Arizona Chickens

[alohachickens]

Oh, and day two of not losing any more chicks. Hopefully, we're done with that phase of the problems and everything gets better from here!

You know for sure I'll be keeping my fingers crossed, LOL!!!

 

[alohachickens]

I have one growing in my back yard that I started from a runner that was coming up under a neighbor's fence. He has no idea what kind it is, but his blackberries came from plants that his father-in-law brought to Arizona from Missouri in the 1920's, and they seem to do well here.

I am a horrible gardener personally but I do read a lot, and I've heard that you can "condition" plants over generations, to do well in your environment. Example, you toss out a "regular" packet seeds for Sunflowers. You know, the cheap generic seeds you'd find at the dollar store or grocery store. Some do great and some do OK and some fail. If you save seeds from the flowers that did the best and re-plant the next year using those seeds, and keep doing that over and over, eventually you'd get a sunflower that did great in Phoenix's soils. I bet those blackberries would do AWESOME here with that many years in the Valley! If I didn't kill everything I plant, I would be begging to buy some plants from your neighbor.

 

[Timskins]

they are already removing my posts on her ads. i put up another one this morning in addition to negative feedback. blast her for taking that much $$$$ and never sending me my chicks.

that really burns my butter and more so that the mods won't help me.

Who is it that your talking about so I know not to buy from them?

 

[Demosthine]

lol
She was joking. Those are all mine.

That's what she wants you to think! And then one day, you'll come home and they'll all be gone. Even the ones you're already using as a trellis. Vanished into the fog like a lone wolf prowling in the early morning of dawn...

Oh sorry, rambling...

 

[kevs-chickadees]

I've got some mint going in my front yard that seems to be doing pretty well, so it'd be worth a shot. Kev: What kind of strawberries are you growing? I've heard mixed things about growing strawberries here, but I'd like to try. I can say that blackberries can do well here, at least if you get the right variety. There are a couple of newer varieties that can handle the heat, but I can't remember the names of them right now. I have one growing in my back yard that I started from a runner that was coming up under a neighbor's fence. He has no idea what kind it is, but his blackberries came from plants that his father-in-law brought to Arizona from Missouri in the 1920's, and they seem to do well here.

I don't know the specifics, just that currently we have the June baring and the Ever baring. We try really hard to only buy trees/plants from the local nurseries and not the box stores( it's a fight to keep them alive) We got these strawberry plants from A&P on Lindsay and Baseline.

 

[pipemum]

Those laser panels are amazing. I think Ballistic Metals is going to be on my shopping list this weekend!

I don't have clay soil, but the strawberries I have are growing well. Except, this year, the ripe strawberries are super tiny, like, smaller than my pinky nail and mostly seed. I don't know what is going on with that, maybe I need to fertilize or something. I've had mint for a few years, does great as long as I keep it trimmed.

I'm trying raspberries (from a box store) this year, but would love to try a blackberries, especially one that has been growing here for years. Wow. My dad was telling me there used to be a raspberry farm somewhere near Superior, and that the raspberries seemed to grow great there. At least, I think he said it was near Superior.

I feel pretty dumb. Do any of you actually BUY grit for your birds? I did, via mail order, and when I saw what it was, I totally chided myself for wasting money. I'm thinking the dirt I have a plethora in my backyard is full of suitable grit...?

The little chicks I have are doing great!

 

[heidisue]

It is still doing good. The little thing and I had a nice chat. We peeped at each other. It opened it's eyes and just looked at me. Little thing is so tired. I got to looking at it and thought that it did not look like it's 3 other siblings which are Black Sex Links because it's legs are so black. I looked at the toes and it is a silkie!! LOL

Aww we had a few quail pop out that way, if it dries up on its own they were okay.

they are already removing my posts on her ads. i put up another one this morning in addition to negative feedback. blast her for taking that much $$$$ and never sending me my chicks.   that really burns my butter and more so that the mods won't help me.

That is messed up! It makes me wonder about the sale boards if they delete negative feedback before resolution it sets people up for a possible scam.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:

 

[ChicksOfHazzard]

I've got some mint going in my front yard that seems to be doing pretty well, so it'd be worth a shot. Kev: What kind of strawberries are you growing? I've heard mixed things about growing strawberries here, but I'd like to try. I can say that blackberries can do well here, at least if you get the right variety. There are a couple of newer varieties that can handle the heat, but I can't remember the names of them right now. I have one growing in my back yard that I started from a runner that was coming up under a neighbor's fence. He has no idea what kind it is, but his blackberries came from plants that his father-in-law brought to Arizona from Missouri in the 1920's, and they seem to do well here.

Careful with the mint. It literally grows like a weed. I had some in my front garden, I ended up having to tear it all out it was spreading so much and so quickly. Mint is definitely better in a container for that reason. Just fyi, if you can still pop it up now and move it to a container, I would unless you don't mind it spreading out a lot where it is. The good news, is you'll be making mint juleps 'till the cows come home...

 

[AZKat]

I'm glad to hear about the mint taking over! That is actually what I want it to do As far as gardening goes, my motto is "If I can't eat it, I don't want to water it!", so we planted mint in various locations hoping that it will eventually choke out the grass. Eventually the entire yard is going to be pretty well shaded, since it isn't that large and we have four fruit trees planted.

Speaking of fruit trees, I got the first mulberries off of my mulberry tree. There weren't that many of them, but they were really delicious.

As far as the blackberries go, my neighbor has a block wall and then there is a strip of grass between the wall and the sidewalk. Every spring and fall, little blackberry shoots come up in the grass between the wall and the sidewalk. I asked him, and he didn't mind if I dug some up. It'd probably be better if he wasn't getting bugged by a ton of people, but the next time the blackberry shoots come up, I can let people know and if people are interested, I can ask him about digging some more up. I know *nothing* about transplanting blackberries, so I just stuck a bunch of shoots in the ground wherever I thought might be a good spot, and they all died except for one, which is starting to take off. This is the second year, and it has two blackberries on it.