Wednesday was spent laying black mulch and spreading wood chips over it. 

May 2, 2013 – Thursday

32 degrees/cloudy/windy/damp

Pentoga Road

Now there’s a sight; white caps on Pentoga Lake. I think I’ll start looking around for a sailboat, possibly turn the place into a yacht club. We received another half-inch of rain the night before last and with more forecast, I think the huge puddle will be with us for another week or two. Oh well, it’s that much less I have to mow. Thankfully, it flooded this year (never has in the past four) as I was going to plant a hundred blueberry plants in that space. I would have been absolutely sick had they been two or three years old and thriving, then had the area flood.

Wednesday was spent in the garden and orchard. Once again, the weatherman lied, but we’ll forgive him this time. The day turned out to be sunny and absolutely perfect. 

The ice on one of our local lakes is turning very dark gray, almost black. A heavy rain accompanied by a strong wind, would probably see it disappear for another year. 

I was a solitary worker in the garden area with my best friend watching my every move just feet away on the other side of the electric deer fence. At one point, I thought Brutus was going to touch a wire, but he either heard or smelled the electricity flowing and thought better of it.

The big white American Bulldog never leaves my side, watches my every move, and it almost kills him not to be able to accompany me into the garden area. If I move from one end of the fenced-in compound to the other, he trots completely around the perimeter to a place closest to me. Its as though he feels personally responsible for my safety… like the dreaded aphid or tomato worm might attack me at any moment.

I began work in the orchard by laying black mulch and covering it with the chips made from the popple woods last fall. Over five hours were spent covering less than a fourth of the walkways and grass. Growing tired of that chore, I put six more tomato plants into Walls of Water in the garden area and then turned my attention to the fifty ever-bearing strawberry plants that arrived in the mail two days ago. The roots were trimmed and the plants placed in water earlier in the day.

It took some time to plant them through the mulch and chips, but eventually, all found a home in nice, straight, rows. Hopefully, they’ll go forth, prosper, and spread, and will stretch our fresh strawberry season that normally ends when the June Berries quit producing.

The best surprise came in the form of a solitary asparagus spear beginning to poke its head from the ground. With any luck, we’ll be enjoying our first meal of fresh asparagus next week. Since this is third year asparagus, I doubt we’ll harvest enough to can or freeze, but we should be able to have several good meals of spears, lightly done, accompanied by a thick cheese sauce.

The rhubarb has sprouted and once again promises to produce plenty of stalks for this upcoming year. 

This is Sargie’s last day of work for the week. She closes tonight, then will be off through Sunday. We’re looking forward to the rare three days together. The weather is to be lousy and it’s my wish to get the upstairs bathroom finished before we leave for Marquette early Saturday morning.

Other than install the bathroom floor, I want to call the people from whom I bought topsoil last spring and order another five to ten yards. I also need to start researching someone to do some bulldozer work when the ground dries. I want to extend the garden, landscape where the popple woods once stood, and improve some trails through the woods to be utilized next maple season. Ah, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

Always alert and on guard against any do'ers of evil