1st Quarter 2022 — RET-ADD.com

Howdy to all..

So what happened in the first quarter of 2022? A lot of nasty weather and not much else.

Well, that’s all for now.

Nah, I’ll type a little, and show some pictures. That’s what the blog is meant to show.

January had some snow, and then, it had lots of snow.

And while I was trying to get rid of the snow out front, my green house tunnel out back couldn’t handle the 26 inches of snow from overnight.

And yet, the snow kept coming. Here is February 6th.

Yep, twice the height of my snow blower. That was lots of fun.

Eventually the snow did go away, and I was able to go assess the damages. Ugh.. What a mess.

It didn’t look any better from up close.

Only “bright’ spot was the tie-downs held. It went nowhere, and everything inside, was still there. Although a lot of the frames over the raised beds were crushed.

Time to haul away the old.. I won’t be trying that type of tunnel again.

This was after I pulled off the fabric and lifted some of the frame so I could work within.

This is the beginning of a new structure. This is a 10x10 Umbrella tent like green house. It covers the main area, and I am using smaller cold frames over the other beds.

When I wrote “Umbrella” like, I meant it. This whole thing is meant to be able to put up or take down in 15 minutes.

Yeah, right. 15 minutes if you have a ten foot wing span and are 8 foot tall and can clone yourself at will to be in multiple spots at once. Took me more like an hour to get it standing, and many more to add “quick release” tie-downs to hold it in winds.

This picture was before it was totally lifted to its final height. I was having trouble standing in the middle of the tent pushing the umbrella to full height, while adjusting each of the 4 corner legs to be extended at same time.

Some of the internal tie-downs. Added more.

All of the tie-downs are quick release. The carabiners could be unclipped in moments, and all the ropes would drop to the ground. The ropes are all set up to allow adjusting the tension too.

As I put this together, I was also creating cold frames to cover the other beds around the green house. In theory, the covers can be removed quickly come end of season, and be stored.

These two are covering potatoes which hopefully will grow.

And here is the “train” of cold frames in front of the green house. The one on the left is a raised mini green house that supposedly can handle the 4 seasons. It presently has some basil plants and spinach seeds in it. The next one has onion sets trying to grow. The third has garlic which has picked up from its last year’s growing. The last has radish seeds and carrots. I’m testing the variations of frames/covers to see what will actually hold up. Oh, an if you look over my head, the blurry image of the raised beds out back, can be seen.

That mini green house was an interesting build. You can see the storage underneath it in the picture above. I’ll throw a couple closer pictures of it here.

I have started some tomatoes and peppers in the green house already. May be too early, but I have to try.

Peppers with barely a chance. Oh, I even put a few cucumber seeds in the bed on the right. Maybe they’ll get lucky.

And I’ve pushed the season with the beds out back too.

Considering we’ve been around freezing for the last few overnights, I’m really pushing my luck with these.

I have made another change around here. I’m turning lawn care over to a service. They already did a spring cleanup, but as can be seen above, a few more leaves have found their way back to the yard.

The best news is, my neighbor to the south, also signed up for their services. His yard is now so much clearer than before. He also had the largest tree in his back yard removed (before it fell on his house), and that will also slow the migration of leaves and twigs into my yard.

The lawn service also put down a lovely black mulch in the beds around the house. Makes them stand out. I put in a few flowers to add a little color. But, once again, it may be too early in the season. I threw cloches over a few to see if that helps keep them alive during this cold spell.

The rose bush is starting to leaf too. When those red flowers start, this area will pop.

A view of the front of the house from the tree. I temporarily put a security camera there a month or so ago, and haven’t moved it. Some interesting shots of squirrels attacking that bird feeder.

I am still doing my indoor gardening. Just did a cleanup harvest from the click and grow of peppers. Had tomatoes from them earlier this year, and constantly have basil.

Also usually have a few mushroom crops going.

Various peppers and basil and some oyster mushrooms — I think there are a couple white button shrooms in that bag too.

So, I’ve tried to recover from the winter blahs by pushing my spring gardening. Way too soon, but it gives me something to do.

Physically, and medically, I’m doing okay. Already completed any dental work needed for this year. Nowhere near as much as last year.

And yesterday was tax day. My PAYMENT to the IRS went in on Friday. All of the skrew-ups by Social Security during 2021, cost me big time in taxes. And will still be haunting me next year (but not as bad).

Kitty is doing great.

For now, that’s about it. I am hoping to get back to blogging more frequently.

Just need to figure out what might be interesting.

So Enjoy Life,