How does my garden grow?

It grows....hardly.  This has been a very cold spring, with multiple frosts or near-frosts, so nothing much has been done.  The onions are in, the garlic and shallots are doing well and I did manage to plant my new strawberry plants.  I got peas in, but they are just starting to break ground - two weeks later!  The biggest obstacle in getting my 2016 garden underway (besides the weather and general lack of time) has been dealing with the viola epidemic.  I had planted two tires, two years ago with the pretty little things.  They have taken over my world.  I had two raised beds FULL of them.  They are growing in the grass.  They are here, there and everywhere.  And I can't bring myself to throw them in the compost, so I have them in window boxes, pots, tires.  I have given them away by the wheelbarrow-ful and I still have half a raised bed full of them.  Lord help me.    This weekend I will move the remainder to somewhere or other (I think I have an empty window box or five), plant potatoes, weed the rest of the beds and plant my yellow edible pod peas.  I would also like to plant my sweet peas, but that would mean weeding yet another bed.  This is also the weekend that the duck house gets built - halleluiah! - so that the little darlings will permanently move out of the laundry room.  They spend the day outside in a temporary pen and the nights in their laundry room pen.  All five of us will be very happy, come Sunday.  However, I will miss toting those squeezy little bodies every morning and evening.  Sort of.

 

Gardening "helpers"

Violas/Johnny Jump-ups gone wild!

Onions in

Garlic and shallots (and Lovey-bomb)

New strawberry bed
 

Of course, before the duck house can be built, I need to deconstruct the old one and clear the building site.  I also have to have a tree cut down in the chicken yard.  And I have to set up the electronet fence so the sheep can start mowing the parts of the property machines can't handle.  Speaking of sheep, Juno was shocked this morning when her usual molasses drench held straight wormer.  I wish I could have photographed her face.  But she is doing much better and I am relieved.

The Nuggets are doing well in their hoop house and, with warmer weather being forecast, I can open the door and let them lumber around outside.  The hoop house is surrounded by electric poultry netting, but I didn't have enough of the poultry netting to completely surround it; the back is regular sheep netting.  This, apparently, will be problematic, as I came out yesterday morning to find a rabbit completely ensnared and tangled (and dead).  It most likely slipped through the larger openings in the sheep net and then tried to leave through the poultry net.  It took me almost 15 minutes to untangle it.  I will have to move the whole set up back about 10 inches and offset the sheep netting with the permanent fencing so that the available openings are too small for rabbits.  Wait...is this becoming a math problem? 

A mental health day will be taken tomorrow so I can fill it full of activity.  You know that makes me happy.  I will try to remember to take pics of the goings-on (including the measuring of the roof for metal roofing).  I tried to get a video this morning (too dark) of the Geezer (aka Scrappy) tear-assing around with his favorite toy, Foxie.  It's hard to believe he is 16 this year, the old darling.