June 25-26, 2011

This was a solo trip since Sally was getting settled following her (and Lindsey's) 225 mile Katy trail ride. This picture is of them coming into St. Charles at the end of the week.

Blackberries

I came out the shortcut and found a productive patch of ripe blackberries along the road. I ate many and still ended up with 2 cups. Some of my berries are turning, but there weren't a lot so I just ate them. Some of the branches are just dying and the berries are shriveling up on the vine. We really, really could use some rain.

Watering

This was the reason this trip was necessary -- another week without rain (well, there were 3 drops in the rain gauge). The squash, the disobedience and the dog woods were all wilting. Most of the leaves on one of the branches of the 3-in-1 pear had died. I couldn't find my little sprinkler so I had to water everything by hand. The following all got a drink Saturday and Sunday: the garden, the new little trees out front, the new snow ball bush, the 3 year old red buckeye, the 7 year old dog woods, the rose bush, the disobedience, the Japanese maple, the two peonies, and the cluster of quince, day lilies, iris and vinca minor.

As the hose dumped water on the pears and apples, I would attempt to pull the bermuda grass rooted around the base. I am not sure how much good I did, but they do look better. It took a toll though -- I ended up with cut hands and broken finger nails. I forgot to water the peach and apricot.

Garden

I picked a lot of green beans both days, but many were on the large and chewy side. (Sally doesn't like them, but I don't mind if you cut them small and cook them more.) I pulled up the two big garlic and one smaller one, and brought home quite a bit of chard and summer spinach.

The squash is going to town and would probably consume the entire garden if it could get enough water. There are lots of blooms and fruit. These came from seeds Sally saved from a squash we ate over the winter.

More blooms, but no tomatoes yet. It looked like something had cut off the stems where the babies should have been. I did see my first Japanese beetle in the garden, but I don't think they took the tomatoes.

I weeded an hour or more each day, so it was looking good when I left.

Spray/Thistle

I decided to roam the pastures looking for more thistle. Not knowing how much I might find, I decided to take my backpack sprayer rather than a shovel and bag. I actually drove into the back pasture, but thankfully didn't find anything but buck brush. Behind the pond there was no thistle, but quite a bit of sumac and elm. In the upper pasture I continue to find sumac and ran across two thistles that had already gone to seed. I later returned with my pruners and a bag and cut off the see heads.

Bird Eggs

The bird house at the pond was askew, and sure enough the blue bird eggs that were there the week before were gone -- something had snatched 'em. (I did see two blue birds down by the confluence of the creeks.) The bird house out back, that had had some other type of eggs earlier (and that I thought I should have cleaned out), now has 3 blue bird eggs. The house out front is still empty.

I went to check the propane level and found this nest under the hood with a single egg. I don't know how a bird can get under there, but I guess it is a safe place for a nest.

Pond

Good news here. The Cutrine Plus really knocked out the algae and the grass. The pond had that brackish look I remember from a couple of years ago after treating the grass. There was also no obvious leakage underneath the culverts -- water was trickling through the north culvert -- so the patch job with plastic bags was holding at least somewhat.