March 4-5, 2011

Garden/Compost

I gave blood (my 100th Red Cross donation), so we were a little late getting off. I was anxious to get out and get the garden weeded before it rained (thunderstorms were due to role through about dusk), since its difficult to get their roots to let loose of mud.

I had a truck load of city compost and was going to work it into the garden. Sally had bought a bunch (about 40) Georgia Sweet onions, and wanted them planted first thing. So I worked the compost into the mound next to the fence and she proceeded to plant, then she spread pine straw over them to help with the weeds and erosion. I frantically weeded while she was planting. I worked until dark and only got about 75% of the weeds. It sprinkled a bit, but the heavy rain held off till after dark.

Sally was fretting about her onions during the storm -- thinking they were going to be washed away. She wanted me to go out and check on them before bed, but I refused insisting they would be fine. And of course they were, as proven by this picture.

Cedars

I pulled 290 little cedars while getting Tender out Saturday morning. This was over by the swing where they tend to come up thick under some of the big oak trees there. (Birds poop the seeds out.) Most were tiny, but some were 1-2'. When the ground is saturated they can be easy to pull up (roots included), though you do have to wear gloves. I could have gotten lots more if Tender hadn't been so anxious to get his breakfast.

Rye Grass

Now that we've finally been getting some rain, the rye seed I spread on the road back in the fall has finally germinated and begun to grow. Hopefully it will help a bit with erosion. The road is needing some work.

Turning the Garden

I spent most of the rest of the day turning the compost (and some wood ashes) into the garden. It was hard work but not too bad (made this a 4 ibuprofen day). I was afraid the rain was going to make it too muddy, but other than getting it caked on the bottom of my boots it wasn't a problem.

I did turn up about a dozen of these tomato horn worms in their cocoon stage. I only found one last year, so this may be a bad omen since they can devastate a tomato plant.

Sharpen Stihl/Oak Logs

I was planning to return by the short-cut again this week and get another load of logs, so I sharpened the saw. We had no trouble finding another down tree cut into long sections. I think I made 7 or 8 cuts and ended up with 10 logs. I could tell it was some kind of oak, but not red or white.

Once I got to splitting it at the house I found these broad patches of black on the inside. Maybe its black oak? The bark matches the description I found for black oak, but I couldn't find any references to the internal grain. There has to be some reason they call it black oak.

Its good solid heavy wood, but it has these 1" limbs that go deep into the trunk and tend to bind it together -- making it difficult to split. I wish I had had my wedges at the house.