Growing Home: Planting more Forsythia and more spearmint.

But first, Mower upkeep!

It started out as a rainy weekend so I thought I would get some machine maintenance done. I changed the oil on the Cub Cadet Zero turn and also replaced the mower blades. Why not just sharpen them you say? Well, if I had taken pictures I would show you, but suffice to say - those old blades were totally F'ed! They were split down the center - every single one (3 blades)! I also lubed the spindles and the front wheel mounts. It turns much easier now and sharp blades makes such a difference in the quality of the cut! Once the rain stopped and the grass dried (later on Saturday) I mowed most of the farm - skipped only paw-paw patch and a section of the front lawn - they didn't need mowing yet.

Here are the Hazelnuts (filberts)

The new area with the locust trees ( I am considering relocating some locusts and maple here too)

Panorama shot

Orchard, vineyard, and some of the "big" garden

Lots of mowing! Anything that I didn't mow this weekend I plan to mow with the flail mower on the big tractor later in the month (or maybe next month). I tried to mow the tricky areas with the little mower since its more stable.

Septic-tank pumpout

I checked the tank level and found that it was over the inner lid, so I called Chestnut to pump us out. He came right over (he must have been on the road already) and did the pumping. It was curious that there was only CLEAR water above the lid! This somewhat confirms my suspicions that a lot of the liquid in the tank is from rain and runoff water that seeps in through the concrete blocks around the tank access cover. I mentioned this to Chestnut (Jim) and he said it was likely, but nonetheless the tank should drain that out without problem. Good point. He mentioned that I maybe should take the backhoe and dig out the distribution hub to see if it is rusted shut or something. He said there is nothing "illegal" about that - the government (DEP) only regulates access to below that hub (no digging up your own drainage field!). Also, Jim mentioned that I should consider putting a new eye bolt through the tank access lid since the handle looks like its gonna rust out soon. I will do that later. I am considering the backhoe idea. Later.

Planting more Spearmint!

We stopped by Mom's place Saturday morning (it was raining Friday evening when we arrived so we skipped stopping there then) and picked up some spearmint that she had saved for us. It looked like a little bit at first, but then I dug into it and it was quite a large piece of the rhizome! I split it up into several pieces and planted some near the woodshed and some near the peepers pond! Mom says it likes drier areas, but I remember it growing in back of the spring house (I think), so hedge my best I planted in wet, semi-wet and dry locations!

Some near the woodshed

Some near the peepers pond

More Forsythia

I grabbed some more forsythia while we were at mom's place. I wasn't sure how much I needed, but I was sure I didn't have the time to put in (or get) as much as I needed! So, I just got a bagful and took them home to transplant. I replaced a couple that died along the house side of the stream and then I planted the rest, 31 plants, on the other side in front of the garden. I spaced them 6 feet apart and 14 feet from the edge of the road.

I marked every other one (approx) with yellow flags so that the road mowers could see them

31 plants took me to about 14 feet past the elderberries . Fingers crossed that these take hold quickly! There is some pretty clay bound soil here - I don't know if forsythia like that...

Vineyard Trimming and cleanup

I was able to get out and do a bit of cleanup of the vineyards. I examined the "marquis" grapes - all have sprouts out - BUT - the sprouts on one had been snipped off! Bird? Cut-worm? I hope it recovers! I have hopes that by feeding the grapes nitrogen (blood meal) early this season will help these guys take off and get strong enough to resist any fungus issues. Also, with sulfur treatments I hope to keep the fungus out!

Concords are kicking it!

Wine grapes are small - but they seem mostly healthy. They all made it through the winter!

Cleanup of the blueberries

The blueberries were getting overrun with grass and weeds so I attacked them with the weed wacker. They cleaned up ok, I don't see and blossoms or berries - I guess the frost got them this year. Sad. But maybe this will help them grow more this year! I really should have put more sawdust on these after I trimmed to discourage more weeds growing near them - but I was out of time.

They are there - they all survived!

Maybe they will grow better this year for all the mulch, epsom salts, and sulfur I put on them? I need to put more sawdust on these.

Blackberry patch cleanup

Yes, I just cleaned up this patch not too long ago, but I wanted to keep it nice. I noticed that one of the plants that I accidentally trimmed off last time has re sprouted and grown quite a bit! Yay!

A good number survived, but I wish more had. Lots of gaps there.

Some milling machine arbor work

I re-measured the arbor and found that I hadn't made the mistake that I thought I did! Yay! So we are still good to go. I started cutting down some of the diameter for the collet insert part. I figure I am most likely to screw this part of the thing up, so if I screw this up I don't have to waste time on the rest! LOL - positivity! I was taking some big cuts and noticed some vibrations and waviness in the surface. I wil have to see whats causing this! Maybe the arbor is too long and needs center support? Maybe I just need to take lighter cuts? I was taking 40/1000ths (.04 inches) at a shot - which is pretty big for tool steel.