Fruit trees and garden

This weekend I fixed my crooked mailbox. I had to take the mailbox and board it was attached to off the post, re-nail the board to the post, then reattach the mailbox. It is now straight.

I checked my garden and fruit tree area. While my rhubarb is towering over the grass, the grass is so high I couldn't see any of my strawberry plants. I thought they hadn't survived the Winter as I hadn't given them the care they needed last year. But they are there in amongst the grass. I really need to weed my strawberry patch.

My raspberries are growing. After a great year last year I need to prune the dead stems. And of course, weed the patch.

Two of my three grape plants are showing a few buds. For whatever reason the grapes are the last to grow each season. Two of my three blueberry plants show signs of life, albeit weakly. They were struggling last year.

My other plants/bushes are coming along and appear to have made it through the winter. I see the deer bit the top off a couple of my small arborvitae trees. Darn deer!

My nectarine tree is coming up from the roots as the tree appears to be dead. At least something lives on it. My other fruit trees are doing well, though my plum trees are lagging again this year. One of my apple trees is full of blossoms and the other has some blossoms. It appears it will be an off year for that tree. My third apple tree, the smallest of the "big 3" and the one that seldom produced much in the way of apples, appears to have mostly died. A few leaves is all. I think this is the end for this tree.

Surprisingly my carrots are growing and did not rot over winter. I had really covered them well this winter and the Spring moisture did not reach them to rot them. I pulled a couple carrots from the ground and ate one. Edible, but old.

I spent a few hours pulling the big weeds that have sprung up across my garden. My hands were tired by the time I was done. I am still considering what to do with the garden this year as I have no starter plants. I plan to plant the crops that don't need a long growing season: radishes, lettuce, carrots, beets, peas, etc. No pumpkin, muskmelon, watermelon, etc. plants. Oh well, on a good year I seldom get much from them.

The vegetables I had stored in my crawl space over Winter all rotted or molded. It was just too long for them to be down there. I took them out and cleaned up the crawl space. The rest of my apples I had stored in my refrigerator also didn't make it. Again, too long a time.

I stopped and visited with Bob and Jan Saturday afternoon. I moved their concrete bird baths out from the garage back to their lawn. I also mowed around a few trees Bob couldn't reach with his riding lawn mower. I stayed and had supper with them. Yum! Chicken breasts, potato salad, and jello. The spices on the chicken breasts made them spicy hot. Good. Eating chicken breasts reminded me of a former girlfriend who made them often. She didn't spice them up, but they were still very tasty.

Sunday I fenced around three small trees in the NE pasture. This is to protect them from the cattle who will eat almost anything. I didn't quite finish the fence work as it began to rain, and then rained or drizzled the rest of the day. I have all three trees encircled with a fence; I now need to cover them from the top as cattle will work their head down and use their long tongue to munch on the trees.

I got a call earlier this afternoon to be an election judge and I will do that all day tomorrow. The day starts at 6 am as the polls open at 7 am. It will be a long day, but hopefully a fun and rewarding day. I again will be working up in Whitefish, though at a different precinct and location this time.