Spring in Between (Gorham, Freeport: house, income, taxes)

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Most of the snow is gone here. There are still patches where the sun doesn't hit. The ground is too wet to plow or till. Fiddleheads are not up yet. I bought two grease fittings for the snowblower and I'll have that all greased before I put it away for the summer.

I guess I'll put the back hoe on the tractor. The ground is just hard enough that I won't get stuck, but soft enough to dig up stumps. I have some pine stumps in a field that have been there three years. The roots should be just rotted enough and the soil soft enough for ideal stump pulling. If I position the tractor just right I should be able to get two stumps without moving the tractor.

This is the ideal time for outdoor projects before the garden can be planted and the fishing gets really good, two high priority activities. Everybody knows it is foolhardy to plant anything here before the full moon in May.

[elston]

Full of the Moon end of May: I know we can get a killing frost then! It seems hard to believe and with the garden shops full of tender annuals, it is tempting....but I know better. I have put in some pereninals, in fact quite a few perennials, but go out and cover them when the frosts seem likely. One hosta that was a bit too far along has suffered and I broke the tip off a bleeding heart trying to get it under cover. I am so anxious for planting time to be here....but today everything is so wet I couldnt plant anyway. I don't have any stumps to pull or equipment to grease or put away....so I am stuck "In Between" and chaffing at the bit! I also can't truly assess how shady some spots will be once the leaves are out on the trees.

[Nor'Eastah]

Down here in RI, spring has fully 'sprung' and while veggie planting hasn't started yet, there has been no snow since February. Some early veggies are grown by others, such as mustard, spinach. early lettuce, and radish. The main crops have yet to go in.

I must say that after the very snowy winter you Mainers have described on this forum, the temps and snow here in RI were much more moderated this year than usual. The climate is definitely more forgiving here in winter. It is often intolerably hot in summer, which is a problem for both my wife and myself. The heat problem is exacerbated by the proximity to the ocean, which adds stultifying humidity.

Our worst complaint with it is the cost of living in this more 'temperate' climate. I know, you have terrible taxes up in Maine (?). Can't possibly compete with here. We are both hoping that our move up there will save us enough to retire comfortably on the lower income that we are expecting after retirement. Impossible to retire here...many of our neighbors just say, "We'll never retire...we can't afford to."

I'd rather take the cold and snowy winters, and enjoy my retirement!

[forest beekeeper]

I do not see any snow remaining around here.

We have sliced a bunch of drums in half and made planters from them. We have re-strung our electric netting around the garden and it is hot once again.

Most of our garlic beds have garlic shooting up through the mulch.

Our window sills are filled with sprouts. My Dw was transplanting yesterday [with the firepump running] and complaining that she ran out of window sill, but still has more transplanting to be done.

I need to get started building our greenhouse.

So far we have planted the apple trees, bulbs and hardy perennials [strawberries and horse-radish].

[bringselpup]

I was snowshoeing our property the weekend of 3/30 and a week later walking the same trail in rubber boots. We did have a tiny bit of frost end of last week just after that day of rain that flooded FB out of house and home.

I have my Fedco tree's and daylilies in the ground and planted 3 roses this morning I found at Mardens yesterday.

I bought the lumber to do a 12x8 shed yesterday so I'm off to plug in my tools and git er done.

I'll be needing something else I found at Mardens too, they have a $7.99 package with two cans of Repel 40% deet and a small pump spray of 100% deet.

The weekends rain was the trigger for blackflies here.

[elston]

Haven't had blackflies here in Gorham (yet) but I just came in from spreading mulch and the , what ever you call em, be it gnats, or no-see-ems, or midges.....they are out in abundance. They don't seem to bite but I have em in my ears, and breathed in a few and had em in my mouth! "The way life should be!" lol

This will be the third time we've tried to get the mulch right....we were really intending it to mark the paths and provide non muddy footing: 1).red chip mulch-- too unnatural;
2) forest brown bark mulch--to soggy itself and kept the paths wet 3) spread both the red and brown shredded bark mulch over all the beds and lay out new paths using brown wood chip mulch. It is all looking better and better, as well it should for the time and money invested....but I want it to begin to look like I see it in my minds eye! Are we there yet?

[Maineah]

I have to get my mulch ordered soon. We get a 13 yard truck dump load every spring. We use it up though! It's gone by mid June.
I have decided that our lawn is too big and to save gas and labor we're going to let some of it return to field.
The black flies are out in Freeport! I had them buzzing all around me yesterday while I was scraping the house!