Monday, May 22, 2017

A 'Hole' Lotta Diggin' Goin' On

When it rains all the time and then it rains some more, things happen. Such is my theory upon Scott's discovery of The Great Sinkhole of '17. He went down to check the mail Saturday (5/20) afternoon and couldn't help but notice the hole that had formed on the south side of the big clump of concrete, plants and dirt at about the driveway's mid-point. When the skies cleared Sunday, we went out to investigate.
An area about 4 ft. x 5 ft. x 3 ft. deep appeared in a space that had heretofore been an unexplained planting Clump. (Sorta half rock garden, half wildflower effort that turned into just another thing to mow around.)
The big fears included having the water line compromised or the culvert somehow circumvented. Scott probed the bottom of the hole, looking for signs of disaster. Luckily - it turned out just to be a section of soil that sank (perhaps encouraged by the groundhog family that lives nearby.)  He decided to take apart The Clump and use its dirt to fill the hole. I decided that my time would be better spent pulling weeds.
When I checked on him 45 minutes later, he had made great progress! He sheared off the dirt with the transfer shovel, collecting chunks of concrete along the way. The weeds and grass went in the hole, along with the dirt.
The plan for the big slabs of concrete included crushing them into rubble size with the sledge. This was later determined to be too much to tackle at the moment.
Small concrete chunks were chucked into the ditch next to the culvert on the south side of the driveway.
Tall weeds and grass were tackled with the scythe. Side note: another "found" tool, this thing is super sharp!
After about 3 1/2 hours of hard work, the hole was filled and The Clump was just a memory. (Plus, the cottonwood flowerbed was looking much better due to my expert weed pulling.)
I volunteered to serve as a passenger in the Ranger as Scott drove over and over the dirt to pack it down. I knew my body weight would someday prove useful!
At the end of a long afternoon, the tools were toted back to the barn and all was well. Another satisfying day of hard work. Good job, Scotty! He will continue to monitor the area and add more dirt as the ground settles.
Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!

Garden Gets Growing

The veggies are "in" and growing! With the time-consuming task of building the raised beds completed last year, planting was easy this Spring. All we had to do was wait for a day with more sun than rain (a seemingly simple thing that has been a challenge of late.)
The first step was to clean up the beds which were nearly overgrown by thick grass peppered with huge dandelions.
My feet are so tiny it's hard to tell how long the grass is. Suffice to say it was past due for a clipping.
On Saturday, May 13, we went to Home Depot with Mom & Dad Camp to select this year's veggies. We pared down our inventory, realizing that we over-crowded the beds last year. After a bit of discussion about what goes where, the planting began.
Bibbers had to be in the big middle of the action, of course. He always comes a'runnin' when he sees his Gramma and Grampa drive up.
These two "volunteer" carrots are now at home with our tomatoes and basil. We planted four cherry tomatoes, two Early Girl and two Big Boy varieties. It should be just the right amount of tomato-ey goodness for Marita and me (the two tomato eaters in the bunch.)
Mom was excited to find eggplant plants. She placed two in the bed between Scott's bell peppers and my rhubarb.
Rhubarb -- Eggplant -- Peppers
Carl was happy to have one entire bed to plant with two varieties of green beans. Bibbers was his special helper (or was he impeding progress?)
Scott and I checked on the garden on Sunday, May 21st. The five+ inches of rain we got during the week must have been what the ornamental corn needed to go ahead and sprout! It's at home in the north east bed with Dad's okra and some herbs. (Side Note to My Mommy Jolene - this is the Indian Corn you gave us at Christmas which I thought was just for decor. Found it in the basement, shelled it, planted it and here we go!)
Stay Tuned to Watch Our Garden Grow!