Posted on 04/01/2025 6:11:07 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Absolutely.
Unfortunately, there’s no way of taking the pain out of making a new asparagus bed.
I use cardboard and wood ship between my beds. Smothers almost all the weeds well except along the very edges of the beds.
I figure some day it will be well composted and then I can add it to a new raised bed. or to help replenish an old one.
“That 6” of rain did me right. Soil is perfectly workable all through the tunnel. Seen some wormies.”
I always feel bad if I accidentally harm any Earthworms or Red Wigglers when I’m planting in my beds. :(
Night Crawlers, though? THOSE are BAIT! Lots of fun Summer Friday Nights with the boys and flashlights, ‘harvesting’ those MONSTERS for fishing on the weekend. ;)
Do you have Night Crawlers down south, or is that a Yankee Thang? I really don’t know!
LOVE the, ‘Wentworth Gallery’ sign! :)
Gorgeous day today, sunny & high in low 80’s, a beautiful Spring day. Mowed the back 2/3 in a tank top it was so warm :-) I had just finished mowing early afternoon when the wind kicked up after being dead quiet all morning - advance winds from a front coming through overnight with showers tomorrow, highs in the 50’s, wind gusts 30 - 40. The weather around here is a real roller coaster.
I did a little chainsawing after mowing & scouted out/made a list of what I will be cutting down next. I wanted to spray some areas that are either hard to mow or I can’t mow, but again, too windy. I ended up messing around in the shop & made a carpenter bee trap - they are all around the old pole shed. I need a screw eye to hang it & can’t find any (I have seen some somewhere)!
Wind was down a little after 5:30 so tried burning what was on our burn pile - a couple of gusts that had the flames roaring convinced me it was still too windy.
I have several projects in the shop such as putting the potting bench together, building the two raised beds, & getting all the tools laying around/in boxes organized in those 30 metal drawers (magnetic labels came Friday) or set aside to hang on peg board. I can hardly find anything right now with the shop in such a state of disarray from moving tools, etc. from the old garage. I’m tired from being on the go most of the day, but if I can get a ‘second wind’, I might go work in the shop tonight - I left the doors open today so the cool air inside blew out & it’s a comfortable temperature, no wood stove needed.
You got a lot done, today! I have my Oriole feeders at the ready and two jars of Grape Jelly - if I have the usual number of birds, they’ll go through FIVE this Spring.
Thanks for the reminder!
I made the Cucumber Lemonade, today. Beau liked it and so did I. I cheated and just used a frozen container of Lemonade - seemed easier than making the simple syrup and who needs a CUP of sugar in their refreshment? Nope! My blender isn’t the best; I got the impression that ‘The Cheesecake Factory’ must have a ‘Bullet Blender’ or such, but a little bit of ‘pulp’ didn’t take away any of the yummy-ness. :)
I did SEED the peeled Cucumber as you suggested before giving it a whirl. ;)
We go through at least 7 squeeze bottles of grape jelly. Had 4 in the pantry and I pick up more soon, as our local grocery runs out! So many people buying it for the orioles.
So jealous that you have your own Shop. :)
My Zero-Turn is in for repairs to the starter and a once-over of everything else. Beau will change the oil for me and sharpen the blades for the season, but he’s weird about letting me mow until May. Everything is REALLY greening up, up here, but the grass isn’t leaping out of the ground or anything...yet!
Rumor has it that he’s leaving the 4-wheeler here for me this season, which will be nice for Mail Runs and to head out to my favorite Black Cap Raspberry and Blackberry Patches on the farm. He’s usually at Bear Training Camp or actual Bear Camp when all the berries are ready for picking...so now I have some transportation to those spots!
We have been taking ‘tours’ all around the farm (with Mom, too, Saturday) with his new 6-wheel UTV and while I STILL DON”T LOOK and dig my claws into his shoulder and also SCREAM if he’s looking like he’s going off a cliff, it has been fun. Kind of. Sort of. Maybe. ;) (It’s VERY Hilly here. VERY!)
I want to die in my sleep like Grandpa; not screaming and begging for my life like the passengers on his car, LOL!
