Fair weather, time to catch up

I was really hoping to use a few days of vacation this spring to ease into gardening.  Snow and cold later into the spring followed by weeks of rain and soggy ground have thwarted that plan.  Now that the fair weather is here, work has me too busy to take the days I have.  Weekends are catch up time now.

My plan this morning was to clean up the gardens.  I wanted to get the evergreen boughs up from the sprouting beds and get the leaves out of the corners.  I also was ready with my pruning saw.  Before I knew it, I was up in the sugar maple doing a long awaited clean up, and training prune.  Next was the columnar maple in the backyard.  This one has surpassed the second floor of the house and had two large branches I wasn't liking.  Already tired from climbing the sugar maple, I reluctantly got out the extension ladder and went to work. Branches that are six inches plus in diameter do not come off easily.  To do a proper pruning cut, you have to reduce the weight on the end of the branch, under-cut then over-cut the branch about 18" from the trunk, and then complete the cut with a cut outside the branch bark ridge at about a 45 degree angle.  Essentially you cut it twice through the thickest part of the branch.  I was not using a chain saw.  I am feeling it now or is it my age?

I didn't stop there because I have three bushes to dig and transplant.  To make it easier later, I cut them down six inches from the ground using my long handled lopper.  Digging did not happen today for reasons stated above.  I plan on sleeping well tonight.

On the upside, the job is done and I spent some time puttering in my beds picking up small evergreen boughs for the remainder of the afternoon.  It is so encouraging to see the new life poking up through the mulch.  The color of the new shoots can be so different from the full grown leaves.  The Virginia blue bells are purple rolls of shiny leaves.  The blood root is just starting to send up flowers.  Tiny blue flowers from several spring bulbs are showing in all kinds of areas where they have been planted among the ground covers.  It was a beautiful day to be in the yard.

I think I will close here and take some ibuprofen.  Forgive me for not proof reading.