My Ideas thus far are: 8 to 10 of mulch should keep them away from the roots.
I think it'll just give them 8-10" of stuff to kick out onto the lawn and dig in! All winter I've been raking up the leaves & dirt that my 4 chickens have kicked out of the beds onto to walkways and grass. They covered my hellebore b/c they were digging next to it. I finally put a little chicken wire cover around it to protect it - it's putting out new growth right now.
Last summer was my first with chickens. I had a small veggie garden they didn't touch for months. I felt quite smug... until The Day. I went into the back yard one day to find that they had discovered my veggies. In one day, they helped themselves to my peppers, cukes, spinach, green beans, and who know what else.
Save yourself the heart ache: keep the chickens out of the veggie garden. Use their droppings (after composting) and let the chickens clean up the garden at the end of the season, but keep them out.
I think it'll just give them 8-10" of stuff to kick out onto the lawn and dig in! All winter I've been raking up the leaves & dirt that my 4 chickens have kicked out of the beds onto to walkways and grass. They covered my hellebore b/c they were digging next to it. I finally put a little chicken wire cover around it to protect it - it's putting out new growth right now.
Last summer was my first with chickens. I had a small veggie garden they didn't touch for months. I felt quite smug... until The Day. I went into the back yard one day to find that they had discovered my veggies. In one day, they helped themselves to my peppers, cukes, spinach, green beans, and who know what else.
Save yourself the heart ache: keep the chickens out of the veggie garden. Use their droppings (after composting) and let the chickens clean up the garden at the end of the season, but keep them out.
