Arizona Chickens

[ejcrist]

I've heard the same thing but thinking sunken beds make more sense to actually catch some rain.
I've been considering hugelkulture as well.
We have a lemon and an apple tree already. Going to add another apple and a dwarf apricot plus at least one more desert adapted tree while I prep the soil.
Although my weeds this year might be telling me the soil is getting there finally!
I like growing veggies too. Nothing this spring but thinking about this fall.

Gosh I hear ya. I'm in the same boat. I have garlic and onions going that I planted last fall but I haven't put anything in since. Just been too busy messing with the chickens. I'm hoping to get crops in for the fall too. I'll keep my fingers crossed. This breeding chickens stuff is just too much fun though.

 

[theback40]

I've heard the same thing but thinking sunken beds make more sense to actually catch some rain.
I've been considering hugelkulture as well.
We have a lemon and an apple tree already. Going to add another apple and a dwarf apricot plus at least one more desert adapted tree while I prep the soil.
Although my weeds this year might be telling me the soil is getting there finally!
I like growing veggies too. Nothing this spring but thinking about this fall.

I totally agree!
The area I'm gardening hasn't even grown a weed in 10 yrs... Tilled for first time this past year. I was never so glad to see weeds!! I just did my first garden in it late last fall, n now have been harvesting some decent veggies!! It's happening more quickly than I had anticipated, yay!!

It's the chicken manure, I'm sure
My first little flock is working hard w scratching in n stirring the compost (on the cooler days only, of course), annnnnd giving lots of poopse

I will love seeing the synergy of it all

 

[ejcrist]

I totally agree!
The area I'm gardening hasn't even grown a weed in 10 yrs... Tilled for first time this past year. I was never so glad to see weeds!! I just did my first garden in it late last fall, n now have been harvesting some decent veggies!! It's happening more quickly than I had anticipated, yay!!

It's the chicken manure, I'm sure

My first little flock is working hard w scratching in n stirring the compost (on the cooler days only, of course), annnnnd giving lots of poopse

I will love seeing the synergy of it all

Sounds like it's coming together for you. I wish people ate flixweed because my garden and yard are full of the stuff. It literally grows at least an inch a day. It's been so bad that I've been mowing it every week, and I have no irrigation whatsoever in my yard outside the garden fence. Luckily my birds are quite fond of it so I pull and bundle a bunch every afternoon and put it in their runs and they love me. Plus it's saved me on giving them the occasional greens from the store. I don't know how they can eat it because it's pretty nasty - makes me have a reaction like poison ivy on steroids that won't go away, and that's even when I wear gloves. I'll be glad when it heats up and the stuff dies down.

 

[theback40]

Sounds like it's coming together for you. I wish people ate flixweed because my garden and yard are full of the stuff. It literally grows at least an inch a day. It's been so bad that I've been mowing it every week, and I have no irrigation whatsoever in my yard outside the garden fence. Luckily my birds are quite fond of it so I pull and bundle a bunch every afternoon and put it in their runs and they love me. Plus it's saved me on giving them the occasional greens from the store. I don't know how they can eat it because it's pretty nasty - makes me have a reaction like poison ivy on steroids that won't go away, and that's even when I wear gloves. I'll be glad when it heats up and the stuff dies down.

Hmmmmm, makes me wonder if that's what my girls have been after...
Long stalk w dandelion-like leaves n a small yellow flowers at the end? I was trying like crazy to keep it pulled, along with the other weeds, till I figured out the chickens were totally into this particular thing,,, now I'm just letting it grow

 

[cactusrota]

Hmmmmm, makes me wonder if that's what my girls have been after...
Long stalk w dandelion-like leaves n a small yellow flowers at the end? I was trying like crazy to keep it pulled, along with the other weeds, till I figured out the chickens were totally into this particular thing,,, now I'm just letting it grow

That's probably wild mustard. We get it like a plague around here. It's edible, like arugula. My husband hates it and wants to kill it all.

(the locals here call it pepperweed)

 

[theback40]

That's probably wild mustard.  We get it like a plague around here.   It's edible, like arugula.   My husband hates it and wants to kill it all.

lol, mine, to,, but he saw that the girls love it, so he's not so against it. Thanks for the weed identification... Just glad it's not poisonous...

 

[cactusrota]

lol, mine, to,, but he saw that the girls love it, so he's not so against it. Thanks for the weed identification... Just glad it's not poisonous...

No problem.. To make sure, you can take a tender leaf and chew on it. At first it will taste like a regular fresh salad green, then after 8-10 chews the heat kicks in and it tastes like mustard. Unmistakable.

 

[ejcrist]

No problem.. To make sure, you can take a tender leaf and chew on it. At first it will taste like a regular fresh salad green, then after 8-10 chews the heat kicks in and it tastes like mustard. Unmistakable.

lol, mine, to,, but he saw that the girls love it, so he's not so against it. Thanks for the weed identification... Just glad it's not poisonous...

Yep that's it. The names I know it by are Tansy Mustard and Flixweed. It's about as noxious as they come. I've got a gazillian cottontails in my yard at any given moment and they won't touch it, the little buggers. They'll eat your vegetable crops like there ain't no tomorrow but avoid any and all weeds in the yard. I think they do that on purpose just to aggravate me.

 

[igorsMistress]

Yep that's it. The names I know it by are Tansy Mustard and Flixweed. It's about as noxious as they come. I've got a gazillian cottontails in my yard at any given moment and they won't touch it, the little buggers. They'll eat your vegetable crops like there ain't no tomorrow but avoid any and all weeds in the yard. I think they do that on purpose just to aggravate me.

Lol I sometimes think they do!
I was wondering if it was ok for them to eat also as it's all over the yard and they seem to like it.
But, I don't have a garden for them to get into right now. I know I will have the same problem when I get it going though.

 

[Bobby Basham]

You got that right about the soil here. It's low in organic matter, heavy on the clay composition, and highly alkaline. On the bright side it's high in minerals. It took me a good 1-2 years of growing cover crops to get the tilth about right and now it's pretty good. The chicken manure compost certainly helps with the NPK. If you decide to do any gardening you'll hear a lot of people talk about raised beds, but raised beds are good for places where the soil doesn't dry out in time for spring planting, like back east. Out here any plants in a raised bed will require 3x the water to keep them moist. I think the reason people use raised beds out here is because they don't want to work the soil to make it decent. Not saying there's anything wrong with that philosophy since different people have different amounts of time to dedicate to gardening here, but I hate hearing how raised beds are better in the valley because the soil is so poor which ain't necessarily the case - just takes some upfront work to get it going and maintain it but it's no different than difficult soils in any other part of the country. If anything it'd be better to make a depressed bed to retain moisture. Above all, feed the soil to bring the pH down to as close to neutral as possible - that's probably one of the main things. Also I always recommend growing crops that tolerate alkaline soil, such as corn, beans, etc. Sorry for going off on a tangent but I love growing vegetables.

Please tell us more, because I wanna put several beds (using 2x12) all around my run and am debating whether to put that black sheeting (whatever you call it) in there and just filling them with dirt from an outside source. That sheeting will keeps pre-existing weed seeds from sprouting.--BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona