Feeling Overwhelmed....

[applestar]

It's here! That time of the spring when

1) for various reasons, I have plants that needed to be planted last week but are still in their too-small pots.
2) I still have beds that have not been prepped for planting
3) ...and planted beds that need weeding and/or mulching (everything is growing like MAD!)
3) plants that finished the spring flush of blooms and need pruning
4) days are hot like summer, leaving me anxious to plant the rest of the hot weather seeds that could have been sown last week
5) the hot days are making the #1 plants dry out so they have to be watered every day
6) if it's not hot, it's raining and humid (sometimes its all three) and fungal disease prevention regimen should have been started already. Starting to see spots of various colors on plants.
7) rest of the overwintered indoor plants to be taken outside to acclimate and eventually settle in their respective sun exposure spots
early spring planted crops that need to be harvested and processed

...then just to make things more interesting, it's 53°F and raining today -- all (most of) my tropicals have left the house and are suppose to be vacationing outside -- and the forecast is 45°F tonight and 43°F tomorrow night... And oh yeah don't forget to subtract 2-3°F ... 41°F? What am I supposed to do:?

...etc. etc. etc. etc. etc...........

[imafan26]

Oh the joys and pains of gardening. Don't you love it

[rainbowgardener]

Yup, it's still spring and spring is the busiest time in the garden. My garden is exceptionally lush with all the rain, I have a ton of trees and perennials I ordered that need to be planted, plus some left overs of all the stuff I grew, and I just got back from being in vacation in the Big Apple since early last Sun, so everything has been going on without me. But we love it, overwhelmed and all!

[tomf]

No never bored!
I have a little list of my own that may be to big to take the time to write, so here is a short list; as I am up early and it may help me to get organized I will write it. I am not crying just trying to get a plan in my head.

It has been raining for going on three weeks, with a half dry day where I got the lawns mowed, I still need to take the rider mower to do the edging off the lawns.
The weeds are out of control.
I need to repair the green house.
I need to repair and improve the drip system for the garden and the berry garden.
I need to mulch around the berries.
I have downed trees to cut up, some will need to be cabled out of where they are, and some are big.
I need to plant my planters and hanging baskets.
There is always work to be done on the power tools and tractors.
Trim up some trees for fire prevention; I have to do this one area at a time, I would like to have everything with in 500 feet of the house under control.
Then the garden!!!!
I am going through the house getting ride of junk and spring cleaning.
I have to paint the sheds.
I have to rework the gutters.
I have stumps to dig out.
I have logs at at a place 45 minutes from here to cut up and split, lots of ones that a 25" bar has to be used on both sides of the log.
There is a pile of small logs on my land to cut up for fire wood, and some to load up and bring to the wood shed.
I want to make more benches from the glue lams I have.
My neighbor wants to make roads at the lower end of all of our land by the creek with his bulldozer, so that will become a summer project.
Did I say weeding? LOL
Trim up the trees and hedges on the road.
Landscape the west side of the house.
Put a new motor on the boat and fix it up.
Work on the RV that I don't have time or can't get a sitter for my wife's dad to use.
Now for the big job! I am building an out building, this will take up most of my summer.
Then I need to find time to live life, work out, play music, write songs, and edit my video from the ski season.
Oh and fix some electronic devices I have.
Find time for doing my hobbies. To tell you the truth sometimes I enjoy the rain as I can do them.
Ok, the list is not that short, but there is always more, and my wife has a list for me as well. LOL

[tomf]

Sometimes I think we use this forum as a mental health tool. Rainbow you'r the pro, what do you think.

[gumbo2176]

No never bored!
I have a little list of my own that may be to big to take the time to write, so here is a short list; as I am up early and it may help me to get organized I will write it. I am not crying just trying to get a plan in my head.

It has been raining for going on three weeks, with a half dry day where I got the lawns mowed, I still need to take the rider mower to do the edging off the lawns.
The weeds are out of control.
I need to repair the green house.
I need to repair and improve the drip system for the garden and the berry garden.
I need to mulch around the berries.
I have downed trees to cut up, some will need to be cabled out of where they are, and some are big.
I need to plant my planters and hanging baskets.
There is always work to be done on the power tools and tractors.
Trim up some trees for fire prevention; I have to do this one area at a time, I would like to have everything with in 500 feet of the house under control.
Then the garden!!!!
I am going through the house getting ride of junk and spring cleaning.
I have to paint the sheds.
I have to rework the gutters.
I have stumps to dig out.
I have logs at at a place 45 minutes from here to cut up and split, lots of ones that a 25" bar has to be used on both sides of the log.
There is a pile of small logs on my land to cut up for fire wood, and some to load up and bring to the wood shed.
I want to make more benches from the glue lams I have.
My neighbor wants to make roads at the lower end of all of our land by the creek with his bulldozer, so that will become a summer project.
Did I say weeding? LOL
Trim up the trees and hedges on the road.
Landscape the west side of the house.
Put a new motor on the boat and fix it up.
Work on the RV that I don't have time or can't get a sitter for my wife's dad to use.
Now for the big job! I am building an out building, this will take up most of my summer.
Then I need to find time to live life, work out, play music, write songs, and edit my video from the ski season.
Oh and fix some electronic devices I have.
Find time for doing my hobbies. To tell you the truth sometimes I enjoy the rain as I can do them.
Ok, the list is not that short, but there is always more, and my wife has a list for me as well. LOL

Now you see why farm families of old were so large. Built in labor force to spread the chores around.

