of things to keep the blight down but in the end it seems to come back and get the plants no matter what i do. luckily they produce well enough that by the time they're done with the bulk of the crop so are we happy to be done too.
the cardboard will help with weeds though so is worth it IMO.
good deal! glad they worked out this season.
the fences are what make the most difference for us to have more reliable production. the weather is the
2nd largest factor. well, of course getting things planted is required too...songbird
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