John Indaburgh

I watched a video on the Atlas 10" 40volt pole saw. This one cuts much better than my saw. However the main difference I see is the battery. It's got over twice the voltage and by looking at it about 3 times the battery size. But you have to lift that big battery; maybe chest high as your cutting. The saw itself looks pretty much the same thing I have. 3 poles, even has the protuberance keeping the saw from getting into tight places. What's the deal with that protuberance? Is it to keep wood chips out of the chain pulley? Not enough guts to power thru scrap chips?

But when he cuts thru that 10 inch log it runs and sounds like my saw. He cut thru a 10 inch log in 2 minutes 5 seconds. Sounds like my pole saw cutting thru a 4 inch log. However my corded electric chain saw would cut thru that 10 inch log in what? maybe 10 seconds; at the end of 4 extension cords.. My pole saw when cutting sounds like it slows down often while cutting like this one did. In the video linked to above if you watch the chain you can see it slow till it almost stops.

The price: $210 for the Atlas with 1 battery and a charger. For $230 you can get a Troy Bilt gas pole saw. Or for $8.99 a pruner with no pole. I was recently shopping on-line for a pruning saw on a pole and remember seeing them for $40-$50 but can't find them now.

I have a Black and Decker with an 18V battery. I would guess that you might get 20 minutes of cutting with a new battery. The batteries become useless after the second year. I would suggest you get at least 2 batteries; one extra above the one that comes with it. Even with a new freshly charged battery the cuts take much longer than with a gas saw. As the battery wears down it still cuts but you don't get much cutting done because it's running slower while your still holding all that weight up at the end of that long lever.

The pole saw I have has a  protuberance sticking out right behind the back of the chain so that you can't get it into some places where there are multiple branches.

Keep in mind what trees you want to cut. An apple tree is close to as hard as an oak tree so if your cutting peaches and pears the saw will be much more efficient than cutting oak or apples.

If you only have a few trees and your young and handy I would suggest a manual pruning saw on a long collapsible pole. There are no obstructions except a 2 inch high blade and the pole. And you can get quick clean cuts close to the trunk. The saw will cut well as you're using your own power which is much greater than the battery saw. And replacement blades are cheaper than a chain.

I believe this may be your property. It's traditional. some places or with some. to install a fence 1 foot in from the property line. If you installed or had installed the fence you may know this isn't true. But a sign on either end of the fence may keep them from cutting in the future.

I meant to add that shorter scion sticks won't attract as many bird landings. But then there's less chance of one bud coming to life.

I whip and tongue grafted 3 Bartlett and 2 Bosc scions to my Bradford pear tree on March 9. The scions came from Fedco and arrived in early March. The tree is blooming now, on April 8, and I assume the grafts are healed. I also drill grafted 1 each of Bartlett, Bosc, and a Honeysweet to a feral seed grown pear tree on March 16; a good 3 weeks ago. I still don't see any bud swelling on any of the scion sticks. They arrived about 8 inches long and I cut off about 2 to 3 inches on those I drill grafted so allow me to tap the scions into the hole in the tree. i later measured the cut off pieces and determined that I had a drill bit and should have also drill grafted the scions tips. I determined a 9/64 bit would have been appropriate. I didn't use them though as they were dried out.

I also ordered 4 D'Anjou scions from a supplier in California and asked for early March arrival. It's now April 8 and I haven't even received shipping notification so they won't even arrive in early April a month late. What I received last year, from a different source, was scions that were leafing out and I guess that's what I'll get this year also. I don't think it's good to have freshly grafted scion sticks waving in the wind with a lot of sail surface to pick up the wind. And how does a scion stick with green leafs on it get moisture out  to the leaves thru a fresh graft union?

I tried to get scions from " Scion Exchange". I made 4 offers to trade and never received a reply from any of those folks.

The tree the Honeysweet scion came from is on a lot next door; where they're finishing up a new house. Shortly after cutting my scion they were spreading out the soil from the house foundation and pulled out a 20+ inch tree and flung the whole tree against the Honeysweet tree smashing it into the ground.

If you root a sucker taken from below the graft you will get a copy of the rootstock and it will retain the characteristics of the original rootstock, including its dwarfing  characteristics. Same thing applies to airlayering.

And if you root or graft a cutting (scion) off  the tree above the graft you will get a full size copy of the desired apple variety. If you airlayer a branch from above the graft on your original tree the resulting growth will retain all the characteristics of the variety and the rootstock will have no bearing on that resulting tree. If it did retain the vigor of your variety and the rootstock we could forget about grafting.

To get a copy of your current tree including its dwarfing characteristics you would need a rooted sucker from below the graft and then graft a cutting from above the graft on the original tree.

I think you should get some of that manure that you mentioned above and test it, pick out the oldest well composted manure. Mix some of it with your soil in a small container and plant bean seeds in that mix. If the resulting plants look fine after a couple of weeks pursue the simple method of digging in about 3 inches of the same manure a spade deep and planting your garden in that soil. Had you done that last year you'd have had a fine crop of everything you planted.

In my opinion there's no better or cheaper way to start a new garden. Myself I won't use manure in it that has a lot of wood chips mixed in. That's a sign that they use wood chips to soak up the urine in the stalls. In my opinion the wood chips soak up the nitrogen so you have to wait years for any benefit from the organic matter. You've already become discouraged from wood products in the garden. I find that if you plant seeds in your garden soil that you do not want wood products in the soil.

First. Thank you for your service from a sailor.

In the spirit of cheap lawn care I'm going to suggest you ask at a Starbucks for used coffee grounds. And borrow a digging fork from a friend or neighbor and fork the worst and hardest spots. Then spread the coffee grounds. You might ask at more than one coffee shop.

Also if you're in an area where perennial rye, fescues and Kentucky Blue grasses grow well. The fescues and the Kentucky Blue will not grow as tall as the perennial rye so you may not be mowing much other than the rye and the weeds. The fine fescues will go to seed while the grass is shorter than what your mowing. So if you see patches of grass with seeds; if you mow those area lower and bag the seeds you can spread the seed in other areas and it will sprout. Free seeds! IF you keep the fescue watered deeply and often enough you will get a sod that's awesomely thickly rooted. I've seen 6" sods in raw clay.

I've always said that weather always averages out. We'll see. All it takes is one cold spell to end our early gardening plans err dreams.

I'm still waiting for fruit tree scions I ordered for early March delivery to be shipped from California. They must know something.

Your vineyard looks well maintained to me.

I don't think the slope is too steep for a vineyard/orchard.

A possible use for the trellis is to support dwarf fruit trees.

Mulching along the rows would cut down the weeding problem/work and improve the quality of the grapes/berries/fruit. I'd suggest you use bulk mushroom compost unless you have the largest supply of home made compost known to mankind.

I hope you find a use for the grapes so they can be saved. I think the grapes would make some folks thrilled to ferment wine; no matter the variety.