spring fever

I'm just wondering if it's just me or maybe this is a common occurrence as spring is approaching
I seem to be stirring internally, snow melting off beds, morning light getting early. sun coming back,
all signs of winter leaving my area although it really hasn't gone yet.
My mind and body appears to be coming out of the winter doldrums.
Is it me ? or do others feel the same ?

I'm with ya Jimmy.... all the way

Me too.  I've ordered my seeds for this year and bought some new cellpacks and seed starting mix to begin some cabbage and pansies next week and lettuce and impatiens the week after here in 5a.  I guess I've got the 'spring itch even with a couple feet of snow on the ground and more expected next week.

I've got it bad!  Last week temps were in the high 60's and daffodils are blooming, but April 15 is our official frost date.  I've started several varieties inside and will be planting tomato seeds today.

Same here. Luckily for us in the Houston area the temps have been in the 70's for over a week now. Yesterday I did manage to get our pollinator bed setup and planted. I also put some seedlings from the starter cells into solo cups to get them ready to go into the ground in a few weeks, (heirloom tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, squash, and peppers!). I setup our lettuce/spinach/salad bed and got it planted and I also set out about 20 onions from a set we bought.
We have a "cold" front coming through in a day or so but then after that the temps should rebound again and I'll be filling my other SFG's and a bunch of 5 gallon buckets!

Im REALLY itching to get outside.  We had a tease of 2 warm days over the weekend but now its cold again.

We have a rain coming this week. Yes, I said rain!   I finished up-potting my veggie seedlings and getting them into the outdoor green house. Still have a lot of flower and herb seedlings growing inside Can't wait to start planting in the bigger boxes as soon as the sun moves north just a little bit more. Right now, they are shaded by my neighbor's trees.

I was outside working in the yard yesterday, and the temperature was a very pleasant 55 degrees.

Until I started really hustling and walking up and down our hilly property. Then the sweatsuit hoodie had to come off. It's funny how when you're used to 35 and 40 degrees, 55 in even moderate sun can come to seem hot! Then I went in and tended the fire, reaching in to put thinner logs at the back of the andiron to balance out the fire.

When I was done with that I was reminded of summer all over again, and being exhausted from the heat! I don't miss that at all, and I'm not looking forward to it.

Kind of like when I'm cooking, and the heat over the range is 95 degrees. I tend to cook stuff that takes a long time to cook and needs a lot of attention. When I'm done, all I want to do is turn on the fan and sit in front of it. Everyone else is bundled up in sweaters.

Ahhh spring is in the air.  50's today, but then winter again as snow headin' our way. Still winter up here!

Saturday it was in the 60's here in Northern Virginia, this morning 5:00a.m. woke to 10"+ of snow with another 3 to 4" on the way before it is over. What is with the weather this year?? 

Yesterday was a gorgeous 52, overnight we got 4" of sleet and snow, with another 2-4 predicted for today. Good thing I have green things sprouting in the house or this could be downright depressing!

GG

Spring fever has hit hard!  Besides getting seedlings going, compacting leaf bins, adding sfg bed # 10 and replacing some worn out critter cages. Ordered more red worms.  I've split 3 worm bins among 9 bins and adding 2 thousand more wrigglers to refresh the herd for good measure. Also looking at the worm mega inn. It is sort of a large hanging laundry bag-like product that my sewing friend can make more economically than what's being offered online.  See how this pans out with the sale of fresh castings all summer at my farmers market along with llama beans too.  Garden Gold, here I come... 
I've resisted getting into the llama and worm manure business because for goodness sakes, it's manure!  But hey, if one has the resources, might as well go with the flow and see what happens.

llama momma wrote:I've resisted getting into the llama and worm manure business because for goodness sakes, it's manure!  But hey, if one has the resources, might as well go with the flow and see what happens.

OMG, are you kidding me?  This is a fantastic idea!  If folks know the value of these products you'll make a fortune. 

Let me know if you ever find an economical way to mail order the beans and I'll be first in line.  

CC

Once the new awakening of spring arrives & the cycle of life renews itself all sorts of hormonal changes occur in humans as well ... We awake with the spring cycle .

( Apparently that's why I was born on 21 Dec and my brothers and my sister are Capricorns or Sagittarians.    )

 I'm digging out almost all the older seeds that I have in my seed store and am sending them to some internet friends down near Dawlish .. they have lost most of their domestic dwelling , farm buildings and a 20 year old trailer home due to the massive storms earlier this year.

 They were living in the trailer whilst renovating & converting a 300 yr old stone barn into a six room dwelling whilst also constructing six holiday let log cabins that were due to be ready for rental at the end of April ..   Many of our internet  friends are rallying to them for a very long hard working long week end this coming week end  to help get the cabins up and running so as to get an income stream going again.
 

The insurers have refused to meet most of the claims for damage as none of the property or log cabins were  in a finished condition . I think out of £680 , 000 pounds ( a million dollars ??  ) they have only been offered £ £ 12,000 ( 18,000 dollars ) as insured losses.  

 I said to them on our website group , "Leave the barn conversion a while and get your garden up & running asap as you can't eat a nice clean half finished barn conversion " .