Yes, our Walmart has run out of the ‘house brand’ some seasons and I’ve been forced to buy the expensive ‘Smuckers’ brand at times. I think it’s a Corporate Plot! ;)
Dollar Tree, for me, is a good place to grab a big jar, too.
After sitting out there thinking about it, I'm not going to dig the aisles down to build the beds up. I just know they'll become a pool being low. Might just get planted flat this Spring. Fluff up the beds and they're automatically raised slightly.
Got my middle bed(3) shifted over. I had eyeballed the center of the tunnel last fall and was a few inches off. Bed 2 is ready to go. Bed 4 needs weeds pulled so I'll do that tomorrow. Beds 1 and 5 are on the sides where I'll need to walk to install the drop down sides.
I had two garden spades but they lived outside so the handles rotted off. I don't even know where the fork ends are. Think I might just make me a broadfork. Johnny's has 15" broadforks have four tines and I have four pieces of rebar 9" long and metal for frame and handle/handles and 15" is half the bed width. Could be 12" and still loosen a 15" wide strip. Maybe a t-handle at chest height.
Wood ship? Wood chips maybe?
We now have a severe thunderstorm watch going on - it’s a warning not far to the west, lightning to the north - seeing flashes & hearing rumbles. This front really came in fast!
I just started my 2nd quart of electrolytes ... still feeling tired & ‘dried out’ so no shop tonight. Tomorrow looks like a good ‘shop weather’ day.
Yes, CHIPS.
Danged keys are too close together.
And spell check doesn’t catch it if it’s spelled right.
“Tomorrow looks like a good ‘shop weather’ day.”
In Spring, that’s the best we can hope for!
I’m TRYING to get motivated to pot up my 32 tomato plants and get them into the greenhouse - with cover on below 40’s nights, of course. It was only a semi-sunny day and it was 84 in there. Fine Daytime Tomato Temps. ;)
Got to clear out space in the rack to start Zinnia and Basil plants. Then, all the Zukes and Cukes and soon after, Winter Squashes.
I’ve got Spinach up in a raised planter. Still, ‘making plans’ for all of the other beds - and I see I still have 8 tomato cages from LAST year that need to be pulled out and moved front and center.
It’s always something - but I LOVE Spring Outside Chores. Spring Cleaning, Inside? Not so much. ;)
You probably would not require as much space and fencing for quail.
If you did want to do the poultry thing Cackle Hatchery, is located in Lebanon, so you could get them yourself rather than trusting USPS or one of the delivery services.
https://www.cacklehatchery.com/map-cackle-hatchery/
You are talented!
My grandfather was a sign painter. I remember going into his shop with long huge signs that he was working on. This was before neon was a thing.
He had so many different fonts. I was always enamored with his signs. Where I grew up, his signs were all over town, then slowly replaced. There are still a handful of places that bear his gold-lettering on their windows or doors. Places that hang on to history.
*** I always feel bad if I accidentally harm any Earthworms or Red Wigglers when I’m planting in my beds. :(***
Earthworms regenerate the part that’s cut, if they’re accidentally cut into when we garden. It doesn’t make 2 earthworms, but if the head is intact, it will regrow its tail. I don’t know about Red Wigglers.
Sounds like you have about as much respect for “your betters” as I do. Games indeed and they think they’re slick but they’re fooling very few people.
I just worry that there might not be many and that I just killed a good percentage of them.
There are still a handful of places that bear his gold-lettering on their windows or doors.
Gold leaf - tricky thing to do. Have to paint the size(glue/paint stuff) on like hand lettering, then lay your gold leaf on and stipple it a little. Then when the size is dried, stipple it harder to knock the gold leaf off where there is no size and if you did it all correctly, have nice clean edges. Only the real good sign letterers could do it.
First sign shop I worked at had a couple of WWII veterans working there. During WWII, one did cards(24 x 30 white cardboard) and you cannot make a mistake on white cardboard because you can't wipe it off with mineral spirits and try again. The other guy painted the scary faces on planes. Oddly enough, the card guy couldn't do gold leaf but the other could. Always did it after lunch and he drank a Heineken with lunch every day. Steadied the hand. The good old days when people didn't sweat something like that.
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