Arizona Chickens

[mclevinson]

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Ugh....I got on a Kombucha kick in the early 90's......we cultured it and then drank the "brew" to be healthy...what was I thinking back then.

That was the wisdom of youth! I am feeling young also and think I should really get one! I have been battling with water kefir for almost a year and it's just not working... Meg? Can I, may I? Unless you live on the other side of the planet of course! Will travel some but not all distances for Kombucha.

Oh sure. I think I can squeeze another out of it.

 

[Tracydr]

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Sounds yummy! I'm really loving my Cherokee Purples. I've never heard of any of your tomatoes. My canning tomatoes are speckled Romans and I also have Arkansas Travelers.

 

[mclevinson]

Well, amazingly there are a few chicks struggling out. Three of the smallest eggs (hopefully one of the Icelandics) and a TJ's egg. Slow and late hatch, I am relieved it's almost over.

 

[azpenguin]

Buck bock bock bock buck
Bock cluck buck bock bock B'Gawk!
That's clucking haiku

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

azpenguin, I've drooled over the pics of those tomatoes grown by the Aravaipa folks for the past couple years! I never quite made the ordering-pick-up schedule they have. I also wonder if that Porter yellow pear is what I lost years ago. We got it at a farmer's market when we first moved here and it lived for seven years, cranking out delicious tomatoes. We left it out one winter while on vacation and lost it. We've never quite found a yellow pear that compared in productivity or quality. I've been intrigued by the Taos for some time; I'll have to look into the others you mentioned. Too bad the Hank isn't tasty to humans too.

aurorarose25, I found my San Diego tomatoes as small starts at my local nursery (Mesquite Valley Growers). The funny thing is, I've never seen them again and I frequently visit that place.

Sonoran Silkies, when you plant and grow tomatoes in here in southern AZ depends largely on what you're planting and your elevation. I wonder if there is some difference in the planting schedule between Tucson and Phoenix; one might expect some small differences given the differences between our average first and last frost days (Phoenix has about four more weeks of growing season than does Tucson) and the 5 degree average higher temps you have. If you're planting tomatoes that were not developed here in our region, then most planting guides for Tucson recommend starting tomato seeds in Jan.-Feb. and then again in June, July, Aug. (e.g. : http://communityfoodbank.com/pdf/plantingguide_new.pdf). If you are planting tomatoes that are native to our region, then they should be planted in spring (end of Jan.-March). The exact timing will vary depending on frost dates (assuming all seeds are started indoors). If we didn't grow tomatoes in the summer here, we'd miss out on the most productive period of the year. On the five plants I mentioned earlier (all planted this spring), we've probably harvested 200+ lbs. since may, with most taken in the past two weeks. Having said that, we usually grow tomatoes year-round. I got quite ill last winter and couldn't care for all the plants as they needed and we lost them. We're right back on schedule now and I think we'll have canned or dried all the tomato-based products we need for the year. I should also mention that the five plants I've highlighted here are the stars of my tomato garden. I have lots of other mediocre performers that produce just fine, but aren't deserving of a shout-out.

Tracydr, the Nichols tomato is an heirloom from the Nichols family here in Tucson. They've raised them for more than 50 years and they thrive under our climatic conditions. The Punta Banda tomato was collected by NSS from wild growing specimens on the Baja peninsula. NSS specializes in finding food crops that have been grown and selected for our southwest climate and are heat and drought tolerant. This usually means plants that are either native, or have been grown here for hundreds of years. Things that grow wild here tend to do quite well in your garden--no matter how poor your garden soil is, it's gotta be better than outside the garden!

. I would point out that once you plant one of the native wild-type tomatoes, you'll likely have them for some time. Wild birds eat them and distribute the seeds everywhere. While they haven't quite yet become a problem, I'm constantly pulling plants from areas that I don't want them. They grow with amazing speed and tend to take over. I had one wild black-cherry type plant sprout up in a section of our back patio area last year that ended up completely consuming a 14' X 12' space and would have gone larger if I hadn't cut it back. On the up-side, for much of the year I rarely have to take more than a couple steps to find a ripe tomato in the yard.

