diff --git a/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs b/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
index d9d3d9d66244..cbc97e722816 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
@@ -335,13 +335,36 @@ fn start_pageserver(
     // Set up remote storage client
     let remote_storage = create_remote_storage_client(conf)?;
 
+    // All tenant load operations carry this while they are ongoing; it will be dropped once those
+    // operations finish either successfully or in some other manner. However, the initial load
+    // will be then done, and we can start the global background tasks.
+    let (init_done_tx, init_done_rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::channel::<()>(1);
+    let init_done_rx = Arc::new(tokio::sync::Mutex::new(init_done_rx));
+
     // Scan the local 'tenants/' directory and start loading the tenants
+    let init_started_at = std::time::Instant::now();
     BACKGROUND_RUNTIME.block_on(mgr::init_tenant_mgr(
         conf,
         broker_client.clone(),
         remote_storage.clone(),
+        init_done_tx,
     ))?;
 
+    BACKGROUND_RUNTIME.spawn({
+        let init_done_rx = init_done_rx.clone();
+        async move {
+            let init_done = async move { init_done_rx.lock().await.recv().await };
+            init_done.await;
+
+            let elapsed = init_started_at.elapsed();
+
+            tracing::info!(
+                elapsed_millis = elapsed.as_millis(),
+                "Initial load completed."
+            );
+        }
+    });
+
     // shared state between the disk-usage backed eviction background task and the http endpoint
     // that allows triggering disk-usage based eviction manually. note that the http endpoint
     // is still accessible even if background task is not configured as long as remote storage has
@@ -353,6 +376,7 @@ fn start_pageserver(
             conf,
             remote_storage.clone(),
             disk_usage_eviction_state.clone(),
+            init_done_rx.clone(),
         )?;
     }
 
@@ -390,6 +414,7 @@ fn start_pageserver(
         );
 
         if let Some(metric_collection_endpoint) = &conf.metric_collection_endpoint {
+            let init_done_rx = init_done_rx;
             let metrics_ctx = RequestContext::todo_child(
                 TaskKind::MetricsCollection,
                 // This task itself shouldn't download anything.
@@ -405,6 +430,14 @@ fn start_pageserver(
                 "consumption metrics collection",
                 true,
                 async move {
+                    // first wait for initial load to complete before first iteration.
+                    //
+                    // this is because we only process active tenants and timelines, and the
+                    // Timeline::get_current_logical_size will spawn the logical size calculation,
+                    // which will not be rate-limited.
+                    let init_done = async move { init_done_rx.lock().await.recv().await };
+                    init_done.await;
+
                     pageserver::consumption_metrics::collect_metrics(
                         metric_collection_endpoint,
                         conf.metric_collection_interval,
diff --git a/pageserver/src/disk_usage_eviction_task.rs b/pageserver/src/disk_usage_eviction_task.rs
index f4a0f3f18eb0..03589691994a 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/disk_usage_eviction_task.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/disk_usage_eviction_task.rs
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ pub fn launch_disk_usage_global_eviction_task(
     conf: &'static PageServerConf,
     storage: GenericRemoteStorage,
     state: Arc<State>,
+    init_done_rx: Arc<tokio::sync::Mutex<tokio::sync::mpsc::Receiver<()>>>,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let Some(task_config) = &conf.disk_usage_based_eviction else {
         info!("disk usage based eviction task not configured");
@@ -98,6 +99,10 @@ pub fn launch_disk_usage_global_eviction_task(
         "disk usage based eviction",
         false,
         async move {
+            // wait until initial load is complete, because we cannot evict from loading tenants.
+            let init_done = async move { init_done_rx.lock().await.recv().await };
+            init_done.await;
+
             disk_usage_eviction_task(
                 &state,
                 task_config,
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
index 4c8101af8d3d..d6eb82410755 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant.rs
@@ -895,6 +895,7 @@ impl Tenant {
         tenant_id: TenantId,
         broker_client: storage_broker::BrokerClientChannel,
         remote_storage: Option<GenericRemoteStorage>,
+        init_done_tx: Option<tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<()>>,
         ctx: &RequestContext,
     ) -> Arc<Tenant> {
         let tenant_conf = match Self::load_tenant_config(conf, tenant_id) {
@@ -928,6 +929,9 @@ impl Tenant {
             "initial tenant load",
             false,
             async move {
+                // keep the sender alive as long as we have the initial load ongoing; it will be
+                // None for loads spawned after init_tenant_mgr.
+                let _init_done_tx = init_done_tx;
                 match tenant_clone.load(&ctx).await {
                     Ok(()) => {
                         info!("load finished, activating");
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/mgr.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/mgr.rs
index c0bd81ebfc1e..d74a025bbb11 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/mgr.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/mgr.rs
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ pub async fn init_tenant_mgr(
     conf: &'static PageServerConf,
     broker_client: storage_broker::BrokerClientChannel,
     remote_storage: Option<GenericRemoteStorage>,
+    init_done_tx: tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<()>,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     // Scan local filesystem for attached tenants
     let tenants_dir = conf.tenants_path();
@@ -122,6 +123,7 @@ pub async fn init_tenant_mgr(
                         &tenant_dir_path,
                         broker_client.clone(),
                         remote_storage.clone(),
+                        Some(init_done_tx.clone()),
                         &ctx,
                     ) {
                         Ok(tenant) => {
@@ -157,6 +159,7 @@ pub fn schedule_local_tenant_processing(
     tenant_path: &Path,
     broker_client: storage_broker::BrokerClientChannel,
     remote_storage: Option<GenericRemoteStorage>,
+    init_done_tx: Option<tokio::sync::mpsc::Sender<()>>,
     ctx: &RequestContext,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<Arc<Tenant>> {
     anyhow::ensure!(
@@ -210,7 +213,14 @@ pub fn schedule_local_tenant_processing(
     } else {
         info!("tenant {tenant_id} is assumed to be loadable, starting load operation");
         // Start loading the tenant into memory. It will initially be in Loading state.
-        Tenant::spawn_load(conf, tenant_id, broker_client, remote_storage, ctx)
+        Tenant::spawn_load(
+            conf,
+            tenant_id,
+            broker_client,
+            remote_storage,
+            init_done_tx,
+            ctx,
+        )
     };
     Ok(tenant)
 }
@@ -363,7 +373,7 @@ pub async fn create_tenant(
         //       See https://github.com/neondatabase/neon/issues/4233
 
