This weekend was good. I got several projects done and/or started.
First I know many of you are wondering about the house and the pipes. We were too. I turned on the water valve at the house and nothing came out. Then I remembered that since we share the well with 2nd Family, they have a cutoff on their end and they had turned that off for us. I went down to the house to turn it on and realized "R" still has it completely sealed up for freezing. We're talking insulation, wrapped pipes, duct tape, towels, cardboard, etc. Sometimes the person who put it all together is the best person to undo it because they know what order to undo it in. So I went back up to our house and got three watering containers and used the faucet by the well to fill them. I used that to water the stuff on the porch. Mission accomplished.
No need to worry about the pipes until next weekend.
On to the next thing...
Last week, they picked up the Zen Machine so we could have its annual maintenance done. They brought it back Friday. On top of annual maintenance items, they always wash it. I even reminded them and asked them to wash it and clean it. In year's past it has come back looking almost new...
Does this look clean? I mean, they didn't even clean the tires. I think one year they put tire dressing on and it looked so good. Just a tad bit disappointed. It kind of makes us wonder "how do we know they even DID anything" under the hood. I checked the oil and it seems clean but who knows. Oh well. Just like gardening we have to have faith in the outcome, ha!
Once the water is back on, I'll spend some time washing it and getting it ready for its closeup.
On to the next thing...
On the way to the farm I stopped and picked up some bags of soil and compost so I could work on the garden beds. Well, the ones we're going to use.
They look good after they are all "stirred up". I break up the soil and mix it around and then add the new soil, compost etc and rake it all level. Should be ready for planting in a couple of weeks.
I left these two covered...
This is a photo from 2019 when we really had it cleaned up and nice. It's close but not quite as good as this now, ha. Anyway, I used this photo to put the numbers of what beds we'll be using this year. We'll use five of the seven; the front two, the long bed and two of the ones in the back.
We're still planning but tomatoes for sure (gotta keep trying), a few herbs (gotta have our basil), jalapeños, eggplant (maybe) and since we had SUCH good luck with them a few years back, we think we'll try the pickling cucumbers again. 2nd Man said he'd like me to try my hand at canning pickles again.
Side note, anyone have any suggestions on how to clean up these weeds in an area like this? I can't spray anything that will possibly get pulled up into the soil of the raised bed since the veggies will be there. Vinegar? Boiling water? Anything else? They are really annoying and keep everything looking crappy.
I did a couple of other projects and then the rain started. I'll have more on that in an upcoming post.
Hope you had a good weekend!
I have used boiling water that I have boiled eggs in or have used my hot potato water and do it on a Hot summer day so that the sun will kill the weeds quicker. Once the weeds have dies or wilted pretty bad; lay some wet paper down and cover with landscape fabric or mulch and that should help for awhile anyway.
ReplyDeletejust boiling water will work. Just bring to a full rolling boil and pour onto your weeds on a bright sunny day. Once they are wilted then cover with wet newspaper and / or weed fabric or lay a nice layer of mulch on top or a layer of sand on top of your paper or weed fabric.
Deleteif you paid for cleaning the mower, you didn't get what you paid for.
ReplyDeleteI bought some gardening vinegar which is more acidic than the kitchen stuff. My only advice is to use it when the weather is supposed to be clear for several days, so it has time to work!
ReplyDeleteTry boiling vinegar. And, those few little weeds spoil nothing!
ReplyDeleteWow, your garden looks ready to plant. 🌱 Really nice and neat. I’m glad you’re going to plant cucumbers so you can make pickles. Canning is such a rewarding activity. It’s so wonderful to see those colorful jars of delicious-ness on the shelf.
ReplyDeleteYour poor Zen Machine. It got short-changed on its spa treatment.
For some organic methods for killing weeds:
https://www.thespruce.com/green-weed-killers-2152938