For the last month, I have been doing spring clean-up jobs. It started with raking all the leaves off all of the back flower gardens. Then I had to change the oil in both mowers before I could mow the yard. I have a 40+ year old Sears mower and a newer Toro self-propelled. I call the Sears mower CindyLou because my friend Cindy gave it to me when I first moved to my little house in 2018. CindyLou starts on the first pull every time. I got the Toro from my sister 5 or 6 years ago, and it is needier; it needs a clean air filter, premium gas, and this year, a new spark plug. Yes, my first time changing the spark plug, but I still couldn’t get El Toro to start, so I took it to Ace Hardware, and they gave it a tuneup. While El Toro was in for a tune-up, I mowed the front and back yards with CindyLou. I believe she mowed for the last time. She was just chugging along for the last part of the backyard, great for being over 40!

Next, I planted the vegetable garden. I now have six 4×4-foot raised beds. I planted the peas on April 26th, then a few days later I planted the green beans, beets, and carrots. The day before Mother’s Day, I planted the tomato plants, green and yellow peppers, zucchini, eggplants, and cucumber plants. I also have sunflowers and marigolds planted. Each year, I create a map of my garden items with dates planted so I know when the seeds should be popping up. I had to replant about a row of green beans, who knows why some seeds never sprout.

Then I began power washing, first the side porch, house siding, and driveway on the north side of the house. So, on our first 80-degree day, I started. It needs to be warm because you get wet; there is no way around it.