Are these just several vines planted along one side of a run? My run itself is basically complete, minus the door and remaining hardwire screening to be installed, and extend some planter boxes around the perimeter. The hardware cloth only extends out 18 inches, so I was using that as a gauge for some narrow boxes. I don't know if any critter would wanna back up 18 inches and start digging beneath a planter box to get into a run. It would be nice to reserve those narrow boxes for some type of vines and maybe a few Lilac bushes and other aromatic plants.
I haven't decided what veggies to do yet, and may do those in separate, large boxes from the run because I have at least 15' clearance around the whole thing within my back yard. Sorry for the mini essay, but am interested in something that will provide shade with little maintenance. Thanks so much. --BB
Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona
Looks a little confusing, but it's actually one open area (four 8x8 squares) minus
the 4x8 separated small deck.......
My mini chicken observation deck........
The large square opening to the left is for the gate/doorway.
The entire top and sides will be enclosed with 1/4 inch hardware
cloth.
I haven't decided what veggies to do yet, and may do those in separate, large boxes from the run because I have at least 15' clearance around the whole thing within my back yard. Sorry for the mini essay, but am interested in something that will provide shade with little maintenance. Thanks so much. --BB
Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona
Looks a little confusing, but it's actually one open area (four 8x8 squares) minus
the 4x8 separated small deck.......
My mini chicken observation deck........
The large square opening to the left is for the gate/doorway.
The entire top and sides will be enclosed with 1/4 inch hardware
cloth.
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The cold weather seemed to keep them from ripening properly. I'm hopeful that I will get fruit in time this year because they are so much further ahead right now than they were last year (they started flowering last week). I found that I had to hand pollinate the flowers until the bees returned, but the explosion of flowers was stunning! This vine is highly aggressive under daily drip irrigation and full sun (less so with afternoon shade). They fared well over the winter. The parts that were exposed to full frost lost their leaves, but with moderate protection from surrounding trees, most leaves survived. My chickens do not eat the leaves while free ranging, but I'm not sure whether regularly enclosed chickens would eat them or not. It might be an excellent candidate for providing shade for chicken enclosures, but take caution on where you plant it because of its aggressive nature. I'm super psyched that it's already moving over the top of the chicken coop and should reach the other side well before the grapevines do. A fair number of you requested cuttings last fall, so I put a bunch into the aquaponics grow beds and most survived. Yesterday I transplanted those into pots and they are ready for pick-up. I can't remember who all wanted one, but I recall that a lot of you were from the Phoenix area. If anyone can transport and distribute them up to the valley, that would be great. There are 20+ available. For those of you from Tucson that wanted one, PM me and we'll make arrangements. Pics from last year:
