It's 38.8 F here this morning after a night of doormat-movin' wind. It was stuffy when we went to bed and is chilly this morning. What else would you expect from Texas?
They are topping our road with gravel again. That's the Wise County end. The first 1/4 mi in Montague County is hopeless.
I got my sweet peas planted yesterday (2 x 75' rows). My asparagus is really starting to pop out of the ground, but the spears are kinda purple and have a little of a bitter taste, though very good otherwise. I think this is the weather making them grow slowly and that's why they look a bit different. I fertilized the beds a bit and watered it in along with doing the same to my 560 onions and two rows of peas. I decided to wait another week before planting beans just to be sure I don't catch a frost on the young sprouts. Peas can handle some cold/frost, but beans frost-burn if you have a heavy frost.
I got my dirt smoothing and spreading done. I hooked my two spring-tooth harrow sections behind my Kawasaki Mule and started going in circles to spread the dirt.
The area where I'm spreading; I've had topsoil on most of it for several months and it has a hard surface. Last weekend and last week, I hauled about 30 more yards of topsoil to cover the flat area and the lip of the drop-off. I keep a ridge on the drop-off to the ponds because I don't want water running over and rutting/eroding away the fresh fill dirt.
The job proved too much for the Kawasaki Mule. I thought about these horse-drawn harrows and wondered how many times they had been pulled by real horses or mules.
On the flat area, the Mule did fine, but 4wd proved not as good as 4-hoof drive on rough and uneven areas. I decided to switch to my tractor and not take a chance on damaging the Mule after I was turning and went up on a pile of loose dirt with the left front wheel. All of a sudden, my accelerator stuck ( I think a clod held it full). The Mule lurched forward, and I reached up to shift to neutral. With my foot holding the brake, I quickly shifted out of low range, but went past neutral and straight into reverse. The Mule lurched backwards; even with the brake as hard as I could push it. So, I quickly turned OFF the key, but not before the Mule ran over the edge of the harrow. Even with the key OFF, the Mule continued to diesel from the gas pedal being all the way to the floor. After the engine finally died, I reach down to pull the pedal back and it came back easily with my hand. I got off the Mule and inspected for damage and saw none. Only a corner of the harrow was under the Mule, so I pulled the harrow out and disconnected. I started the Mule and it drove right out like nothing had happened. I drove it around a bit and all was normal. I figured I'd dodged the bullet and better use the right tool. I parked the Mule and brought over my tractor.
Sometimes new technology is great, but sometimes the old technology is so good it will bring tears to your eyes. This spring-tooth harrow behind my tractor worked like magic. After several passes, the ground smoothed right out. I don't think I know of any better tool that isn't PTO powered. The harrow worked especially well since there were few grass roots in the soil. It even picked rocks and brought them to the surface.
After the harrow, I unrolled some old chainlink fencing until I had a small roll on the end and wired it so it would not fully unroll. I just placed a bale of hay in front of the rear roll of chainlink and dragged the area to smooth it out in preparation for grass seeding. The chainlink also worked perfectly. It was a very good afternoon of enjoyable work on a BEAUTIFUL day.
Now ya'll get out there and enjoy this wonderful Texas springtime weather.:thumbsup:
