Pruning and training grape vines

I worked with other master gardeners at the Neely Historic Garden in Kent on Saturday morning. We pruned the grape arbor and dig some other garden clean-up tasks. I had been feeling like it was too cold to work in the garden lately, but after I was outside in the sun, I decided I needed to get busy in my yard. Since I started the day pruning grape vines, I decided to tackle my vines. I have a Concord and Catawba that are three or four years old. My husband put in some metal fence posts to use for the main supports and to support the wires, which run horizontally at about three feet. Then I pruned according to the instructions in the following:
http://extension.wsu.edu/maritimefruit/Pages/GrapePruningBasics.aspx

After I finished with the grapes, I went on to clean up a couple garden areas, hoeing the little winter weeds and trimming up some spent perennials that had nothing left to offer the birds.
Now I'm off to rake some leaves, so I can fill up the yard debris bin before tomorrow's pick up! I started this yesterday and found it took quite a bit of time to rake or hand-pull leaves out from shrubs. It sure does look neater though!

Cleaning out catch basins

We had our favorite "excavator" Noel clean out the catch basin that is at the bottom of our little stream. Over the past seven years, it had nearly filled up with sediment, rocks, and debris that washed down the stream.
While it is never fun to have to pay for something like this, we have a responsibility to take care of these things that are on our property. When we saw what a big job it was, we were glad we had an expert take care of it! Noel had to unbolt the metal lid part(after clearing away some rocks), and place a pump  a little higher to divert some of the water. Then he cleared out the catch basin. I didn't see him working on it until late in the day, and he was six feet down in the basin! I didn't know it was so deep! It took him a little more than a full day to complete this job.

Insects in my worm bin - Springtails

Yuk!  I was about to put some lettuce in my worm bin and discovered millions of very tiny white bugs. I used a magnifying glass and took pictures, so I could get a closer look at them. I've determined they are Springtails and not harmful. But I think the bin is too moist, so I've added more shredded newspaper and dry leaves, and I am leaving the top off for while. Since there is uneaten food, I'm going to cut back on the amount of food I add to the bin. My worms seem to prefer lettuce over other produce, and we generate more than enough lettuce to feed them, so that is mostly what they get to eat.

Here is a photo of one of my red wigglers with masses of these tiny insects in the drainage tray.

Here is my worm bin, showing some of the leaves and shredded newspaper I added: