End of April Inventory

I’ve been meaning to do this for a few weeks now, but last week I officially came down with a case of S1F1.  It turns out that I’ve had the disease before, but this weekend it hit hard.  S1F1, or Spring Fever, symptoms include among other things: restlessness; incessant wandering from the back yard to the front yard, and then back again; lots of projects started but none completed; regular spurts of cleaning followed by periods of listlessness; planning without follow through; mood swings.  If you have any of these symptoms, make sure to get checked out for Spring Fever right away.

Here’s what’s going on at the ol’ homestead:

In the vegetable department we have:
-spinach for the taking
-lettuces (two kinds) up
-peas growing
-radishes thinned
-kale, chard and potatoes planted
-garlic about 10 inches tall
-leeks started inside

Fruit wise:
-raspberries are leafing out
-strawberries are looking promising (which would be a surprise, since they never seem to produce fruit).
-one grape vine that might be dead  😦
-no sign of the rhubarb I planted last year  😦

Herbs – unfortunately, not everything made it to the spring this year:
-four little basil plants are inside waiting for the danger of frost to pass
-mint is out and up and tasty
-the stray raspberry canes to be turned into raspberry leaf tea
-a bay leaf plant is on my counter and has been alive since Christmas – this is an accomplishment for me!

Animals:
-the three pullets are growing and living in a bumper box in the garage.  They are pretty funny and good at chasing bugs so far.
-the five hens are ever-so-reluctantly using the new nest boxes.  Not sure why they are so unhappy with the change, but it’s made for lower egg numbers than usual.
-still have yet to identify the egg-eater.  I think I’ve narrowed it down to two possible suspects.  We may be offing them both if I can’t figure it out.
-the beehive is ready and waiting for a swarm so we can try again this spring

Free materials collected:
-pallets for compost bins
-stone for patio
-bricks for bed edging
-chipper
-80 pounds +/- of compost
-we’ve also been promised a free yard of manure, but it hasn’t come yet

Completed spring projects:
-the nest boxes
-two compost bins built, one filled
-early spring planting
-garden layout done
-neighbor’s beds made and ready

Started but incomplete projects:
-painting the hen house
-cutting down the tree
-mulching tree branches with the wood chipper
-building permanent beds in the main garden (they are laid out with stakes and string and some have plants in them already though)
-more tomato cages
-edging the front beds with brick
-building the patio
-Henry & Emmett’s backyard veggie bed

There are some big things on the future to-do list as well, but a lot of them depend on other projects getting completed first.  The biggies for me this year will be getting the new fence up on the north side of our property so we can make an asparagus bed there and replacing the clothes line I lost when we started cutting down the tree.  We eventually want a pergola with grapes over the future patio, but I think the tree cutting, patio building and baby having will take up most of our attention this summer, meaning we will probably not see that until next summer.

This of course is just what’s going on outside.  I still have my crazy inside to-do list running.  Oy.  What is wrong with us??  😉

What is going on in your garden so far?