Harvest Season Is HERE - Let the Drying Begin

Princess Four and I worked in the yard Saturday. We pruned the large back tree from the bottom up filling up all the empty garbage cans. 

Princess Four mowed the grass and dumped it in the mulch which is almost full now. After she mowed, I had to help her with the last little bit because the pear tree is so full that two of the branches are touching the ground and one branch snapped off! 

I lifted the branches and she finished mowing. She took a break to cool down as it has been SUPER hot still in the 90 most days. I then dug out another sprinkler head that was nearly buried. I had to replace one Princess Five hit a few weeks back and then dug out one that was nearly covered by grass and I was having a large dried dead area of grass, so I put in a larger sprinkler and moved the sprinkler back to the sidewalk edge as it was dead between the sprinkler and the sidewalk as well. 

I dug out this latest sprinkler that was also almost buried by grass. The only way I could find the last two sprinkler heads was by turning on the sprinklers to find them they were so covered and hidden. 

I put a splitter on that head and extended another sprinkler to the corner of the back play area as the raised wood play area was keeping sprinklers from getting to the corners as the height of the wooden edging was keeping the water from getting to the corners. 

Once I put in the new sprinkler it was full on dark! I put the grass and dirt back into the area and sprinkled down some grass seed over all the new sprinkler areas hoping to fill in the dead spots due to digging up the area and filling in the dead areas where the sprinklers have cause dirt spots. 

I planted some grass in the area I filled in during our landscaping in the back in July and am happy to report I have some new grass growing in that area which makes me so happy! I spend so much on water every summer and still have a horrible looking yard with all the weeds blowing in from the empty field next door, and the sprinkler issues causing dry spots, and the grubs that show up even after I poison over and over. 

I poisoned three times this year already for weeds, crabgrass, and grubs and still have all three going on in the grass! I am planning on fixing the sprinklers in the front yard today as well as putting down some more poison to try and keep up on the weeds and grubs! 

I still want to landscape the front beds better but it has been so hot, I have avoided doing that! On a happy note, I harvested my first harvest and brought in about 20 cherry tomatoes, a bunch of pears that fell off the tree, and a dryer full of apples that also fell from the tree. I have a neighbor that feeds the birds and the birds have eaten most of my fruit this year. They cleaned out the plums so much that I only shared one plum with neighbors and usually take them bags full! 

I got a small bowl of green plums off my tree as shown in the picture and will probable get less than 50 apples off all three apple trees. The birds eat 1/4 of it and it drops and they go after another! I may just have to pick them and let them ripen off the tree to get any. It feels good to have harvest smells of the fruit drying in the dehydrator! 

Stay safe and have a blessed day!