 

[Tracydr]

Gallo Del Cielo- do you have any seeds you could trade?I tried Matt's Wild Cherry last year but I kept losing it to damping off and there were very few seeds in the pack. It was much harder to start than a normal tomato. I guess it's actually a different species, from what I've read. I have tons of seeds, depending on what you're interested in. I've had a great season for tomatoes this year and I started six weeks later than I meant to and my seedlings were much smaller than normal, due to errors on my part.
We got lucky with a cooler than normal spring, I guess.
Do you shade your tomatoes when it starts getting hot? I find that really helps? I also grow in almost straight, composted horse manure with side dressings of alfalfa pellets. Finally, I give frequent drenches of kelp solution and sometimes fish emulsion. They are mulched with twelve inches of pine straw to keep the watering t a minimum and drip watered. All of this gets them off to a rapid start so that fruit sets before the heat gets here and they can't set anymore. I seem to have great luck with all sizes and variety, although the Cherokee purple and striped Romans (for cooking) been the best this year. Marglobe is the heaviest producer, probably 40 pounds off of one plant but I don't care for the taste. It will be great for sauce, though.
Did anybody get hammered with rain last night? Boy, did we ever have a heavy rain storm! It must have rained at least 3/4 of an inch, maybe more! I was so worried about my little chicks and and juvenile banties. Not to mention the jumbo crosses. I'm waiting for my coop to be finished so they have no shelter. The Banties and jumbos are living in the garden with some trees for shelter and the 3 week old chicks are in a pen with only a bed sheet for shade. I ran out in the storm with lightening and pounding rain. Threw the Banties in a big cardboard box and they seemed happy to stay there. Figured the jumbos were fat enough to stay out in the rain, since they were too stupid to get under the trees.
The little chicks were all piled in the corner of their pen. I put a box of in the pen, put them in the box and they ran back to their corner and back into a pile. Finally, I got smart enough to block them from the corner, put the box in the corner, so they would have to run into the box.
Everybody was safe and sound this morning. I worried all night that I would wake up to a pile of dead chicks frozen to death from getting wet and chilled. I should have brought them inside so that I didn't worry so much but you know how you don't think of these things until after it happens?
New coop should be here next week. Yeah!

 

[leanna1017]

I am lovin' the discussion of tomatoes. We grow them and use the extras as chicken/parrot feed. The hens like to play "keep away" with the tiny cherry tomatoes we grow. I am interesting in trying the Nichols and San Diego varieites being discussed so if anyone
is saving seeds, I am willing to purchase some. PM me if you're interested in selling.

Our hens are doing well in the heat. (Knocking wood here!) We have 2 "Kyle coops" (Kyle sells open sided coops on Craigslist). The portable mister is positioned between the coops and about 3 feet in front of them. There are foot baths and watermelon treats to help keep them cooler. The thunderstorms seem to freak out my older hens - they had to be coaxed off the roost with food this morning. Can't blame them, the lightning was wild here last night.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

So, I've had this idea for some a while and maybe right now is the best time for laying it out. I'm thinking of a BYC/AZ-Southwest US Seed exchange. I have a relatively large seed bank, full of seeds that I will never plant. Some of it is stuff that we don't like and some I just have too much. I'm guessing something like a couple hundred packages of seeds of all types. Some of it is expired and a couple years old, but that generally means you'll have lower germination rates (plant more of it!). Most of it is heirloom type stuff and many are adapted to our environment. Then I have the standard stuff that is the staple of my gardens and I keep on hand. I'm thinking of packaging it all up into a box that could be sent by 3 day express mail. I'd get it to a nearby BYCer, they could take from it what they want, add what they can (even if they didn't have anything to add) and make sure it gets to the next BYCer. No one would ever know what you took or added and when you got the box, what you'd find inside would be a complete mystery and surprise. The most it would cost you is the price of the express mail box; but in the spirit of promoting community hopefully it could be exchanged in person. It could be a pretty amazing collection if everyone added and pointed out the things that did best in their garden. I'm a bit odd, but I'd find that to be great fun. Is anyone interested?

 

[squeakyballs]

Me!

 

[pdx2phx]

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I love the idea of this! We don't have a garden (or space) now but when we do something like this would be really neat.

We do, however, have some pond plants that are going bonkers in our large koi pond and are looking to give away starts to anyone who might have a pond, or to trade plants with someone

We also have tons of mosquito fish (teeny fish that eat mosquito larvae and other ickies out of ponds) if anyone needs some. They breed like crazy.

Someday we'll have a garden!