Posted on 05/12/2017 5:20:31 PM PDT by greeneyes
I would love to answer chicken questions, but I should mention that this is my first week raising them! Diana would have more first-hand knowledge than I do.
Glad they like the jam :)
And yes, I think the fact that chickens will eat JBs is what finally sold my dad on the idea. They keep eating the blossoms off his magnolia and rose bushes.
Weather has finally pretty much stabilized, and warmer than average.
Peas, spinach & carrots are are making progress from seed; berries & elderberries are leafed out. Potatoes haven’t emerged yet, but are developing well...I peeked.
Yesterday, I transplanted 1 each Yellow Pear, German Queen, Purple Cherokee, and Red Beefsteak tomatoes; and 6 Brussels sprouts seedlings. In the next hour, 6 Romas will get transplanted.
After putting the tomatoes into the ground, I placed a pickup tire around each of them.
The cherry is in full bloom, and the peach has several blooms on it. Last year the peach had ONE peach, which only got about the size of a medium sized plum, and never ripened; instead, it stayed green, hard, then developed rot spots in September.
Garlic, onions, and leeks are doing well for their ages.
Been eating asparagus nearly everyday, still waiting for the 6 new roots to break ground.
Ask me in the morning when Lady Bender is awake...
Your wire cages are amazing...
Get Brahmans... small pea comb so they can take cold weather;feathered feet so they don’t dig quite as vigorously as other chickens; sweet tempered so even if there’s a rooster in the bunch he’ll be a sweetie; pretty patterned feathers for crafting, can’t fly [too big], and they lay huge brown eggs close to the size of duck’s eggs.
Their only drawback is they take a little longer to mature to egg laying than other breeds because of their size.
Impatiens are wonderful for taking the pain and itch out of bug bites, wasp and ant stings, and even poison ivy rash.
I love this time of year .... planning what goes where, getting the plants & putting them in, etc. The garden always looks so neat and tidy .... until everything starts growing!
You have so many raised beds ... I’m envious. I only have 4 & would like some more ... would love to plant potatoes & pumpkins & stuff that ‘sprawls’. Right now, I do plant a squash or two, but they quickly hog at least half the raised bed they are in.
This year, I’ve got the two smaller raised beds converted to a straw bale garden - should be planting in the conditioned bales this coming week. If it works out, I might do more of it next year - no weeds, easier to keep watered, the plants supposedly love the growing environment, etc. I was too chicken to try tomatoes this year in the bales so maybe next year if all goes well.
Thanks for sharing the pics!
That sounds perfect, actually! I will poke around and see if they work for my area.
https://www.meyerhatchery.com/
Ordered a “Production Pack” ( https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=PRPS 15 chickens) from them, and had a 0% mortality rate, compared to about 10% from another supplier.
I KNOW how much your Dad LOVES his roses! That was a GREAT selling point!
I’ve been collecting them for years; I just plop them on and I’m done! They’re not cheap, about $10 each, but I’ve bought them over time while working for Jung’s over the past eleven years. ;)
I’ve rarely had one topple over; they sink in about 6” or so. They fold FLAT for storage. I easily have 20 of them, now. Couldn’t live without them. They don’t rust, either! Makes life REALLY simple for me.
https://www.totallytomato.com/P/83021/Collapsible+Tomato+Cage
Three for $32.00 - (Jung’s owns Totally Tomatoes, too.)
“...would love to plant potatoes & pumpkins & stuff that ‘sprawls’. Right now, I do plant a squash or two, but they quickly hog at least half the raised bed they are in.”
We have a lower garden, down near the pasture and fenced off from the heifers and later electrically fenced against those bloody raccoon! We grow Sweet Corn, Popcorn, Potatoes, Winter squashes and Melons down there. Beau tills it up, adds loads and loads of composted manure (thanks to our hay-burning, otherwise USELESS Mule!) and then we use thick sheets of black plastic that he scrounged from some work site to keep down the weeds. The potatoes will be covered in straw once they’re up more.
I’ll post some pix when it’s up and running. Just an empty field right now with a few corn seedlings poking up. ;)
And...Bale Gardening seems to be all the rage, now. Makes sense for people with less space and the yummy mulch/compost it leaves behind is worth the price of admission!
We have a raccoon (aka “Ricky”) who is raiding the garbage cans. I came up with a “Ricky Wrap” that keeps him from getting the tops off. He is going to find the garden, I’m sure. I’ve never had a problem with raccoons & the garden in the past & we definitely have them, but ‘Ricky’ seems to be especially precocious (for lack of a better word). Something very, very bad is going to happen to Ricky if: a. he figures out how to get around the ‘Ricky Wraps’ b. he gets into the garden.
I’m looking forward to the compost from the straw bales. It will stay in the two raised beds where the bales are now. I bought ‘Leaf Gro’ for the other beds - like that stuff a lot. Next year, I shouldn’t have to buy anything - plan on straw baling in the two raised beds I’m not using this year. I’ll either rotate every year or go full straw bale - depends on how this year, maybe next, turns out.
Sounds like a plan! Call around to your friends and see if anyone can trap ‘Ricky’ for you, or is willing to sit out at night and snipe him!
My problem this season has been chipmunks digging up porch pots and messing with my seedling that are on the porch.
And, of course, the youngest pup seems to think those straw-covered raised beds are the most comfortable place to sleep! Lost one squash plant and a brussels sprout so far. I always over-plant for just that reason! ;)
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