Wow, Michelle Obama's garden has produced 80 lbs of lettuce! Ours has probably produced about three, not counting the heads of romaine that started fighting it out with the beets. I'm going to pull the beets this weekend, I think, and see what else is growing in that jungle. I pulled the pea plants (best peas we've ever had) last week in preparation for planting corn. After pulling the peas, I left the fencing open so the chickens could wander in, scratch around, and eat bugs and grubs. I've also dumped a lot of compost in there for the chickens to spread. I just closed the fencing again to see if the birds can find a way in, now that they've been re-introduced to the wonders of the garden. I don't want them going in once I've put corn, beans, and basil in.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
When you've gotta lay...
Henney Penney, our Rhode Island Red, came to Home Town Days with us. She was a hands-on exhibit in our 4H information booth, situated under some shady oak trees. She scratched, ate bugs, and tried to explore far and wide. In turn, children stroked her feathers and watched the chicken work.
Henney Penney, to our knowledge, hasn't laid in four days (although she may have been laying in a hidden spot in the yard somewhere). I pulled her home, housed in a transport cage, in a red wagon. As soon as we turned into our driveway, she started clucking and scratching to get out. I slipped her into the chicken coop and she dashed up the ramp into the henhouse.
I heard her scratching for a moment in a laying box and, then minutes later, she laid a large brown egg.
Henney Penney, to our knowledge, hasn't laid in four days (although she may have been laying in a hidden spot in the yard somewhere). I pulled her home, housed in a transport cage, in a red wagon. As soon as we turned into our driveway, she started clucking and scratching to get out. I slipped her into the chicken coop and she dashed up the ramp into the henhouse.
I heard her scratching for a moment in a laying box and, then minutes later, she laid a large brown egg.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Tomato ID's
I'll post a current photo in a day or two - some of the plants have outgrown their houses, and the plant protected by the cinderblock is now growing through it (I think the block did that plant wonders - it was protected from the wind and kept warm by the surrounding, solar-heated
ceramic material.) One of the marauding chickens is shown in the photo.
Slugs are slipping in
I pulled some weeds and planted a cucumber plant that I found forgotten in a pot amidst the weeds and lettuce. The Romaine that looked so good as young, packed together plants a few weeks ago has now turned into some rather spindly plants, situated amongst less spindly plants. I harvested some of the lettuce and submerged it in a pot of water inside (slugs crawl out of the lettuce and up to the surface when submerged, so it's a good way to find the suckers before they crawl out of a salad bowl, which has happened to us). I pulled some of the spindly lettuce and tossed it, with weeds, on the compost pile.
Three slugs (aka gastropod mollusks) turned up, so I went out on the deck, called the chickens up, and fed two small ones to Snowball. Snowball was a bit taken aback at the size of the third slug, but Henny Penny arrived on the scene eager to help, so she got that one. In a few weeks, I'll pull all the lettuce and peas and then give the chickens a few days in the garden to de-pest it. After that, I'll put in corn, beans, and other stuff (to-be-decided).
Three slugs (aka gastropod mollusks) turned up, so I went out on the deck, called the chickens up, and fed two small ones to Snowball. Snowball was a bit taken aback at the size of the third slug, but Henny Penny arrived on the scene eager to help, so she got that one. In a few weeks, I'll pull all the lettuce and peas and then give the chickens a few days in the garden to de-pest it. After that, I'll put in corn, beans, and other stuff (to-be-decided).
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Planted Cukes
I put cucumber and squash seedlings out a month ago or so, and they all promptly died (except one plant). I think I cooked some of the plants under empty five-gallon plastic water bottles that I put over the plants to protect them.
Today, I put some cucumber seeds out in mounds, just the way the planting instructions said. I've never succeeded with mounds before, as they tend to dry out and it's hard to keep the cucumber mounds moist so that the seeds sprout. I used compost for the mounds, which should hold more water, so we'll see how they do. I put plastic crates over the mounds to keep the chickens from diving in immediately, as a good pile of fresh compost is as good as it gets to a chicken.
I also potted seeds indoors in homemade potting soil (peat moss, vermiculite, and some fertilizer) as a fall back if the outdoor plants don't take. The outdoor cucumbers are Botanical Interests Homemade Pickles ("arguably the best cucumber available for pickles", which we'll try making this summer if all goes well). Indoors, I planted Spacemaster ("a very compact, bushy plant that won't take over your entire garden") and Summer Squash Cocozelle, touted as "a striped Italian beauty" that is "the race car of the vegetable garden". Stand back! I'll transplant them in a few weeks after they've sprouted and grown some leaves.
The hardest part of potting the seeds was sneaking out on the back deck so the chickens wouldn't hear me. The chickens come running and make a nuisance of themselves if they hear someone on the deck. They caught on during my last trip out and charged up the steps. They then stood outside the door, preened, and stared in as we ate dinner.
- Bruce
Today, I put some cucumber seeds out in mounds, just the way the planting instructions said. I've never succeeded with mounds before, as they tend to dry out and it's hard to keep the cucumber mounds moist so that the seeds sprout. I used compost for the mounds, which should hold more water, so we'll see how they do. I put plastic crates over the mounds to keep the chickens from diving in immediately, as a good pile of fresh compost is as good as it gets to a chicken.
I also potted seeds indoors in homemade potting soil (peat moss, vermiculite, and some fertilizer) as a fall back if the outdoor plants don't take. The outdoor cucumbers are Botanical Interests Homemade Pickles ("arguably the best cucumber available for pickles", which we'll try making this summer if all goes well). Indoors, I planted Spacemaster ("a very compact, bushy plant that won't take over your entire garden") and Summer Squash Cocozelle, touted as "a striped Italian beauty" that is "the race car of the vegetable garden". Stand back! I'll transplant them in a few weeks after they've sprouted and grown some leaves.
The hardest part of potting the seeds was sneaking out on the back deck so the chickens wouldn't hear me. The chickens come running and make a nuisance of themselves if they hear someone on the deck. They caught on during my last trip out and charged up the steps. They then stood outside the door, preened, and stared in as we ate dinner.
- Bruce
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