[tomf]

It would be nice Gumbo to have a bit of help, but I am to old for kids. I do have friends that are in their 50's with young kids, I find this nuts as they will be in their 70's when the kids are in collage.

Oh I am getting RID of stuff, not ride of stuff, never see the typos until it is too late not to look dumb.
I am riding the stuff that I am getting rid of out the door.

One of the stumps I am digging out from a tree that had died, I wish I had a backhoe.

[watermelonpunch]

Hmmm still can't figure out what this is:
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 52&t=52373
So I don't know what to do about digging up the bulbs & putting them somewhere else.
So I have the died back plants just lying in a path.

I have a cluster of grape hyacinths that need to be moved to a more secure location where they would actually be both contained and appreciated.

A squirrel died in the storm the other night because the top went off a reserve rain barrel & the squirrel somehow was blown into it and drowned.

And after somehow surviving the nutty winds & rains of that same storm... my robin with the nest in the lilac tree disappeared - presumed dead. A crow knocked the eggs out onto the ground. And the big bellied robin who was her mate, is now hanging around the front yard chirping & chirping.

Oh, and that same storm completely decimated all but 3 snow pea vines (out of about 60).
I don't know if it's too late, but I might try replanting because my husband really really really likes snow peas - his favourite vegetable.
They were already 1ft high, so I have a lot of debris vines all over my vegetable plot now.

Oh, and on top of that, earlier this week I believe I strained something in my torso shoveling dirt. And now I've been plagued with these odd aches & pains all over my chest, shoulders, and neck, that come & go, and are quite annoying and distressing.
I'm not going to claim to be the most physically fit person around... But I do believe that gardening tends to work muscles most people wouldn't be using regularly for any other purpose!!!

So anyway, I relate to the word "overwhelmed". :/

[RamonaGS]

I'm building on an almost blank slate here. So minimal weeding, but what to plant, what will survive, and where is my issue. Plus my health gets in the way, lol

[!potatoes!]

yup. lots to do and not quite enough time to do it.

it would be nice to take a day off work and catch up on stuff, but as luck would have it, a bunch of other people are are taking time off, so I'm stuck being the reliable one, working more than usual.

need to:
seed more warm weather stuff
get more tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, husk tomatoes, yacon in the ground at home
get the rest of the big yacon planting in up at 'the field'...and a bed of cowpeas, too
dig more beds for the warm weather stuff
procure bean poles...will probably go pick at a site where they cut under powerlines, that I see on the way to work every day
plant beans, more cowpeas, etc.
keep an eye on the diverse scorzonera stand I've got going so I can claim seed as it comes ripe.
so much weeding

...there's more, but I don't want to scare myself.

[Green Mantis]

After moving to our little old house, had reno's done. I had all sorts of ideas what I was going to grow this

year. Bought heritage, spray free seeds. All ready to go. "Not". It has not stopped raining/blowing and

often hailing for weeks. Thunderstorms everyday. This is downright depressing. I haven't managed to plant

one thing. If I had planted anything, the hail would have got it all.

I've come to the conclusion that if you don't have a greenhouse here, you might as well forget it.

Luckily there are some well established bushes and trees here. So instead of planning on planting a bunch of

flower beds this year ( after I was going to plant veggies) I will just try and get places ready for next year.

Plus we desperately need to build a 6 ft fence, out the front of our place,, by the road. That's where the

wicked winds blow across a big open farmers field right into our place. At least it sure would help our poor

plants. The bushes and bulbs I planted last year actually did live. At least I have flowers to look at.

Yes they aren't done yet. They came up so late. So I guess this year will be spent planning, instead of

planting. I just want summer!!!!!!

[RamonaGS]

Mantis, does the weather straighten up in July? Could you maybe grow some herbs on the window sills or something?

[tomf]

I have been adding to my list of things to do! It is going to rain for a few days, I put in very long days on the non-raining days this week. I am going to do some house work and play music, let it rain.

[Green Mantis]

Doesn't usually get better until about the end of august.

This year seems to be shaping up to like last year.

It got better the end of August, then had nice weather until oct. 23rd. then it snowed for the winter.

But I am determined to get something's in. As long as the hail doesn't get it.

The last two years have been awful. We moved out here 5 1/2 yrs ago and the weather has been getting

worse every year.

[imafan26]

It has been raining every day for a few hours and almost every nite. It isn't enough for some of the potted plants but the weeds are loving it and the grass keeps growing too where I don't want it. It seems to rain when I want to go out and do some work in the yard. Weeds are easier to pull when the ground is wet but it is messier and heavier to haul off.

I am having to spray the tomatoes, squash,cucumbers, beans every few days with fungicides because the humidity that follows the rain will bring on mildew.

The seedlings are running out of room and I have more to pot up. I can't put some of them in the ground until the ground dries up a little more.

So much to do, and it just ain't getting done fast enough.