What's on your Spring to do, to add, to get list?

[sahmofthree]

Bump for pictures added in my first post!

[fish3737]

Okay this is fun:

I need to finish covering my raised beds to keep the weeds down. This year I'm doing thick layers of straw. Like a bale for every raised bed. In the past I've done corn plastic (black plastic that breaks down), newspaper, cardboard sheets (you can get in giant 5 foot wide rolls).

I've spread manure already and weeded so they are ready to cover. Then I plant into the straw. I use straw because hay reseeds itself like crazy, but straw doesn't.

This is what the beds look like: I have four groupings in the garden that are symmetrical



I have four old clawfoot tubs with strawberries:



I need to weed out the old strawberries in a couple and plant in new ones (or at least the runners that are hitting the ground - those can go in and be new plants)

I have like 30 blueberry bushes, and about 20 blackberry and raspberry bushes. I need to figure out which type of raspberries and how to prune them back - so need to be pruned to the ground and others left along.

I have a huge clean-up list.

I could seriously spend all day in my garden uninterrupted and not be finished.

LOL

[pgkcb13]

Oi. I'm with the 'what isn't' group, lol.

*Finish play house
*Install boardwalk behind shed (play area for kids)
*Design/install trellis between back yard and side yard
*Till/amend bed on the side of the house and plant blueberries
*Level back yard lay grass seed
*Order plants (columnar apple trees, dwarf peaches, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries)
*Plant veggie beds (two 4'x4' beds, two 1'x4' beds, 4 tires... so far)
*Plant beans along fence
*Install gutter garden on front porch and plant with lettuce
*Make hanging tomato planters and plant tomatoes
*Re-work compost system (worm bin?)
*Research ducks (!!!)
*Plant herbs
...I'm certain I"m missing a few things... but I'm excited at all the ways we're working thins in to our less than .25 acre piece of land

[fish3737]

Originally Posted by pgkcb13 Oi. I'm with the 'what isn't' group, lol. *Finish play house *Install boardwalk behind shed (play area for kids) *Design/install trellis between back yard and side yard *Till/amend bed on the side of the house and plant blueberries *Level back yard lay grass seed *Order plants (columnar apple trees, dwarf peaches, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries) *Plant veggie beds (two 4'x4' beds, two 1'x4' beds, 4 tires... so far) *Plant beans along fence *Install gutter garden on front porch and plant with lettuce *Make hanging tomato planters and plant tomatoes *Re-work compost system (worm bin?) *Research ducks (!!!) *Plant herbs ...I'm certain I"m missing a few things... but I'm excited at all the ways we're working thins in to our less than .25 acre piece of land

I love the idea of the gutter garden. I don't have a front porch, but I can totally picture it.

I espliered (sp) my fruit trees it works great for a small space. I mainly did it because I wanted the fruit to be easy to get by the kids.

[pgkcb13]

Originally Posted by fish3737 I love the idea of the gutter garden. I don't have a front porch, but I can totally picture it. I espliered (sp) my fruit trees it works great for a small space. I mainly did it because I wanted the fruit to be easy to get by the kids.

What is that? (<--- very clueless gardener, lol)

[aiyana4969]

Originally Posted by sahmofthree That's a great idea to take before pictures, I wish I would've thought to do it before we cleared bush, then you'd really see a huge change! I'll try to remember to take some and post them tomorrow. I'm lucky, my dh is as into the projects as I am. He's also a welder and a heavy equipment operator (well technically he's just a boss now but used to be those things) and is able to borrow heavy machinery from work which has made quick work of our bush. Saved us a TON of money!! Plus he loves to design and build things, which makes it nice for me since I don't have to nag at him to get things done.

Thanks for the pics! My Dh is an Electronics tech so he builds gadgets and fixing things we break like the cd player, tv, vacume cleaners, anything that runs on electricity he can fix. He's getting better at his handyman skills and actually bought a mitre saw this spring. He's been cutting the trees for me (gotten a couple down so far) but he gets his chainsaw stuck, has bent and/or put the bar on upside down and the chain kept popping off. He fixed that and then he got it stuck again (it's a puny saw that he thinks is powerful and adequate for our large trees and hardwoods. To be fair he was raised in a city, soo...)

Oh and he does a good job fixing vehicles. He just did the brakes (rotors and all) this afternoon on his truck.

But he's rather build mechanical ghosts form my rotissery (He's actually done that) or other such gadgets for scaring the crap out of teenagers. Though he did make a bunch of tough Marines scream like girls when we were stationed aboard Camp Pendeton

He'll help me with things I cannot do because I"m not a big burly man or a big burly woman. But, the homesteading is ALL me and he reminds me of that. That's MY hobby, not his.

[aiyana4969]

everytime I cross off a project I add two more I swear