Monday, June 17, 2013

It must be Spring

Ahh, it is that time of year again - Grounds Maintenance!

There has been plenty of rain this spring, which means the driveway and the field look like one.
I have been giving the driveway an annual spray with herbicide. Last year I used a 1 gallon sprayer and Ortho GroundClear 2 gal. Concentrate Vegetation Killer. The herbicide worked great, but the single gallon sprayer was foolish - fill, pump, lift,  spray for 10 seconds, set down, pump, repeat. As I'm sure many of you remember, this driveway is over 600 feet long. It took days to do the entire driveway this way.
This year I bought a better pump - a Chapin 61700N SureSpray Deluxe Backpack Poly Sprayer, 4-Gallon, and a different herbicide - I had forgotten I had used Ortho, and instead bought Roundup 32 oz. Concentrate Extended Control Weed and Grass Killer Plus Weed Preventer. I know, supporting the devil, but the job was done before I remembered. The Roundup only promises 4 months, and the Ortho promised 12 months. With winters up here I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes, but we shall see.

Last year I also sprung and bought a Toro 2-Cycle 25.4 cc Curved Shaft Gas Trimmer - this allowed me to trim out both sides of the driveway in near record time. Okay, it was record time - it only took 3 days of fighting 3' high grass, as compared to weeks using the scythe. As much as I love using the scythe (and I really do), getting the driveway DONE was a real pleasure.


And remember the last post about being able to count on rain? Yep, another rainy year - back to Mudfest! Last year was a break, but the year before... ugh.
A local business delivered 5 cubic yards of mulch, so I spent some time trying to change the texture of the trail.
Before:
 
After:


Didn't get it all done, but simple enough to do. Now if would just stop raining so I could enjoy it!

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