You reap what you sow

The weather this weekend was rather nice; in the lower 50’s – just right for getting some outdoor work done.

Paul worked on cutting up more of the downed limbs in the woods near the house for “instant” firewood.  Most of the limbs were broken off the trees from the Ice Storm two winters ago.  Yes, we’re still working on cleaning them up.  But at least it gives us some ready-to-burn wood for the stove. 

I finished raking the acorns, leaves, twigs & dead grass from the front yard.  Grandma had started it earlier this week & it made the front of the house look somewhat decent.  I also went through the raised beds picking out the rocks and small weeds that have already started showing up.  I’m planning on putting some c-clamps on the sides of the beds & attaching PVC conduit to make a hoop house this spring.  I’m hoping that I can put plants out there earlier and use it again in the fall for spinach & lettuce.

I also worked on the berry garden.  We lost four blueberry bushes last year so we picked up some more at Home Depot & I planted them.   Then I went over to the raspberry / blackberry patch and started looking over the canes.  And.  They.  Were.  All.  Dead.  Not a one survived.  I started snapping canes & every one of them cracked dry; some even just pulled out of the soil.  There were eight plants there and now there are none.  And more than likely, it’s all my fault. 

Our area had quite the heat wave last summer and I just didn’t keep up with watering the berry garden.  We had planted twenty-something fruit trees that spring and keeping them watered just took up all of my watering ambition, so the berry garden was sadly neglected.  And I paid the price for that neglect.  It’s not just the monetary loss of eight raspberry & four blueberry bushes, but the time that I did spend on them became a waste and we’re now another year behind in establishing our berries.

So this spring I’m going to work on getting some sort of irrigation system made for that garden area.  Something simple.  It has to be otherwise I’m afraid I’ll just neglect the plants again.  I just hate watering.  I know, it’s wrong, but I’d much rather muck out a poopy stall than sit there & water plants. 

The outdoor faucet is on the other side of the house and it’s not feasible to run a hose from there, across the front yard, over the driveway & then into the garden.  Maybe we can install drip hoses down the line of bushes and an open connection at the end where I could just attach the garden hose when I needed to water, leave it on for a while, then disconnect it & reel it back up when I was finished watering.  Or maybe I can get Paul to put a rain barrel on a stand in the corner of the garden and attach irrigation lines to it.  Then I could just fill up the barrel every week instead of dragging the hose every couple of days.

Whatever we decide, it has to be done pretty soon.  Spring is just around the corner.

Paul’s Take

We wouldn’t need so much firewood if she didn’t like keeping the house at 80 degrees.  I’m going to pass out if it gets any warmer in here.

I told her to get off the computer & keep the gardens watered.  Do you know how long I had to work to buy those plants???  Now I’m going to have to build an irrigation system so she doesn’t kill any more plants.  Do you know how long it’s going to take me to build an irrigation system that she can’t break?? 

Maybe she wouldn’t get watering-fatigue if she didn’t insist on getting twenty-five fruit trees.  I don’t even like Golden Delicious apples.

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