Spring Time: Time for Work

Spring time here, like all other places I'm sure, means one thing.  Work.  And, unfortunately, the bad work comes before the fun work.  This is why:

Yea, baby.  Those be weeds.  And, a sage in the background that needs to be trimmed back.  Actually, it needed to be trimmed back six weeks ago.  And, yes, that weed in the front has gone to flower.  That's how I roll.

You see, living where we do, we get a lot of weeds.  I mean A LOT.  There is a field directly behind our house that is a la naturale.  So, every California weed known to mankind blows into my yard.  I can't bring myself to pull them in the winter for a couple of reasons.  First, I'll just need to pull them again in the spring, thus doubling and/or tripling my work.  Second, it's cold in the winter.  Yes, I live in California, so we have "winter", but we're also "weenies", because we only have "winter".  Plus, I had other winter time things I was working on.

Normally, for my weed chores, I'll use this for the majority of the stuff:

It works pretty good on stuff like this:

Not so good on grass, though.  And, it seems I have a lot of grass growing in places it shouldn't.  Kind of like hair when you hit 40.  Anyway, with grass it tends to leave it like this:

Yep, it just scoots along the top.  Scoot being the technical gardening term used by master gardeners everywhere.  So, the grass I'm going to need a different tact for.  Unfortunately, grabbing and pulling leaves most if not all the roots, so that defeats the purpose.  But, I have a plan.  I concocted it while driving home from work.  So, it's bound to work.  And, no, it does not involve chemicals, as I don't put that crap on my yard.  It involves a stick.  And, a lot of duct tape.

Ok, I'm kidding about the duct tape...

Tools of the Trade: The Truck

This past weekend was not much for getting work done.  Between barbeques, spring cleaning and children being sick, no time was left for anything else.  I'm going to take the opportunity to introduce another essential tool, in my humble opinion, if you really want to get work accomplished on the homestead.  And, of course, keep peace with your lovely wife who's car you get dirty, smelly and several other unpleasant adjectives that escape me at the moment.

A truck is an essential piece of equipment for our lifestyle.  This is our latest addition.  A 1972 International Harvester Scout II.  International Harvester was, and still is, in the business of making tractors, although they now go by a different name.  Tractors...gardening...gardening...tractors...get it???

You can fit at least a cubic yard of soil back there.  Of course, assuming all the parts that fell off on the drive home weren't in the back, already.  I'm kidding.  All those parts fell off long before I got my hands on it.

Lastly, the other nice thing about this truck is that it is a convertible.  That will make it easier to haul various items around, such as lumber which can be up to 16 feet, depending on what one is using it for.  There is no carpet, the inside is all rubber, allowing one to clean the inside using nothing more then a garden hose.  Not to mention that I can smoke a cigar in it without stinking it to high heaven!!

Tools of the Trade: The Shed

I think every gardener needs a garden shed.  This is ours.  I'm not sure how I got to this age of my life without one.  I've used outdoor cupboards, garages, outdoor chests...you name it, I've probably tried it.  But a walk in shed dedicated to nothing but gardening and all of the paraphernalia that seems to go along with it is a wonderful luxury to have.

I didn't build ours.  I wish I did.  This one was inherited from my father-in-law, the previous owner of our home.  Along with my mother-in-law, of course.  This shed is built on skids simply placed directly onto the ground.  I like the construction.  Don't overcomplicate things.  It's a garden shed, for crying out loud not a guest house.  Well, I guess that would depend on the guests.  Before you think me an anti-social cad, the guest I'm referring to is our in-laws dog, whom we occasionally take care of.  We have coyotes roaming our area and one dog has already been lost from this house.  This shed keeps them protected.

My father-in-law maintained, well I guess you could say started since he was here first, the process of reusing materials.  The sheathing on the shed was taken from a building which had fallen and was going to be sent to the dump.  He scavenged the lumber and reused it to build the outer shell of this shed.  It has now stood for about nine years and is as solid as the day it was built.  I'm quite impressed with it every time I step in.  The only issue I have is that I am over 6 feet tall and the door is exactly 6 feet tall.  I've only split my head on it once.  At least I'm a quick learner.  Until next time.

I believe the key to a successful shed is the discipline to actually keep it for its intended purpose.  Ours has a habit of filling up with non-gardening items, such as toys, furniture and sporting equipment.  Clutter is what it becomes and items begin to simply be dropped closer and closer to the door until one cannot open the door to get in.  You happened to catch us on a good day, since my lovely wife, M2, spent a good portion of the day cleaning ours out.  We had lovely weather today and she couldn't stand the sight of it anymore.

One last change we're going to make is to put plywood on the inside.  Trying to hang all of the tools on the exposed studs calls for an organizational talent I do not have.  The plywood will allow me to hang more tools and keep everything off the floor, where it has a habit of falling over and becoming difficult to find.

So, the moral of the story?  Get yourself a shed.  You won't regret it.