George Shirley wrote:

On 3/29/2017 1:17 PM, Nyssa wrote:
The temperatures have been on a roller coaster here in
SE VA, but I took advantage of a warm and not-too-windy
day last week to get the broccoli and bok choy
transplanted into one garden bed and planted some snap
peas and onion sets in another.

I rushed to get 'em done since the weather folk were
claiming we were in for three days of rain, so of course,
no rain came until yesterday. At least not over my
garden.

It looks like one of my three remaining blueberry plants
didn't make it through the winter. It was already a
replacement for a previous one that didn't make it. Next
to it is a bare spot where a different variety didn't
make it even after several tries.

I swear this piece of land is cursed! Four rose bushes
didn't make it into year two either on the other side of
the backyard.

Meanwhile my under-the-plant-light starts are doing okay.
Four different varieties of tomato, parsley, and some
non-edible flowers (pansies and snapdragons). Well, maybe
the pansies are edible, but not by me.

Nyssa, who just wasted an hour plus gasoline trying to
find a station that has non-ethanol gas for my mowers
using poor directions from my neighbor

It rained most of the morning here and a few hours of the
afternoon, weather heads say more is coming. Looks to be
we've received at least three inches today.

My three year old blueberry plants haven't grown at all
and have supplied us with about four berries. They're
coming out soon and I will plant domestic dewberries and
see how they work, I like dewberries better than I do
blueberries so it might be a win win.

Have you had your soil tested Nyssa? That can make all the
difference for your plantings. Our lot sits on top of five
feet of clay, put in to avoid the extra cost of flood
insurance. We've been here since 12/12 and I am going to
spread more gypsum to break up the clay and help turn it
into dirt of a sort. Takes three or four years of annual
gypsum spreading to start breaking clay.

I gave up on gas mowers when we moved to this much smaller
property. Bought a Black and Decker battery operated mower
and battery operated weed eater, both are about five years
old now and take very little care and they live in the
garage. The mower is self propelled and works well as long
as I remember to sharpen the blade every so often. We
started our marriage 57 years ago on ten acres and have,
over those years, downsized to a 6500 square foot lot with
a 1960 square foot house and even more in driveway and
sidewalks. Our backyard just has enough room to walk
around the raised beds, fruit trees, and the 12X12 shed
for our "stuff." At our age that's about all we can handle
anymore and I am partially paralyzed by strokes some years
ago plus a couple of heart attacks. Dear wife is still
spry so she does the outside stuff and I cook and clean,
sort of a backwards operation. G

George

No, I haven't done a soil test here, but it should be
on the acid side of the range. The problem is more
likely drainage, or rather lack thereof. The area is
basically swampland with some parts a bit higher than
others.

I started out with four blueberry plants, all different
varieties. One pooped out and I replaced it...several
times. Another pooped out and I replaced it and it seemed
to be doing okay until now. So out of the eight plants
I've purchased, only two are actually still growing.

Ditto on roses on the other side of the yard. I bought
four patent roses, hybrid tea and grandiflora. All died
within two years. I haven't even tried to replace them
what with the current prices and varieties I've seen.

As for electric mowers, I've got just under 1/2 acre.
I first bought a rechargeable electric mower, but ran
into problems with it. One was that I don't have a
garage, so to charge the thing, I'd have to drag it
up the back steps into the kitchen to plug it in.
Then even when fully charged, it could only mow half
the yard before needing recharging again. So it was
taking 3-4 days to mow between charging, recharging,
and actually pushing the thing. I took it back and
got a gas-powered mower. It would take me anywhere
from 4-8 hours to mow the yard with the pusher depending
on how wet the ground was, hight of grass, and so on.
I *hate* grass!

Last fall a kind neighbor came across an older model
John Deere rider mower that only needed about $100 of
new parts and work to be usable. I did the work and I
now have it on a "long loan" so I only need to use the
pusher for about 1/4 of the yard. YAY! Less time spent
mowing and more time for battling weeds in the garden.

Overcast and chilly here today, so no outside work. Plus
half the day was used up taking a neighbor to a dentist
appointment and the pharmacy. Downpours are predicted
for tomorrow, so no outside work again.

Maybe next week....

Nyssa, who wishes the weather would make up its mind
whether or not it's spring already