Arizona Chickens

[Bobby Basham]

@Bobby Basham Raised beds tend to dry out quickly here. It might be a good idea to put on several inches of mulch if you use them. Also, tomatoes and many other veggies need room to stretch their legs, at least a foot, so consider this when you decide on bed depth.

Flowers attract beneficial pollinators and some can also help repel pests.

I intend to use foot tall beds around the coop for veggies, but I still have plenty of room around the yard to grow other things. I haven't decided on the width of the beds, but there are at least 15 feet of space outside the run. Hmm...maybe some miniature fruit trees, etc. This is just the plan for the run.

 

[Parront]

I've never heard of it, but I like the idea of pool salt instead of using something like Roundup. My backyard is just dirt, but the weeds are over two feet tall now since I've neglected for over a year.

On a side note, would you folks have any suggestions as what to landscape the rest of this dirt yard with? I have at least 15 feet of space around the entire perimeter. Gravel would be boring, since the whole HOA front/sides are landscaped, laying sod/grass would mean that I would have to invest in a lawn mower...maybe some type of mulch to rake on occasion? Some of you all have amazing setups out there, and maybe some of you designer/practical experts can chime in.

Sorry if I come off as high-jacking, but weed control is a part of landscaping. This is just my back yard, minus the raging weeds and soon to be raised beds around the run. I don't wanna walk around in mud on those rainy days.--BB

Raised beds sounds nice, maybe more raised beds with yummy tall sunflowers or something chickens like, to screen the yard and coop from neighbors? Gravel pathways in-between? Gravel is popular for a reason! They have pretty colors, like red cinders (lava).

 

[Parront]

@Bobby Basham - Used artificial turf may be cheaper but it won't last as long. When that fake grass starts to deteriorate it can get ugly. Bits of it go everywhere. And it falls apart when you try to roll it up. Makes a big, bulky mess that's a pain to dispose of.
Ask me how I know...

Artificial turf has come a long way over the last couple of decades. It's a good alternative if you don't want actual plants. Buying it new paying a bit more for better quality will pay off in the long run, if that's how you want to go.

One thing I learned about artificial grass in the desert, when dogs pee on it, it needs to be able to drain away or it smells in the heat, and you spend a lot of water hosing it down to get the smell down. Don't ask me how I know this!

 

[nicollee]

I intend to use foot tall beds around the coop for veggies, but I still have plenty of room around the yard to grow other things. I haven't decided on the width of the beds, but there are at least 15 feet of space outside the run. Hmm...maybe some miniature fruit trees, etc. This is just the plan for the run.

Moringa trees
If there is not a seed library near you, I can get seeds if you can make it to Tempe

 

[FeatherPugs]

@Bobby Basham Look at Phoenix Fruit Growers. They are on FB if you do that or maybe they have a website. These folks grow everything from bananas to peaches to cherries to sugarcane! It is amazing. AND there is Urban Farm Growers for Phoenix as well. So many choices........

 

[DesertChic]

I would like to take my try at establishing vegetables first. I'm not a flower person, but later down the line, would like to establish something fragrant like Lilac bushes and other fragrant plants. I have more than enough room to distribute extra raised beds throughout the yard. Other than the run, the remaining area is just a blank slate.

There are a lot of edible plants that also produce beautiful flowers. Artichokes are gorgeous, and okra produces some really lovely purple flowers. You can also add flowers like Nasturtiums, the leaves and flowers of which are also edible. Amaranth, quinoa, and sunflowers grow very large and provide food for both people and chickens and can be really visually beautiful. My chickens LOVED all the amaranth, and the deep red variety I planted was the size of small shrubs and provided them with plenty of forage. Golden Purslane, typically considered a weed but actually a very tasty and nutritious plant, is super easy to grow, tends to remain lower to the ground and produces lovely little yellow flowers that bloom in the morning and close up in the heat of the day. Sacred Datura grows wild on my property, is super easy to start growing, and produces GORGEOUS white trumpet flowers, but the entire plant is toxic so you don't want to eat it...just use it to attract pollinators.

This year I'm even trying my hand at sweet potatoes planted from slips I removed from one that "went to seed". I'm really happy with the lush foliage of the plant and the ease of maintenance. This year I planted it in a large eco-pot, but I'm trying to figure out how to use it as a seasonal landscape plant next time.

