I have a small Mantis tiller that works great on many things, but rock-hard clay is not one of them. I turned over the beds with a pitchfork and shovel which was no easy feat. I planned on using the tiller to break up the chunks and mix in the amendments. Unfortunately the primer bulb on the Mantis had cracked over the winter so I had to go get replacement parts.
I purchased 800 lbs of topsoil and six bags of mushroom compost to add to the clay, but I guess they will have to wait until tomorrow when I get the tiller back together.
My friend Nick gave me some hazelnuts a couple of years ago and they have really leapt this year. They are a formidable size and two of the three are absolutely laden with nut clusters. I have never seen so many nuts in each cluster before. Unfortunately I have to wait for a month or more for them to ripen and last year the day the ripened the deer took all but two of them overnight.
I'm thinking about a temporary six foot fence...
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| The dogwood is pretty droopy. Keep your fingers crossed. |
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| Water break. |
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| Finally! This stuff is like concrete. |
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| I'm using some of the old pavers to keep the soil in place when it rains. I ultimately want to get a couple of nice rain barrels with planters on top. |
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| The Mantis tiller patiently waiting for parts. |
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| Amendments. |
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| Tuneage makes the job go easier. |
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| Oh yeah, the grill came with a cover. |
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| The hazelnuts are quite large. |
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| Pods. |
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| Lots of pods. |
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| Lots of pods on each branch. |
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1 comment:
never saw a green hazelnut before. Dogwood leaves naturally droop but you might put a slow drip on the tree for an hour to be sure there isn't an air pocket from when you planted it.
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