Garden/Yard And Other Stuff

Finally got outside and worked hard.  It's been a long Winter and I don't deal with "cold"  as well as I used to.  Today got to the 80s.  So I got some stuff done...

1.  I had covered parts of the fence flowerbed with cardboard.  Lifting it up, I saw that some annoying weeds were still alive.  So I gave it a shallow tilling with a mini tiller and covered it back up.  

2.  Gave the pollinator bed a similar short-mowing and then shallow tilling.  It is about 350 square feet but my seed packet was for 500 sq ft.  Spread it all.  Well, the thicker the better.  Most won't sprout anyway.

3.  The native wildflower meadow bed is larger (700 sq ft) and needs deeper tilling.  I have a larger tiller, but it doesn't want to start.  I'll have to drain the gas, spray cleaner into it, and otherwise fight with it.  I think what I need to do is cover it in black plastic for the year to smother the weeds and grass.

4.  Speaking of equipment, I have a bad habit of leaving old gasoline in them.  I'm engaged on a project to fix everything and not repeat old bad habits like that.  

5.  I have a chipper/shredder.  It easier to just pile all the tree debris into the trailer and bring it to the County recyling site.  I pull the stuff off the trailer and on Saturdays they will use a bucket-loader to fill it with 3-year-old mulch/compost.  Well, it isn't exactly either.  To course for compost and too fine for mulch; but it is good to add to my compost bin or spread on shipping paper to break down further.  I should sell the chipper/shredder.

6.  Should sell some other stuff too.  I have a lawn roller I never use.  

Not that brand, but one like it.  It's actually bad for the lawn.  But it is good for flattening mole or gopher tunnels and someone would probably want it for that.  I just stomp on the mole tunnels myself. 

Someone wants almost anything for their own reasons and their evaluation of things can be surprising.  I bought a bike to get back and forth to the car dealership with my old car and the next month theyt started offerring rides back and forth.  And besides, I well over trying to ride it.  They say "you never forget how to ride a bike.  Yes, you can.  And I sold it for more than I paid.  The buyer was thrilled.  Yeah!  Win-win.

Sold a large air-pressure pump too.  I bought a small portable one more suited to my needs.  But some guy wanted a big one.  Sold!

I have too much stuff I don't use.  Time to start selling.  I don't need the money, but there is no point in just tossing them away.  What I need more is unclutterred space in the basement and toolshed.

Anyway, I spent the day outside, and I am paying for it now.  Hand and rib muscle cramps, finger-clenches, lower back pain.  I better get this place ready for another 10 years soon or I won't be able to soon.  After 10 years, it is going to be a professional landscaper service or just let everything become "lawn".

Another Day In The Life, Part 1

So, I decided to renovate the lawn.  That means cutting the grass down to 1",  aerating the lawn, collecting all the grass-clippings so that new seed can reach the ground and get some sunlight, and watering the lawn slightly 2x a day to keep the seeds moist.

I thought I had the timing perfect.  Aerate the lawn with my core aerator (pulls 3"x1/4" plugs of soil out of the ground and deposits them on the surface.  That allows air and water and fertilizer to get deep into the soil, and reduces compaction.

And since I was going to be dragging the aerator across the lawn with the riding mower, I would mow the grass short in a pattern that threw the grass clippings into just a couple of 4" wide rows.

Then I would rake the grass up and save it for the compost pile.  Then spread the grass seed.  The weather forecast was for occasional rain for the next week.  Perfect for the seeds to germinate in 80 degree temps.

Well, that was the PLAN...

The aerator has a tray on the top for putting heavy stuff on the top to make the aerator tubes sink deeply. 

I bought solid cinder blocks for it years ago.  And I added more weight this time (the ground was a bit dry).

No plan works...  As soon as I started (1 pm Wednesday), I discovered the aerator tires were flat and one was tire was off the wheel.  I had to take all the heavy stuff off and raise the end of the aerator off the ground supported by bricks.  Taking off the tire was awkward.  There was one bolt on the outside and 2 on the inside.  Only the farthest inside bolt held by a wrench allowed the outside bolt to be loosened.  With the wheel off, I had to reinflate the tire.

