We got a lot done today. Frank’s big to-do item was to turn the compost. The far right bin of the old set (right near the house) is our finished stuff, and has collapsed down to less than half a bin. It’s too late to spread that stuff now, so he was hoping that the middle bin would mostly fit, piled on top of the finished stuff. It mostly did, but there’s a lot left still which we need to figure out where to put it. In order to have enough compost to cover the garden with in the fall, we need to turn the far left bin into the center, etc. etc., so basically, we need many more compost bins.
(Frank found a plastic cup in the compost when he turned it, all melted and warped from the heat. I think that means we are getting it nice and hot!)
Which was his second big to-do thing: build another bin out of some pallets that we scrounged in Gilsum. One of them needed quite a bit of repair, and he used stuff from his scrap pile to get it going. Then he turned the pile in the bin out in the new garden into the new bin, which we just filled up on 5/29, hmmm. Oh well, it’s turned now, and will hopefully heat right back up. There are now two bins made up of pallets out there, and obviously, we need one more as soon as possible.
So what did I do? I mostly deadheaded stuff. I got all of the lupines done, most of the columbine. I cut back all of the tulips in the front bed. I did a pass through on the iris, leaving only the ones still in bloom, obviously, but getting most of them cut back. The beds look so much nicer and tidier without all that spent blooms looking ratty.
Then I tackled the first floor window boxes, and wow, what a difference it made to get the blank pansies all cleaned up. I was thinking that I was pretty disappointed in how the boxes are looking so far this year. I think that they hadn’t really done much because the weather had been so cold and rainy, and there just wasn’t any sun. But this last week they really took off, and once I got the spent pansies all cut back, they are starting to look great. I’m still not convinced that my much more sedate color scheme is better than my usual hodge podge of color, but I’ll give it until the end of the season before I decide.
I got the lawn mowed, and wow did it need it. The whole week of hot temps and no rain after weeks of all rain, and it was really long and all of the (dang!) clover was in bloom all over. I know, I know, clover is good and I should like it, but ick, it makes me feel sloppy and like I’m not doing a good job keeping my lawn weed free. Every time I mow the lawn I wonder how long before I can take it out to put more beds in?
When I was mowing the little strip of lawn right next to the driveway, I scraped the lawn mower on a rock that is coming up in the lawn. We used to be able to mow right over it, but it’s getting to be a pain now to get around. Frank called Mark to see if he could bring his back hoe over, because he couldn’t get it to budge with a shovel, and thinks it’s going to be too big for his tractor. He’s not going to even attempt it like he did last year. Mark couldn’t come today, but will be over tomorrow.
Just one potato plant is in bloom. For some reason, one plant is three times as big as all of the rest of the patch, and it’s that one plant that is in flower. It’s a very pretty flower, light blue, almost white. But why is it so far ahead of the rest and why don’t they all catch up to it? That patch isn’t irrigated, and I watered it really well when I was helping Frank turn the compost and wet it down.
All in all, we had a really productive day. I really wanted to get the deadheading done, and Frank really wanted to turn the old pile of compost and build and load up the new. So everything else we got done was gravy! The weather is supposed to hold for tomorrow, too. I don’t have a whole list of stuff to do, but I bet we keep busy.
in Boulders, Building, Compost, Deadheading, Gardening, Horsetail, Lawn, Lupine, Pallets, Potatoes, tulips, Turning, Weeding, Window Boxes
Mack Hill Farm
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