The 19th-I finished adding a few pavers to the new patio and planted thyme between pavers where gaps had been left for planting and added a clematis to the north side of the deck next to the patio. Gus the dog ate the clematis, but I hope it will re-grow.
The new plantings: eight thymes, seven different species: Thymus vulgaris ‘Clear Gold’, T. praecox ‘Roseum’ and ‘Coccineus’, T. praecox articus ‘Elfin’, T. pseudolanuginosus [woolly], T. pulegioides ‘Archers Gold’, and two T.serpyllum ‘Roseus’. One Roman chamomile, Chamermelum nobile and one clematis x ‘Ville de Lyon’.
The 20th-I put out more peony supports, cleaned up more dead branches on the lawn, transplanted two meadow rue that were crowding a peony. Then I wanted to start preparing the veggie beds, but the string trimmer, needed to cut down the high grass around the veggie beds, had a cracked fuel line. I discovered that when I put gas in the tank and watched it pour out the bottom. I went out, bought six inches of new fuel line, a spark plug and an air filter, came back, repaired the engine, and it started right up. When I put it in gear, it repeatedly stalled. I looked underneath to discover that the drive belt was broken. End of day.
The 21st-Josh Swift, our neighbor and new lawn man, was here in the morning at the same time as the TV antenna guys were here to install more new antennas for digital, air reception. The TV antennas are out in the woods, I needed to trim new growth away from them. When they had all finished, I went back to work on the string trimmer. I struggled getting the drive belt exposed and removed. I changed some storm doors to screens, turned on the outside water, put out some hoses, and since I needed it, Dan & Whits had the right sized drive belt.
The 22nd-Brian Dade and I hiked up Mt. Ascutney to see the rocks, and the views. We went up the Brownsville Trail, had lunch on the tower, and came down the Weathersfield Trail.
Mt. Ascutney, Crystal Springs where the syenite meets the schist.
The 23rd-Meanwhile, back at the trimmer, I got the drive belt replaced and reassembled the trimmer, on the second try, and it worked. I trimmed around the veggie beds, around the roses, and around the barns. After that orgy of trimming, I stared on the veggie bed prep.
I uncovered the beds by unstapling the black plastic mulch and peeling it back off the beds. Then I pulled up the weeds and dead roots from last summer’s crops. I checked the pH—it was neutral—perfect. I fertilized, filled holes with new dirt, raked it all smooth, positioned the soakers, got the hoses out and connected them to the barn water and the soakers, recovered the beds with the plastic mulch and watered.
That plastic mulching adds work to this preparation, but it keeps weed growth down, warms the soil in the spring for earlier planting, retards evaporation in the summer and provides a cleaner surface for veggies that lie on the ground.
New blooms: Mohican viburnum, wild ginger, purple lamium, lilac, forsythia, bane berry, indian cucumber, dandelion, jill-over-the-ground, honeysuckle, epimedium, sweet woodruff, buttercup.
Blue wave of Forget-Me-Not.
Apple Tree at peak.
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