Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[jvls1942]

Monday was cold and rain.
I have both jointers all finished and waxed.
Monday I worked on the table saw. Got it ready
for it's final sanding with 350 grit sandpaper.
I will try to get it sanded and waxed today.
then on to the planer. the bed on that is not very large.
should be done quickly.. I have it soaking with Blaster.
despite the up and down temperatures, the rhubarb
is growing . One pear tree is doing OK, apples and plums
are just barely budding..
this week should wake things up with temps
in the 70F's..
I have a very old Husqvarna zero turn that I
started reviving last summer. this summer I am
going to take the mower deck all apart and
re grease the bearings. It needs a couple of
new V Belts. I ground the valves and reset
them to their proper gap. I spent a lot of time
on you tube , researching..

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hopefully Jim you can find reasonably priced parts for your own mower. We fixed up our two older John Deere mowers last year and prices for parts can be a bit ridiculous. We now have a fleet of mowers. One for mowing, one for sweeping, and one I guess just because.

 

[Callender Girl]

When I lived in town, I had ONE lawn mower. Now, I have a weed eater for trimming where the electric mower won't fit, the electric mower for where the rider won't fit and the riding mower for all the flat, open land. I did give away my manual reel mower. I get enough exercise from holding, pushing and driving the other three.

Pears are far from my favorite fruit, but it the blossoms are any indication, I'm going to have a record number of pears this year. And, my sour cherry is loaded with flowers. The peach tree is doing better than last year, which sets the bar pretty low.

Are you working on the planer or the zero-turn yet, Jim?

 

[jvls1942]

My computer was down. I fiddled with it for a couple
of hours, off and on.. Kalib came home and barely stopped
walking and had it back on line..
I waxed the table saw and moved on to the planer.
the zero turn will have to wait until I get the shop
squared away..
yesterday I graded the driveway a little
have to get more gas so I can do a good job of it.
It was so humid here yesterday that there was
water on the floot in the shop, and there was
actually water standing on the jointer bed.
I'm glad I had it waxed..
I like just about any fruit any tree produces.

 

[Callender Girl]

Yikes on all that humidity! Sounds kind of dangerous.

After Frank got the new wheels on my riding mower, the darned thing wouldn't start. He has a good deal of mechanical ability, so I was sure he would get it up and running.
He did. He told me to put GAS in the tank. Yes, that's all it needed.

Yesterday, I took the protective cloches off last fall's raspberry bushes and cleaned up dead canes. My biggest, best-producing aronia bush was seriously attacked by critters over the winter and is struggling but the other two are doing well. Can't say the same for the purple asparagus. But my newest rhubarb is doing great!

BTW, I don't hate pears. But, I really wish that big, glorious tree produced apples instead.

 

[jvls1942]

unfortunately, Lisa, I think Husqvarna is Swedish
for Very Expensive.. However, If I need to replace
all six bearings, it is only about $2o.oo. I think
all they need is grease..
Annie has piles of twigs and grass all over the
yard. today I will be taking the tractor and
scooping them up.
Yes, Barb, that humidity is way out of control.
we have an extra dehumidifier in the basement.
I think I will take that out to the shop.
running the box fan didn't seem to help.
I took a small engine repair course many years
ago. the first step is always check the gas tank.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Got my first wood tick yesterday, and today the mosquitoes were munching on me. So I guess the season is officially on.

I am not a fan of all the humidity here during the warm months. Makes the plants grow, but also makes other things grow like mosquitoes and mold, and doesn't do much for my mood either. We run a few dehumidifiers here year round.

 

[jvls1942]

hauled three buckets of twigs to the wood chip pile.
I pushed the edges of the wood chip piles up to the
top of the pile. it is really steaming down on the
bottom..
can't drag the broken apple tree out from
where it is. too many big branches sticking out
of it. will have to saw those branches off first..
76F here at noon. we both got thirsty. good
excuse to take a break ..
had to peel the long sleeved shirt off.

 

[Callender Girl]

I found my first wood tick crawling up my neck last week. No mosquitos yet but already too many flies and my annual parade of kitchen ants has begun.

I haul all the tree branches off to what I used to call the burn pile. Except, it never gets burned. I have no idea what all is living in and around it.

It got plenty warm here, too, with rain on and off. Wish I'd planted my green beans yesterday morning but I got in some spinach, radishes, lettuce and tossed some basil seeds around the tomato plants. I apparently really like basil -- I went through this year's seeds and found three packets.

The potatoes I planted around Easter weekend keep peeking up through the dirt, and I keep mounding more dirt over them.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We got a small harvest of asparagus yesterday. It was delicious. The beds haven't been cut back yet so we nearly missed them.