I made some progress on the new cold frames yesterday, but didn't have all of the fittings that I needed to finish. Lowe's doesn't stock what I need so I ordered from amazon. With any luck I'll have that project wrapped up by next weekend.
After I got that mess cleaned up and put away I went out to the greenhouse and did some cleaning there. It had gotten a wee bit cluttered with junk. It's not exactly spic-n-span now, but it's in much better shape than it was this time yesterday.
I didn't manage to get the greenhouse lettuce started last fall, so I used the bag soil I bought for that to fill a dozen half gallon pots and sowed lettuce in those. I filled up a 32 cell starter flat and sowed three varieties of cabbages in those. I turned the water on to the outside taps, dragged some hose out and gave it all a good watering. I'm going to get back out there today and sow spinach in the ground beds.
And speaking of bag soil... what the hell has happened over the last few years? You used to be able to buy bag soil that actually contained some real dirt that came out of the ground. Now it's nothing but semi-composted shredded wood/yard waste and none of it is worth the bag that it came in, much less the price you have to pay to take it home. I think I'm to the point that I'm going to start making my own. I've got the dirt, plenty of composted horse stall waste, and the power tools required to mix it all up. I think I could make enough in one afternoon to last for a couple or three years.
Last summer Mrs. Augie scored a never-used pole lopper on facebook marketplace for $10. I got it out for the first time to see if it was any good. I'd never used one and didn't really expect much out of it. Turns out it beats the living daylights out of climbing a ladder. As slow as I move these days I was able to prune a 20'+ Honeycrisp apple in less than half an hour. My back is feeling it today, but I'm gonna call that a win.
Howard had another good week. He only got in trouble once - for chewing up a pair of Imelda's (Mrs. Augie) shoes. She must not be too mad at him though - he took a nap, ON OUR BED, WITH HER yesterday afternoon! lol