I'm off to post a rather large packet of half of all my many different seeds , seed potatoes , garlics 7 onion sets ( including some edible flower seeds like nasturtiums ) to them in a few minutes .
 

 Luckily their tracked excavator was untouched by falling trees or buildings so they have started to use it this morning to turn over a 100 x 50 foot rectangle of land to make a quick old style veg victory garden.

CapeCoddess wrote:

llama momma wrote:I've resisted getting into the llama and worm manure business because for goodness sakes, it's manure!  But hey, if one has the resources, might as well go with the flow and see what happens.

OMG, are you kidding me?  This is a fantastic idea!  If folks know the value of these products you'll make a fortune. 

Let me know if you ever find an economical way to mail order the beans and I'll be first in line.  

CC

 Vac packed in the larger sized embossed bags in 5 pound packets 10 packets in a strong double or triple walled cardboard box should work ..at least none of it would leak to smell or mess things up .

llama momma....Good luck on the new business venture into manures.  Good idea.  I hope you sell lots at the farmer's market.

plantoid....So sorry to hear the bad news about your friends losing so much in the storms.  How very sad.  I'm glad they have friends to rally round and that you can send them so many seeds and seed stock to help them get a garden going.  Good luck to them and their future.

plantoid wrote: friends down near Dawlish .. they have lost most of their domestic dwelling , farm buildings and a 20 year old trailer home due to the massive storms earlier this year.

 They were living in the trailer whilst renovating & converting a 300 yr old stone barn into a six room dwelling whilst also constructing six holiday let log cabins that were due to be ready for rental at the end of April ..   Many of our internet  friends are rallying to them for a very long hard working long week end this coming week end  to help get the cabins up and running so as to get an income stream going again.
 
The insurers have refused to meet most of the claims for damage as none of the property or log cabins were  in a finished condition . I think out of £680 , 000 pounds ( a million dollars ??  ) they have only been offered £ £ 12,000 ( 18,000 dollars ) as insured losses.  

.

Ouch!  They must be feeling absolutely despaired.  I guess they didn't have construction insurance.  In fact, I wonder if they even knew about construction insurance.The only reason I know about it is because my husband was once a general contractor. and he took out that insurance on our 2 flippers-turned-rentals until the building inspectors signed off.

I hope they get lots of strapping young folks to help with the "barn raising", or should I say, "cabin raising". And some wise gardeners to help with planting the victory garden with your seeds and sets. Very nice of you to share.

quiltbea wrote:llama momma....Good luck on the new business venture into manures.  Good idea.  I hope you sell lots at the farmer's market.

plantoid....So sorry to hear the bad news about your friends losing so much in the storms.  How very sad.  I'm glad they have friends to rally round and that you can send them so many seeds and seed stock to help them get a garden going.  Good luck to them and their future.

What she said.

Thanks everyone for the nice thoughts,  also Plantoid, hope your friends will pull through asap.

LM,  Go for it!!  

The birdsong of spring has started here and that makes spring "real" for me.  Sadly the snow is still so deep that I haven't been able to put the nest boxes together for the year yet.

I did start a few seeds of cabbage (first time trying to grow my own), and some parsley under the grow lights and they are doing wonderfully.  By my gardening books I should be able to be starting many more things now, but the weather cycle has been colder than normal and I'm a little nervous.  We had a significant snow again last night.  I may just be brave this weekend and get a few more seeds going.  Hopefully with grow lights I'll be able to keep them happy even if winter hangs on a little longer. 



llama momma - That sounds awesome!  My son-in-law just started a worm farm last year and they gave me a couple big bags of the castings for Christmas!  I've been reading about starting an inside worm bin just to help deal with kitchen scraps here in the great white north during winter.  I didn't get time this season...but I'm still thinking about it!

My thoughts are with those suffering from storm damage.  Awesome that gardening friends are lending a help hand through seed offerings!

darci.strutt wrote:llama momma - That sounds awesome!  My son-in-law just started a worm farm last year and they gave me a couple big bags of the castings for Christmas! 

It's funny how what would sound to most people like a lump of coal in your stocking or some kind of weird insult -- "Can you believe it ... my son-in-law gave me a bag of poop for Christmas. I'm furious!" -- can sound so awesome for a gardener.

Marc Iverson wrote:

darci.strutt wrote:llama momma - That sounds awesome!  My son-in-law just started a worm farm last year and they gave me a couple big bags of the castings for Christmas! 

It's funny how what would sound to most people like a lump of coal in your stocking or some kind of weird insult -- "Can you believe it ... my son-in-law gave me a bag of poop for Christmas.  I'm furious!" -- can sound so awesome for a gardener.

    Yes, we are a different breed!

GG

I am beginning to feel sorry for all those gardeners who are able to garden all year.
How can they experience the Spring Fever that we have?

LLM, good luck with the manure sales. May you make a fortune.

Plantoid, so good of you to help out with your friends.  Good advice on getting the seeds growing before finishing other stuff. Your friends are lucky to have friends like you.

GG, agree, we are a breed apart.  Thank goodness we have each other.