End of Winter

The winter of 2017-2018 felt as if it would never end. Plants are 2-3 weeks behind this year, and we finally just got some warm temps last week. Naturally the one year spring is late, the pool opening is early.

Never has the pool been this clean yet this cold.

We have struggled for months with water loss from the pool. After filling it up last week, we came back yesterday to find it several inches down again. I suspected this to be the cause of a persistent wet spot behind the poolhouse. The cattle have absolutely wrecked this ground on the other side of the fence, eventually requiring some fencing reinforcement. Yesterday I found the cause. The fitting on the filter was cracked and dripping water down the side of the filter and right into the drain. It went unnoticed because there really wasn't much of a wet spot on the floor until now. I used a clamp and piece of old hose as a temporary fix, and now a day later, the poolhouse is dry again.

Tom lent us a skid loader and we spread two truckloads of mulch a couple of weeks ago. The late spring allowed us to get much of the mulch down before the perennials came up.

Lisa got the deck cleaned up. My Big Green Egg operation has been pushed to the end of the deck to help keep smoke out of the kitchen.

Big day today - we'll bring some greenhouse plants out. I'm battling some serious issues with thrips, courtesy of a well-intentioned friend who will go unnamed. These plants badly need to get outside and get cleaned up.