I try to only grow edibles in my yard, which is slowly evolving into my own little garden paradise. (Emphasis on SLOWLY, LOL!) I grow Rosemary and Basil as landscape shrubs and hope to add Bay Laurel (as in Bay Leaves) this fall or next spring. The herbs have the extra advantage of keeping many of the nasty insects like mosquitoes away. I planted one lone Moringa tree in the front yard that I grew from seed, and plan to start Mulberry trees and Jujube trees in pots in the next few months. Once they're large enough to transplant on my property I hope to use them to create more shade and start working towards a complete permaculture environment to more efficiently utilize rainwater harvesting and create a better natural environment for us and the chickens.

It's funny because I have a neighbor who's exceptionally wealthy and has a lovely, professionally landscaped yard (her guest house is roughly the same size as the house I live in), and yet she's always complimenting me on my "natural" and edible yard and coming over to see what's in bloom, what I'm planting now, etc. She and her husband have even set up their own little compost and garden area now and are veering away from water-hungry ornamental plants in favor of consumable ones.

 

[DesertChic]

Ok, I'm about to go into lock-down over here! Wish me luck on the chick hatch?

How egg-citing!!! Oh, happy hatching days! Wishing you lots of luck!
(And yes, I'm insanely jealous that you're hatching right now. Hatching chicks is my addiction, and I haven't had a fix in ages!)

 

[Bobby Basham]

Moringa trees
If there is not a seed library near you, I can get seeds if you can make it to Tempe

There is a place way out on the far, far, far East Side. I think it's called Mesquite Seeds. I think they send out a flyer, but I can't find it right now.

 

[Bobby Basham]

There are a lot of edible plants that also produce beautiful flowers. Artichokes are gorgeous, and okra produces some really lovely purple flowers. You can also add flowers like Nasturtiums, the leaves and flowers of which are also edible. Amaranth, quinoa, and sunflowers grow very large and provide food for both people and chickens and can be really visually beautiful. My chickens LOVED all the amaranth, and the deep red variety I planted was the size of small shrubs and provided them with plenty of forage. Golden Purslane, typically considered a weed but actually a very tasty and nutritious plant, is super easy to grow, tends to remain lower to the ground and produces lovely little yellow flowers that bloom in the morning and close up in the heat of the day. Sacred Datura grows wild on my property, is super easy to start growing, and produces GORGEOUS white trumpet flowers, but the entire plant is toxic so you don't want to eat it...just use it to attract pollinators.

This year I'm even trying my hand at sweet potatoes planted from slips I removed from one that "went to seed". I'm really happy with the lush foliage of the plant and the ease of maintenance. This year I planted it in a large eco-pot, but I'm trying to figure out how to use it as a seasonal landscape plant next time.

I try to only grow edibles in my yard, which is slowly evolving into my own little garden paradise. (Emphasis on SLOWLY, LOL!) I grow Rosemary and Basil as landscape shrubs and hope to add Bay Laurel (as in Bay Leaves) this fall or next spring. The herbs have the extra advantage of keeping many of the nasty insects like mosquitoes away. I planted one lone Moringa tree in the front yard that I grew from seed, and plan to start Mulberry trees and Jujube trees in pots in the next few months. Once they're large enough to transplant on my property I hope to use them to create more shade and start working towards a complete permaculture environment to more efficiently utilize rainwater harvesting and create a better natural environment for us and the chickens.

It's funny because I have a neighbor who's exceptionally wealthy and has a lovely, professionally landscaped yard (her guest house is roughly the same size as the house I live in), and yet she's always complimenting me on my "natural" and edible yard and coming over to see what's in bloom, what I'm planting now, etc. She and her husband have even set up their own little compost and garden area now and are veering away from water-hungry ornamental plants in favor of consumable ones.

The is just a preliminary drawing that I did years ago, nothing is drawn to scale...you can see from the measurements that the run is too large in this pic, but there is more room around the perimeter. I could easily add a large raised bed at the back of the 20-foot wall. Actually, more raised beds around the reserved spaces for beds around the run along the brick wall.

 

[BlueBaby]

How egg-citing!!! Oh, happy hatching days! Wishing you lots of luck!
(And yes, I'm insanely jealous that you're hatching right now. Hatching chicks is my addiction, and I haven't had a fix in ages!)

You have fertile eggs, so what's stopping you?