By the time I got back with another load of wood chips it had warmed up nicely. My plan to work on the siding in the afternoon was shelved. The garden was calling me. I needed to work in the garden for a change.
I went around the perimeter of the vegetable garden with the manual hedge clippers and cut down all the dead brown stalks of last years wildflowers to make way for the new spring growth of my beneficial insect factory. That is still a ways away yet. I needed to garden though.
Yes there is a fire in the vegetable garden. Now when I burn the rubbish I can just say I am making biochar to improve the soils nutrient holding capacity. These non-woody stems and twigs don't really make much charcoal, but every little bit helps.
I will be expanding the vegetable garden just a bit this year. The small triangle of ground on the left side of the path in front of that stack of wood and the garbage bag I keep up there for picking up roadside trash is going to be brought into production.
This area was mostly filled with vetch, one of the nitrogen fixing legumes. It also has an Ironweed, Vernonia noveboracensis and a perennial sunflower, Helianthus maximiliani that I want to transplant to new locations.
From this vantage point it looks like most of the vegetable garden is mulched. It might be a bit more than half done in reality. It will take a couple more trips to town to finish.
Yesterday's siding of three courses of boards above the back kitchen door and below the porch roof took most of the day. There was extra cutting to fit around the obstacles and one cut had to be done over from scratch. That end of the cabin on sloping ground is a bit precarious for reaching up and nailing on siding. It is best if I move cautiously.
With one whole side completed, half of the front and half of the back, the siding is 50% done. Not to bad for a snowy wet winter.
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4 comments:
YEAAA, Christopher.
Uncle Ernie sure looks as though he is smiling. I'm sure he enjoyed the warmth from the fire & he can see that soon green things will be his company again. He will be soooo happy.
Siding looks better all the time. But do be careful. Don't take chances.
Just like our place in N.C. in the Spring all things looked so clean & new even though it was brown. It looked as though someone had come through with a huge broom & swept all clean. We could give Mr Wind some credit. And of course we couldn't forget Miss Rain. Then would come the warmth from Mr Sun & things would start to take on a different color. The mind would go into a whirl wind planning. The heart would lift to all manner of heights. Just wonderful all around. I'm so glad I have my memories.
Only a few more square feet and the brand name will disappear, Christopher ;-] Sort of reminds me how my two oldest sons would sit down with manicure scissors and remove any visible stitched-on logos from shirts before they wore them to high school.
The biochar stuff is interesting - won't try it here, of course - our houses are much too close together so if the HOA didn't get me, the fire department would.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Hi Christopher, so glad you got to quench, just a little your need to garden. Yesterday turned out to be the best day so far this year here. I am excited about your beneficial insect habitat. And the cabin looks great too. :-)
Frances
Yes, it feels good to be planning for spring and envisioning a completely sided cabin even if both are still many weeks away.
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