Posted on 03/27/2021 7:04:05 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Alas, did not get R. planted today! I need to move the strawberries too! My neigh-bor sold her horse so I no longer get 5 gallon buckets of Horse apples! Maybe tomorrow!
(Yoghurt is good on strawberries too, and also much better than that other stuff!
Check Cultivariable. They’ve been working on developing dahlias with tasty tubers, and they have lots of how-tos on their site.
Decorating with seed packets. Forward looking in a botanical way! I like it!
The ground is still too wet to get to the compost heap with the tractor, and it's still too wet to till the victory garden, but it isn't too wet to pick up sticks and cut grass, so that got done over the weekend. We also cleaned out the winter's accumulation of horse poo from the barn.
Wife and daughter planted a few trees. Couple each of burr oak, swamp chestnut oak, and some flowering thing that I can't remember right now.
In between doing all of that stuff I found some time to work on Mr. Clarence. Cylinder head is off and being delivered to the machine shop for an overhaul. It didn't look to be terrible, and probably would be fine to put back as-is, but it will be good to go for sure this way. There's a bit of ring groove in the cylinder bores, but no scoring, so I'm going to leave that stuff alone.
The three point lift was stuck in the raised position, and no amount of external persuasion would make it go back down, so I pulled the control module off and tore into it. Found one piece of the touch control linkage bent pretty badly. It was an easy fix to straighten that. The bigger problem is in the lift cylinder. The piston is stuck either from rust or gummed oil. I got it to move in a bit, but I need it to move all the way out so I can clean it up. The bore is blind so it can't be pressed out, and there's no way to attach a puller, so I'm ruminating on a solution. In the meantime I've got it in the wash tank soaking.
I'm having a devil of a time with my orchard trees. Some sort of fungus that causes the tree to develop open sores that ooze sap, and eventually weakens them to the point that the trunk will break.
It's happened to every single drupe that I bought at Lowe's. I pulled a nectarine, two peach, and two plum trees out of the ground a couple months ago, and I've got two more peach that are sick.
Those trees all came to Lowe's from a nursery in Oklahoma, the name of which is evading me at the moment. I should have known better than to buy orchard trees from a box store. It's a mistake I won't make again.
The worst part of it is that the trees don't show any symptoms until they've been in the ground for six or seven years, so I've lost a lot of time due to buying sick trees.
You are one handy man to have around! :)
Frustrating, isn’t it? I have a peach and a cherry to replace, but Jung’s is sold out already of what I want. Hoping I can snag SOMETHING in their Bare Root sales.
If I can’t get cherry or peach, the two remaining ones won’t get pollinated. I may end up going with whatever fruit trees I can find that self-pollinate, or will accept something from the ‘wild’ as we have old apple trees and wild plums and a few other things growing around here, too.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3946228/posts
A tree fruit that needs to ‘blet’.
What interests me is that it seems to be very care-free LOL! But very expensive.
Thanks I’ll give that a try. Hate to turn down free food.
paw paw pulp can be frozen for one year
Ah, cultivariable, hidden gardening! For preppers and people with nasty homeowners board with anti-gardening covenants and restrictions!
Great catch! Interesting. Thanks! :)
This reminds me so much of my own Grandma, Anita. She grew up a farm girl, but later married a, 'City Slicker,' LOL! Even on her small inner-city lot in Milwaukee, WI, she always had glorious tomatoes, pickle cucumbers, peppers, lettuces...and a few chickens, even BEFORE it became 'fashionable' and you needed approval from Mother Government. *Rolleyes* I learned so much from that woman, from gardening to butchering, canning and baking. She is with me EVERY day of my life. Now THAT is a Legacy to leave behind. :)
;)
People have been talking about paw paw fruit on here for several years and I still have no idea what it is.
Anyone want to give me their best description of of fruit and its flavor/uses?
We have been having some gorgeous days her in the Seattle area.
I got 3 raised beds prepped today....weeded and wood chip mulch spread put.
I also got around to making the bench I have had planned for the last 1.5 yrs.....a 1st cut off of a large tree, one end about 3.5 inches thick and the other and 2.5 feet thick.....bark on one side flat cut on the other.
Reclaimed from some place that throws the 1st cuts on the side of the road.
I purchased metal bench legs off of Amazon.
I cut the rows out of the timber with my skil saw, the nail pulling end of a hammer, a round hole drill bit, and a mini sledge for the obstinate spots.
I have to get some bolts for the thin end because the fasteners must go through from the flat side on that end.
The comes the staining.
After I finish it tomorrow I am cutting back some bushes by the mailboxes and putting the bench out there to entice my neighbors to sit and talk. May even put some beer can size cup holders in the end.
Reported a lot of tomato plants the other day and put them in my raised bed that has the hoop cover.
When it is sunny and 50s outside the inside of the hoop covered raised bed jumps to over 100 in direct sunlight.
I actually have to pop it open for several minutes to let it cool down a bit to avoid nuking the baby plants.
Our last expected frost was on the 20th so I think in a week or two it will be safe to put them in the ground.
Btw. Only 2 months until I can legit retire if I want to.....June 1st I can start drawing my pension.
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