Garden Tractor - Finished

So the little Garden Tractor is finished, and in service. It was taken a part and everything cleaned up and painted. It was in good mechanical conditions so, it did not require a lot of repairs. The paint is International Farmall red. My favorite.

AH

Oh Look! - Something Green

The first planting is corn is up despite the cold rainy spring weather. When it gets a little bigger I'll thin it out. Planted the second round of corn yesterday. This time four rows of Sweet Rhythm bicolor. This variety will mature in 74 days. I still have two varieties to plant. I like to space out the planting time so the corn can be harvested throughout mid and late summer. AH

Garden Tractor Progress - 7 Cultivator Finished

The cultivator is finally finished and ready to use. I have a v-plow for making furrows, and I made a set of hilling blades that attach to it. The tractor should be completed sometime this week. My winter project has taken most of the spring to complete. But, it looks great and I'm excited to use them. It's main use will be caring for the family potato garden. We are hoping to plant the potato's next weekend. AH

The Planting Starts

Doesn't look like much. But I got about a third of the garden planted. The weather has be been cold and rainy so I have not been in a hurry to get seeds in the ground. So far four rows of early bi color "sweet chorus" corn. I have three more varieties of corn that will be planted at different times for a later harvest, one row of leaf lettuce a mixture of Cimmaron, Red salad, Tango, Slobolt, Green salad, and Royal oakleaf, one row of Olympia spinach which has a smooth leaf so it is easy to wash, one row of Chantenay carrots which are meant to be harvested as baby carrots, they will mature but are short, and fat, and one row of Lincoln peas. At top of the garden under the milk jugs are cucumbers, cantaloupe, and pumpkins. I have tomato's, zucchini squash, and yellow squash growing in the house. I hope to get them planted out in the ground this weekend. I still need a few Bell pepper plants. Looks like the weather is finally going to warm up. And gardening will be more exciting when everything starts to grow. :) AH

Garden Tractor Progress - 6 Cultivator

My son came by yesterday and help be get the cultivator finished, well almost. I still need to build a post for the V-plow, and hilling blades. I gave it trial run through the garden. It worked great. AH

Tree's in Bloom

These photos are a couple weeks old. Our Apricot trees in bloom. Unless we get a late frost there will be lots of fruit. AH

Freebie Tractor

This little tractor was free. I have been watching for a junker to use the front tires and axle to build a cart. I spotted this one next to pile of junk behind a house I pass everyday on my commute to work. One day I stopped and inquired about it since it looked like it was on it's way to the scrap yard. Sure enough the guy said it was left behind by the previous home owners. He didn't have any interest in it. And told me I could have it, said it would save him hauling it away. Well how could I resist that sad little face. It's like it was cry out "save me". So I hauled it home happy, I now had tires for the cart. Well as it turns out I just can't leave things alone. It is complete except for the mower deck that was stripped of it's spindles, and blades. It's looks rough with it's rusty hood, and mismatched rear tires. I was looking at it one evening and thought it might be worth seeing if it would run. I pulled carburetor a part and threw it in a can of solvent overnight. After a hour of tinkering and a $2 fuel line it started right up. No smoke, sounds good. I thought well maybe the transmission was bad. Check the fluid and gave it a try. Works fine, runs strong. It runs, and it was free! It doesn't get better than free! Not sure what I'll do with it. Perhaps a project for another day. As if I don't have enough to do already. AH

Garden Tractor Progress - 5 Cultivator, Bumper, and Wheel Weights

Pushing a head on the tractor project. My goal is to have it completed by the middle of May. It will be used on the Idaho property. Got the hitch for the cultivator finished up. The UPS man delivered the sweep plows. Hopefully now I can get it completed. The front bumper, front weight box, and the rear wheel weights are complete and now need to be cleaned up for paint. I think they look pretty good considering they are largely made from free junk. My way of recycling. Always makes me feel good to turn junk into something useful. AH

Seeds and Set arrived in the mail

Our seeds, onion sets, and tomato plants arrived in the mail today. For the Utah garden there be four varieties of corn, and five varieties of tomatoes. Zucchini and yellow squash, cucumbers cantaloupe, and pumpkins. We will also plant lettuce, spinach, and peppers. For Idaho where the climate is cooler peas, lettuce, spinach, onions, potato's and carrots. I am going to try broccoli and Brussels sprouts this year. These have not produced well in the home garden the last couple of years. They should do better in the cooler weather. We have some of the seeds started indoors. I am trying yo hold off until the first of May to start planting. The spring weather here is sunny one day, and snowing the next. Last year I had to replant several things that did not survive the harsh spring weather. AH

Potato Seed Arrived

Picked up the potato seed. 50 lbs of Russet Burbank, and 100 lbs of Dark Red Norland. Should be enough for 15 or so rows. They will not get put in the ground until Memorial Day. For now they are in a cool place until planting time. The russets make good bakers, and the Norland have a smooth red skin that is scab resistant, and white insides. We start digging these as new potato's mid summer. They keep well in a cool place, we are still eating last falls harvest. They are still as good as they were last fall. AH