Limping along

 

The weather is starting to look like "April"

It looks like today will be a good day to do some outdoor work but then the next week looks like inside jobs or maybe some fishing.

'Tis but a scratch. I am sure that if I pile on just a little more sail I can make it to shore...

I need a break. You guys tried to tell me but I was stubborn. My knees and elbows are complaining. Our kids were in athletics so I am familiar with R.I.C.E.

• Rest
• Ice/Ibuprofen
• Compression
• Elevate 

Cheating on the first element, rest, is counter-productive. The last three bullets control inflammation but our bodies need TIME to heal. But I am dancing in-and-out of small windows of time between weather and family responsibilities. Springtime waits for no man.

Right now, the discomfort on the inside of my left knee is the most debilitating. Torsional motion of my foot causes the most discomfort and it seems to flare up when I am dragging brush. I looked at the anatomy of the knee and it could be a lot of things complaining. The good news is that my body should be able to heal the problem if I give it time to heal. The bad news is that I am stubborn and don't want to rest, yet.

The middle ground is to hire Kubota to drag brush and to restrict myself to "light-duty" for a couple of weeks. 

Seeds started

Sweet peppers, Lovage, Broccoli and African Marigolds. The containers are repurposed empty gallon milk jugs. The caps are used to weight down the repurposed grocery bags until they get some condensate on their bottoms.

Three kinds of tomatoes 

A close-up of one of the tomato trays. The top of the soil measured 72 F this morning. I will check again after the sun rises.

Like every gardener in the history of the universe, I planted too many seeds. My plan is to germinate them in these smaller containers and then transplant to fifty-cell 10"-by-20" trays. Tomato plants make great indicators for the presence of walnut roots.

Today's tasks

Pot up the grape-cuttings that have been sitting in the hot-box for two weeks. The Vitis riparia cuttings are pushing their buds but don't show any sign of callousing or rooting on the bottom. The other cuttings show no signs of growth.

Dig a trench to bury corrugated drain-tile to carry water from a gutter down-spout away from the house. Rains are coming!

Make a trip to the grain elevator in Charlotte to buy more duck feed and to see if they have asparagus crowns in-stock.