Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Day Two of Outside Work!



I am a happy gardener today.  I have mowed the entire yard in a one day period (a 3 hour job) and today the real test:  Using  my ll.5 lb. string trimmer.  Happy to report I used it for about l.5 hrs and got a lot  done.  Still a lot to go but I believe I can do it.

Two weeks ago I was about to give up. 

These are some pics of the areas I trimmed this morning.

 This is an heirloom rose that a gardener on one of the Garden Web sites told me several years ago that must have a highly acid soil to do well.  I have fed it religiously for a long time and look at that nice green color this spring!  Very pleased  with it.

First Clematis to bloom each year on the garden fence.

 Long shot of the area with the first blooming clematis and the later blooming Harlow Care.  That is a very pale lemon yellow
 clump of
Asiatic lilies near the mower.

 This is ugly but at least now trimmed in front of the compost pile, hoping the poppy coming on will help hide it.

 Freshly trimmed hosta Guacamole.


Saturday, April 20, 2019

Odds and Ends of Things

This was started yesterday:

Today was a cool one.  I only pick and choose the best days to be outside and this one wasn't one of them.  A little too cool and way to windy for me.

We do finally have all the garden carts(3) up and operable.  Had to repair a tire and buy a new one.  Got all the mowers going.  I got the Stihl trimmer going (bless the starter spray!).  Still have not attempted the tiller and may not need it.....we will  see how that goes.

The chickens pretty much took the winter off.  I even had to buy eggs a few times which really aggravated me.







We had some patchy frost last night and thin sheet of ice on the bird bath.  Should be our last but I never trust that April 20th frost free date!  I have learned that lesson the hard way.

We  have had a busy morning for us.  I took some  eggs in to the lady who cuts my hair.  The shop is in the center where my little local store is located.  I have decided that Walmart is now beyond my comfort  zone so I shop there.  We picked up a few (mostly) sale  things and headed home.

Before  we left, I toured the yard on  my riding mower and  took  a few pictures.

These are the girls  in the header picture.  They are laying nicely now after their winter break,

I pulled up a handful of henbit.  They keep all the green eat  down in their chicken yard so I try to remember them  when I mow.

Right next  to  their  pen is the long garden fence  border.  I haven't cleaned it yet so ignore  the various green stuff at  the base of the Aloha rose.  It survived our extremely cold winter  in great  shape.
This has become a pass-along rose.  It started with a  cutting from  my Grandmother to me on the old farm; from the  old farm from  a cutting I took to this farm.  I have passed it to my Iowa Sis and she has kept it going in her garden for about 20 years now.

The lighter tree back inside the garden is  an interesting experiment.  We had a tree surgeon/arborist come out last summer and remove some  bushy things and the big maple tree in the west yard.  This one I am referring to  is a 20-year old sour cherry tree,  probably a Starkrimson cherry.  It split several years ago and I was going to have him  take it out.  He suggested that we keep the best half and see if it would bloom for a few  more years so we did.  It was covered  in white blooms a few days ago so I have my fingers crossed.  Max loves fresh cherry pie.

These are part of the border by the front road.  I have thinned the border  so we have better vision of traffic when pulling out of our driveway.


All for now.  

Thank you all for remembering me.  I have missed blogging just because of you all.

Thursday, April 18, 2019

I am still Here but a slightly Different Version of Me!

This is April 18, and a cloudy cool day here.  The good news is we have had a couple of very nice showers that were much appreciated.

Most trees have leafed out, some still in bud stage with just green showing.  Apple tree is in full bloom, pears blooming, plum bloomed so  early it may have been frosted on.  Strangely my new apricot tree didn't bloom or I missed it.  I don't get out as much these days.

I have had some health heart related issues that have slowed me down.  I am just going to have to learn to adjust and live with it.  I hope to still be able  to do some things that I love.  I won't be putting in a big garden this year. I was able to mow some and began weeding the kitchen flower bed.  I work in short spurts now.

We sold our black Angus cows late last summer for several reasons.  Neither of us could stand looking outside and not seeing cows.  So...........we bought a few cows, younger and a different color.
They are Charolais crosses, some Red Angus and Simmental.  I took  a picture yesterday when they came up to the fence to check me out on the mower and I couldn't resist.:

These are young first-calf heifers bred back to calve this fall.  They had last year's calves by side and we bought two heifers that were also bred to calve this fall.  This is a much smaller herd and we hope to be able to handle them and maybe expand slowly.

I am still baking bread. 


This is all for now.....it has been a long while since  last I posted and I have missed it and all of you.