been growing June producing strawberries for years now- bed bout 4' x 30-nice medium to large berries
cover them with pine needles  in winter and pull most of it in early spring leaving a few inches to keep the berries off the ground-a little 10-10-10 early
and an occasional watering -they just keep coming and seem very healthy with little to almost no maintenance--gotta keep a net on them or the birds eat more than we do

well a lousy day but the inch of rain was a lot but not an inch -the wind was stiff but no limbs down and the 1 to 3 inches of snow after the rain is about a half inch
Figure we won on this one-cold now  though

I was pretty whipped yesterday evening.
Had to do some snow clearing after the 8" we got. I love ice but hate snow. Ended my season last week.
Think SPRING !!

I've never had much luck with containers. I know Gerry does but he's doing something different ( hydroponic) that seems to work much better than traditional planting in dirt.
My experience has been they don't get enough nutrients in a container.
Wish you luck.
I'm gonna have to dig out more 4" pots I have stuffed away somewhere in the pile of things I cleaned out of the mancave and put in my shed.
Today my goal is to burn all the piles of scrap wood accumulated from the house project. Here in NY we have a burn ban that goes into affect starting March 15th so it's now or never.
We also have a tremendous amount of ground sausage that dosen't seem to get used as quickly as I'd like do I'm going to start stuffing a bunch into links.
There's no rest for the weary here on our homestead but I like to stay busy.
Peace and tuna

P.S.
I've had great success with raspberries and blackberries. Buy a couple of the plants from TS or a nursery and plant in the spring as soon as ground is workable.
Make some trellis to train them and the following year they will produce.
You'll be surprised how quickly they establish.

So I came home and opened the door and smelled earth from the seed starters. It was nice to have a sense of spring in coming.

Threw some 10-10-10 today. I'll let it set in for a bit. No where near time to till. Out of those 3 flats I'm prolly better than half sprouted already. I'm thinking about transplanting them at the end of next week into my peats. Was a great day to be outside today. Ran the chainsaw, stacked some wood and shoveled out Lord knows what outta the firepit. What part of burnables only don't these people understand???

All the seeds I planted 7 days ago have sprouted. Now I have to work on getting lights setup. Today I want to get some raised beds together and put some peas in the ground and work on the pig stall.
Took day off yesterday from farm/garden stuff to work on the boat. Stripers will be just around the corner and don't want to scramble.
Changed all fluids and a new bilge pump ( pia). Turned key and she fired right up.
Everything seems mechanically good.
Peace and tuna

You got my wheels turning, HT. Looks like I might be upgrading my set up. I like the reflective backing and curtain. I'd imagine it keeps the heat in. I transplanted everything that came up. Right around 100 tomato plants. I'm going to get that raised bed done next week. It's been raining off and on here almost everyday. I'll put a couple pics up when one of the girls get home from school. I have trouble posting from my Samsung. Seems to only work with an iPhone picture. 🙄.

J
Are you planting outside already? Going to freeze this weekend…

Cool.
 
Do you guys do squash inside first?  Mine is getting huge.
 
Half of my other seeds haven't even taken yet and that thing has already outgrown my first container.

I don't start any vine plants, their roots are kinda temperamental. I've learned they catch up just as fast anyways when planted as seeds directly in the hills. Zukes, cukes, pickles, koosa (white squash) , pie pumpkins and I'm gonna try cantaloupes again this year. Here's the tomatoes so farAttachments are not available: Download requirements not met
Attachments are not available: Download requirements not met
Attachments are not available: Download requirements not met

Lots poke up in the south facing beds. I'd say 97% return so far.
East and west beds are still under the straw.
Pretty sure I did 400. We are just starting to run low from last years harvest.
Same as sauce.
Chickens are down to about 6 whole and maybe 12 halves. New batch harvest is about early July.
Pork is still good, which timing works great for slaughter on September.
Been out of beef for about 3 months.
That beef will be welcomed in April. I doubled down on a whole cow.
Fish is depleted and probably won't be on the menu until stripers arrive.
Garden and farm duties is really important to us . It's hard work but so rewarding not relying on shopping.

Not this morning but its snowing out now. Yeah I'm pretty tired of crappy weather with so much to do outside.
The latest I've had snow was memorial weekend where we got hammered with about 30 ". Let's only hope the mud dries and the temperatures don't go from 30-80.

Now that my knee is a balloon and can hardly hobble, it really sucks..

That is how I did my cukes and squash the last time that I planted. I didn’t plant last year, since I had too much going on. I direct seeded most things and came up fine. Heck, I had a tomato plant grow on its own outside of my garden and dug it up and replanted... Figured that I’d give the pregrowing a try after seeing this. I did it for tomato plants one year before as well. Still learning myself.

Indoor seedlings are doing very well.
Now I just need to sustain them for another month before setting in ground.
Every single garlic clove I planted last fall has sprouted.
Big pig pen project gotta happen this weekend as the 3 little piglets arrive next week.
While I know they won't like it, I have a plan and am sick of a mud pen.
I'm lining the whole pen with symmetrical heavy duty pallets and then screwing 3/8" heavy conveyor belting on top.
I will have to keep hay on it to reduce heat and will leave a small area in the shade open I'd they want a mud pit but for the most part, it should stay dry and easy to clean.
After this weekend, I'm ready for a little short break of relaxing on the salmon river then back to more home projects before the stripers arrive in a short 3 weeks.

Yes, work never stops.. it's the time that seems to keep getting shorter. I love working on projects except there's not enough time between the full job and the real work necessary here. Here, a lot of things become a get'r done now and wish for the sweet work.
Someday I surely hope to have lots of free time to play with projects.
In this thread I miss Clint S. with his wisdom and attitude. Lots of projects and very little complaints.
The one key element to my struggles is not having a machine/ tractor. The loads only seem to get heavier with a wheelbarrow and shovel .
Happy spring 😀