         let created_tenant =
-            schedule_local_tenant_processing(conf, &tenant_directory, broker_client, remote_storage, ctx)?;
+            schedule_local_tenant_processing(conf, &tenant_directory, broker_client, remote_storage, None, ctx)?;
         // TODO: tenant object & its background loops remain, untracked in tenant map, if we fail here.
         //      See https://github.com/neondatabase/neon/issues/4233
 
@@ -509,7 +519,7 @@ pub async fn load_tenant(
                 .with_context(|| format!("Failed to remove tenant ignore mark {tenant_ignore_mark:?} during tenant loading"))?;
         }
 
-        let new_tenant = schedule_local_tenant_processing(conf, &tenant_path, broker_client, remote_storage, ctx)
+        let new_tenant = schedule_local_tenant_processing(conf, &tenant_path, broker_client, remote_storage, None, ctx)
             .with_context(|| {
                 format!("Failed to schedule tenant processing in path {tenant_path:?}")
             })?;
@@ -582,7 +592,7 @@ pub async fn attach_tenant(
             .context("check for attach marker file existence")?;
         anyhow::ensure!(marker_file_exists, "create_tenant_files should have created the attach marker file");
 
-        let attached_tenant = schedule_local_tenant_processing(conf, &tenant_dir, broker_client, Some(remote_storage), ctx)?;
+        let attached_tenant = schedule_local_tenant_processing(conf, &tenant_dir, broker_client, Some(remote_storage), None, ctx)?;
         // TODO: tenant object & its background loops remain, untracked in tenant map, if we fail here.
         //      See https://github.com/neondatabase/neon/issues/4233
 
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
index 9dd5352a540c..0569bd45e0ce 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline.rs
@@ -1910,6 +1910,23 @@ impl Timeline {
                 // no cancellation here, because nothing really waits for this to complete compared
                 // to spawn_ondemand_logical_size_calculation.
                 let cancel = CancellationToken::new();
+
+                /// Ugly, but necessary until `spawn_blocking` is used for blocking I/O, otherwise
+                /// we could lock up all worker threads.
+                static GLOBAL_INITIAL_LOGICAL_SIZES_AT_ONCE: once_cell::sync::Lazy<Arc<tokio::sync::Semaphore>> = once_cell::sync::Lazy::new(|| {
+                    let cores = std::thread::available_parallelism();
+                    // half rationale: we have other blocking work which will start later:
+                    // consumption metrics and per timeline eviction task. we however need to
+                    // be fast to accept page reads, so perhaps this is a suitable middle ground?
+                    let max_blocked_threads = cores.map(|count| count.get() / 2);
+                    let max_blocked_threads = max_blocked_threads.unwrap_or(1);
+                    let max_blocked_threads = std::cmp::max(1, max_blocked_threads);
+                    tracing::info!("using max {max_blocked_threads} threads for initial logical size");
+                    Arc::new(tokio::sync::Semaphore::new(max_blocked_threads))
+                });
+
+                let _permit = GLOBAL_INITIAL_LOGICAL_SIZES_AT_ONCE.clone().acquire_owned().await.expect("global semaphore is never closed");
+
                 let calculated_size = match self_clone
                     .logical_size_calculation_task(lsn, LogicalSizeCalculationCause::Initial, &background_ctx, cancel)
                     .await