Of COURSE it didn't have a tube inside.  That would have been too easy.  I had to get the tire re-seated onto the metal wheel in order to get any air to stay in it.  I know from past experience that pressure on the outside of the tire can get the tire re-seated onto the wheel.  I spent an hour struggling to do that, to no avail.  Well, I worked at a tire company briefly, and I remembered they had an air-pressurized tube that went around small tires to press the tire to the wheel.  I don't have one of those.  I was dripping with sweat and worn out, so I stopped for an hour.  Drank 3 glasses of water.

When I was cooled down, I tried to think of ways to squeeze the tire onto the wheel.  I have an air pump to add a lot of air through the valve all at once.  With that attached to the valve, I tried twisting a rope around it, and I tried turning a loop of rope with a crowbar.  That didn't work.  I tried putting the tire in my bench vise and using some wood clamps across the tire in 3 directions.  That didn't work.

Damn!  I finally thought of ratcheting straps (like you use to hold a boat to a trailer.  That was awkward.  12' of strap around a 8" tire takes a lot of winding.  And the straps I had only get to 6' short (from 12').  I finally managed to hook the end of the strap at a point where the ratchet would really tighten.

It didn't work.  Well, not the 1st time or the 2nd or the 3rd or 4th.    But eventually, by pounding the sides of the tire with a rubber mallet, the seal finally caught suddenly!  YAY, HOORAY, and HALALULEAH!!!  It caught suddenly and filled...  I couldn't find anything on the tire that said what PSI to fill it, but I went for 12 as that seemed tight but with a slight "give".

So I brought it back outside and put the wheel back on the axle.  Being a sensible type, I also  checked the other tire.  It was at "0" but the bead to the wheel had not broken.  So I dragged the air pump outside and filled it to 12 psi too.

By that time it was 5 pm.  I decided to stop for the day and make dinner.

Thursday, I went all around the yard, aerating and mowing at the same time (very slowly so the aerator tubes could sink into the soil).  Just before I was done, the mower ran out of gas.  Well, I had more gas in the can, so I refilled it.  And then the mower wouldn't start again! 

OK, I guess I put a lot of stress on the riding mower hauling the aerator around with all that weight on it.  But why the mower wouldn't start was confusing.  I'm barely competent with gas engines.  I thought maybe I flooded the carburator.  I decided to stop for the day and I covered the mower with a tarp due to the possibility of rain.

And the next day is tomorrow's post...

Projects

Well, I got the toolshed shelves finished.  Sometimes you have to stop seeking perfection and "just do it"!

I got the shelves to match up in the corners.  The bottom left shelf ended up 1/4" out of level.  But its a 25+ year old shed, nothing about it is level or square anymore, and it needs a new roof.  So I'm not going to worry about it.

I had to put 2x4 boards behind the shelves to keep small items falling out the back (the sheves are on exposed 4" studs).  I would have used 1x4 boards, but I bought 10" wide boards instead of 12" wide boards and the brackets would have stuck out otherwise and not allowed me to use the front screw hole in the tip of the bracket.  A 10" bracket IS 10" long; a 10" board is only 9 1/2".

Just moving some pots to the new shelves gained me 16 sq ft of basement space, and I have lots of garden stuff still to move.  I expect to recover about 50 sq ft when I transfer more "stuff" from the basement to the shelves.  And there will be more shed floorspace  to store power equipment I seldom use (but use a lot when I need it) when I take small amounts of some stuff out of large boxes and add them to the shelves. 

That will make more sense when I fill the shelves and get some of the equipment stored in there.  I'll take pictures.

In 30 years, I've accumulated a lot of equipment.  Snow-blower, tiller, chipper/shredder, lawn-roller, aerator...

Those things are cluttering up the garage and the REAL shed.  Yes, I have 2 sheds.  More importantly though, it frees up room in the basement for woodworking, and I am determined to make the basement easier to do work in. 

And with Winter coming on, I have some wood-working projects in mind to occupy my time

Getting Busy Again.

I got at the rototiller, mower and snowblower yesterday.  None of them would start on the previous day's try.  I tackled the rototiller first, since I had an immediate need for it.  There was gas.  The spark plug was clean and dry, the air filter wasn't clogged with dust.  The wire controls at the top were moving levers down below.  No reason I could find  that it wouldn't start.  I had started it right up last year and it had been sitting around for several years with old gas in it then.

