On Friday morning I was up at 6:15AM, fed the cat, pulled up the shades and worked on post photos for a while. I had to stop and get the milk order done and then my helper friend arrived at 8AM.
It was going to be very calm until noon so we were going to see how much garden amendment we could get made.
First thing was to go to the barn and get the cement mixer. The truck’s starter is acting up again and it took a while to start, so I left it running while doing things. We got the mixer in the back of it and up to the house. I parked the truck near an outlet in case the battery dies due to the starter, and then shut it off.
My helper friend had pulled out the totes that hold the various amendments.
I had my formulas I’d worked up previously and got set up to weigh the various ingredients. Some of them are in the 5 gallon buckets, some in the trash cans, and some just lay on a pallet.
I use the old scale for the large amounts like calcium or bloodmeal, and a tiny scale for the micro amounts, like selenium or molybdenum.
An amendment can have up to 20 ingredients, depending on what the soil test results are. The 3 we made on Friday had between 11 – 13. The ingredients for each one goes in the cement mixer, dry, and gets mixed together. Then we move onto the next one, once the first is put into the correct tote.
It’s a very dusty business, and because of the breathing issues from the Covid infections, I wear a very good mask.
We got all 3 made, the cement mixer washed up and the truck started, so we got them both back to the barn and put where they belong. This tote holds the Big garden mix that we needed to plant peas.
Then we cleaned up the mess and got everything back in the Tonka garage.
My helper friend left and I sat down to rest. I intended on this beautiful day to go out and do another garden. And then I heard the horn in the driveway. I’d forgotten I had a PT appointment! He had someone to take home, so he left and I got cleaned up and went to PT.
I was pretty worn out when I got home, but I sat down to work on photos for the blog, as I’d not posted in a couple days. I got the photos done but was too tired to write the post.
I watched M.A.S.H. with my eyes shut until something woke me. And shortly after that the contractor arrived.
The wind has been so bad the last few weeks it’s pulled some of the siding off the shed. So he got that back on, and fixed the ladder holders. When we went around the front of the shed, we saw more siding just starting to come off, so he fixed that too.
The real job he came to do was repair the hinge on the bulkhead door. He’d made a new one and got it attached. It seemed to work pretty well. We’ll see how long it lasts.
So now we can open both doors easily.
The white oak tree
Next we looked at the front porch, a big project. Many of the pine boards my husband used had started to rot. So we discussed the options and decided on tulipwood. He’s going to pick some up and get started on the porch soon.
He left at 6PM and I was really wiped out. I watched more M.A.S.H. until bedtime. It was pretty warm so no stoves for a change.
On Saturday it’s to be gloomy, but they say it’s to hit 80F by late afternoon. I need to get caught up on my posts and I hope to clean out the West Herb/West gardens.