2005-02-24 - 8:03 a.m.
I spread lime on the orchard yesterday. We hire Mr.Gantt to come spread lime on the pastures every couple of years but his truck is too big to go down the orchard rows so I wind up doing it with the tractor and a spreader. I've used the pelleted lime before and it is a lot nicer to spread (no dust) but the cost is just too high so I bought bagged powdered lime. Now powdered lime is just that, powdered. When you go to spread the stuff it looks like a big white cloud going across the orchard.
I always wear a respirator mask and this year I also wore coveralls but the stuff still covers you. When I get done I'm ready for a bath to try and get it off. It kind of feels like you rolled in baby powder. Even with the coveralls you can feel it all over your skin.
Sue and Becky planted potatoes and english peas and that marks the beginning of the planting season. We've got some tomatoe plants up and If all goes well they should be ready to plant in about a month.
It's raining again today and the ground is soaked. I need to get a dry week or two so I can get the ground plowed where we're going to plant tomatoes this year and get the plastic mulch put down. I've received a lot of my seed in the mail and I'm starting to get excited about the new growing season.