So I tried this trick about leaving the air filter off and spraying carborator cleaner insidethe exposed carborator, waited a few minutes to let it dissolve old gas, gave it another spray for fuel, and pulled the rope a few times.. It coughed, sputtered as I tried to adjust the choke, and died.

But that was better than before!  So I gave it another spray of the cleaner stuff and it stater again.  And died.  Took 2 more tries before I get the choke adjusted to keep it running and then it purred like a kitten.  Well, OK, its not a quiet machine.  I sounded like a congested bear snoring in hibernation.  But you get the idea.  I used it immediately!

Wheeled it to the big bulb bed, set the manual depth at 3" and went through the weed/grass roots easily.  The occasional baseball-sized rock made it jump around a bit, and I had to make sure it didn't till down too deep (I was going over some existing bulbs).  Took only 15 minutes, but that beats at least and hour on manual spade work. 

I raked the area and was pleased to see no bulbs dug up.  I knew where they were generally.  I planted then from the outside edge inwards, but I hadn't marked there they stopped.  Fortunately, I have found a couple of good pictures, so I can estimate where to plant the additional ones this year, but that's anouther post.

So, encouraged by getting the tiller running, I attacked the mower.  I was in trouble from the start.  There is a hollow rubber priming button you push 3x to get some gas into the system.  I pushed it in, and it wouldn't come back out.  UH-OH!

Well, I then tried all the same tricks as with the rototiller, but it wouldn't even cough and sputter.  It had to go to the repair shop. 

So I checked the snowblower.  It has electric start and it wouldn't start.  I checked the spark plug, I checked the air filter.  No problems.  Sprayed in some carburator cleaner.  No luck.

What is the first question the computer repair guy asks?  "Is it plugged in"?  Well, I checked the gas tank.  Bone, dry, clean.  Not even dried old gas.  I must have done what "they" always tell you to do with seasonal equipment; drain out and or absorb it out with a old clean towel, then run it until it stops.  No gas left; no bad gas left.

So I added a cup of gas, started right up!  I let it run for a couple of minutes out on the driveway.

2 out of 3 ain't bad!  

Tomorrow:  Two errands in one trip!

2nd Yardwork Project

The next most important project is the bulb bed.  It is a 20' diameter edged circle.  I planted 100 tulips there in wire cages (to protect them from voles) last year.  They looked great this Spring.  I also had 200 daffodils of 2 varieties (one early and one late).  Voles don't bother daffs, so that was just drilling holes with an auger and setting them in.

I ordered more daffs for this year.  50 more each of the existing ones and 150 of a different one for the unused space in the circle.

I should have marked the space where the existing daffs were planted.  Well, you know, you think you won't forget exactly where they are but you do.  I have pictures, so I should be able to guess pretty well where to plant more of the same ones safely.  And where I can start planting the new ones next to them.  I HOPE, LOL!

But over the Summer, weeds grew.  I want a clean planting area for all the new bulbs.  My gas powered roto-tiller is just too big for the area, so I bought a small 10' tiller.

I tried it out today.  What a disaster!  Every grass leaf and root wrapped around the tiller blades  2 10' rows and the things was stuffed like a hard ball of cotton.  It took 20 minutes to pull them all out.  But it did do a decent job of tearing up the soil an inch deep, which was exactly what I wanted.  But that was way too slow and difficult.

So I used my electric string-trimmer to beat down all the long grass leaves.    That was an amazing 3 wheelbarrowfuls of plant debris!

So I tried the little electric tiller again.  It was actually worse.  The previous use has a lot of grass leaves in it, this time it was all roots.  It took 30 minutes to pull them all out.  They get wrapped and tangled very tightly.

So that wasn't the way to go.  The little electric tiller is great for small areas of bare dirt.  But it doesn't chop up roots.

So I raked off all the weed-whacked debris.  Then I decided to pull out the serious tiller.   It is kind of big for the job.  I couldn't get it to start.  So I thought about mowing the area.  I can use the drill auger to make holes for all the new daffs if weeds are down to ground level.  I couldn't get the push mower to start.  Last option was the riding mower but that is really awkward changing from forward to reverse (you have to stop the blade each change).

So Monday, I bring the gas rototiller and the gas push mower to a repairshop.  There is a good local one.  Fair prices.  I hope they aren't busy.

And then I can get back to MY interests which is USING the equipment to do things I need doing.