Today (Tuesday) we made the 45 minute trip to town ... a different, bigger town than where we live, a town with an Aldi’s and Lowe’s.
We did some shopping at Aldi’s - found boxes to hold our groceries that took up the whole back seat of the truck - mom’s box was full, mine not as much, BUT I found a little potting bench ($40) and after walking away from it twice, decided to buy it. It has 3 shelves, the top one being metal (galvanized, I think) & the legs are capped with metal ... no rotting legs. It has hooks for hanging tools, etc. Not huge, but just perfect to put in front of the windows in the shop garage & maybe sprout a few things or I can buy some herbs & hold them there until I get raised beds for them.
Speaking of raised beds, I bought the cedar planks for 2 beds today at Lowe’s. I got lucky - there was a Lowe’s guy unloading wood right in front of the cedar planks .... the planks were in the lowest ‘bin’ so he got down in there and pulled out stacks so I could pick through them & come up with 18 with no ‘splits’, no ‘dinks’ or knots along the edges, which were planed fairly well, etc. I was picky and he was very patient about pulling out ‘five more’ so I could go through them. I did tell him what I wanted them for so he knew why I was being picky rather than just ornery.
At Lowe’s, they had herbs & veggies out: Bonnie brand. A small rosemary was $5.98 or thereabouts. Wut?? They have really gone up in price. The Co-op had some rosemary, sage, thyme, etc. .... I didn’t check the prices, but now that I have some place to hold plants (potting bench), I am going back & checking out their prices. The little farmer’s market down the road is supposed to have plants, too ... probably not yet due to the temps around here.
Tonight is supposed to be down to 25 ... I think last night it was down to 31. Looking ahead, I see temps overnight in the 30’s, but mostly mid to upper 30’s. We’ve got a bit of a chilly spell going on. I feel sorry for anyone with fruit trees because they’re all pretty much in bloom right now and ‘below freezing’, especially a hard freeze like 25 & depending on the stage of the bloom, could see damage. Critical temp seems to be below 28.
I need to work on the trailer soon ... line the inside with cardboard so mulch & topsoil doesn’t leak (sides are metal ‘grating’). Mom’s flower bed area needs to be finished with landscape timbers pinned down in place & more mulch, then the beds filled with soil. I did get two sawhorses at Lowe’s - they fold up very small so when not in use, they will fit on a shelf in the shop; but best of all, I now have two sawhorses that are the same height! When I built the other beds, I had two old wooden sawhorses that are very heavy & one is noticeably higher than the other which was annoying at best.
I have a metal cabinet with 30 small drawers in the shop. The drawers are perfect for things like files, wood chisels, other tools, even boxes of nails, screws, etc. How to label them? On Amazon, I found magnetic label holders that I can use so I can keep track of what is where. Once I get stuff in the drawers, that will clean up a lot of space so I have room to work on building the raised beds. I have been very ‘unmotivated’ to work on ‘projects’, but I’m beginning to get anxious to get some things done. I will see my niece over Easter & I think she’s got some dahlia tubers & young snapdragons for me so I need to ‘shake a leg’ & get the raised beds ready.
As my dad used to say (much to my annoyance, but now that he’s gone, I find it endearing): “Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the flowers is??” Well dad, the flowers are coming your way because I found a granite vase that we can attach to the foundation stone for your headstone that will hold flowers. The Daffy’s are past prime, but the peonies have buds so maybe peonies for Easter? If not peonies, the old lilac is starting to bloom - we’ll find something!
Fun times .... took paint spray cans & other items out of the truck bed last night so there was no chance they would freeze overnight (25° at 7:30 this am). I had the ‘lid’ cover over the PU bed locked because after we went to Lowe’s, we visited other stores.
So last night, I had to unlock the lid, then moved the stuff that could freeze to the garage & went to put the lid back down (key still in lock). The lid did not go all the way down, nor would it go back up. Key won’t turn lock. Hmmmm - what happened? Fortunately, because the lid was about half an inch from closing all the way, I can still get the tailgate up & down. I suspect later today, I will be on my back on the PU bed with a flashlight, trying to figure out why the locking mechanism is hung up. I did not need this issue.
Awww! I know how crazy both our Dads made us, but it seems they’re both still ‘with us’ a lot! ;)
Good plan on the cedar planks. I’d want the best ones for the price they’re asking these days!
Heh, I’m glad I’m not the only person complaining about plant prices! I’m hoping Menards runs a sale on veggies in 6-packs, but, so far, no luck, and the selection has been minimal. At least at “my” Menards store*, they ran a 2-week sale on Burpee seeds for two weeks this Spring, including this year, Scarlett Runner Beans. :-)
*A lot of the veggie starts are kept in an uncovered, open area - for the sunlight, I suppose - but that also of course makes the plants significantly more vulnerable to frost. If we get a chilly April night, then they have to move them “in”, which I saw being done last Sunday: A “non-minor” project for a couple of their employees.