Dixie Chicks

[Alaskan]

You are way further down than I am.

The light up here makes growing some things a PITA

 

[Alaskan]

You are tempting me to try though... Maybe a smaller faster maturing beet

 

[CanuckBock]

Father in law said he grew them here many yrs ago for his pigs and cows. Said they grew huge.

Henry Field’s Seed Sense for February 1926. In it the author writes, “If you don’t grow mangel beets for anything else, grow them for your chickens. They furnish a very important food element for your laying hens. Your hens will loaf on the job during the winter if they do not have green food of some kind like sprouted oats, cabbage, or beets. Mangels are easy to grow and make enormous yields."

"Laura Ingalls Wilder, of Little House on the Prairie fame, was famous for getting excellent egg production out of her hens in the winter on her farm. She wrote of mangels in her memoirs saying," “Some stock beets should be raised to feed the layers in winter. The hens are fond of them and they act as a relish and appetizer as well as save other feed.”

A very good point and why when we go to the city...we buy cases of human grade romaine lettuce for bird treats during our long winters. there is no real food value, but happiness value by feeding greens or say watermelons to the Mandarins...the HAPPY FACTOR = cackleberries of appreciation...and an egg in the hand in the dead of winter...jest something fab about that...here's a good friends sister and the EGG...

I mean, can you not FEEL THE JOY!!!!

​

Pros and cons to the mangel, gonna give it a whirl...I may bomb but if it works, kinda neat!

August 31, 2014 - care package for my son...
Nte the romaine is decent size since we start up around abouts June, some years like 2014 twas middle of June​

I recall my grandfather on my Father's side thought nothing more of the turnip as PIG FODDER....and heard of some growing fields of both beets and turnips to feed sheep...the sheep eat the greens first, then start biting down on the tubor parts...not sure how good that is for their teeth but yeh.

Sep 7 2014​

I truly have no shortage of greens at the end of the veg garden seasons....it is a race to get it put by and even just put outta snow's way in the fall. Romaine does not last...none of the true lettuce type greens do.

Gettin' her in before it goes from GREEN to WHITE...like overnight some years

Mangels might be kinda kewl to try.

I know when I make stews...the geese know...oh boy do they KNOW...turnip peelings, celery, (no onions), carrots, cauliflower, broccoli...the hard veg cut to smaller bits...the geese luv crunching them up.

May 24, 2013 - gosling goodies...romaine chopped, center is waterfowl starter mixed with natural yoghurt, waterfowl starter
Goose GOODIES! ​

A packet of seed and a space in the garden, the mangels warrant giving it a go. And of course, each season is different...might go great, but fail too...year to year, that's the challenge and until we plant it ourselves for several seasons, we just won't know.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[Beer can]

You are tempting me to try though... Maybe a smaller faster maturing beet

R H Shumway is where I ordered mine. They have a sugar type and a half sugar, smaller bucklunch they call it. I'll have to check out it's days to harvest.

 

[perchie.girl]

You are tempting me to try though... Maybe a smaller faster maturing beet

here is a master gardener in Alaska

http://www.alaskamastergardeners.org/Northern_Gardening_Tips.html

Talks about Beets needing Liming... what ever that is.

deb

 

[Alaskan]

Where I am, everything likes lime

Just the soil here abouts.

 

[Beer can]

@Alaskan looks like the smaller up to ten lb bucklunch takes a long time also, actually ten days longer than mangles. 110 days.
Most soil around here needs to be 'sweetened' limed. For some reason I don't know ours where we live now is the opposite, needs acid. Maybe cause we're in a valley now instead of on top of a mountain. I found a good cheaper easier way to lower the ph, chicken manure.

 

[Alaskan]

110 days to harvest???


Anything that needs more than 60 days can turn into a nail biter.




Anything over 80 days, and you be a crazy man.

 

[Beer can]

110 days to harvest???


Anything that needs more than 60 days can turn into a nail biter.




Anything over 80 days, and you be a crazy man.

Why I said 'long time'. Know you have some awesome sunlight, for short time. Here they will do fine, for a root crop. Tomatoes on the other hand, no. Less than 70 days or they're green. Always grow 'early girl' 63 days, a hybrid though dead end seeds. This yr, trying even earlier, Alaskan Fancy and Bloody Butcher, both open pollinated heritage seeds, 50 some days.

 

[vehve]

Is this mangel stuff something similar to rutabaga? Our bunnies and chickens love rutabaga. And it's about the cheapest thing you can find in the store.

Yup, lime is needed when you live among conifers.

Super icky weather here, most of the snow has melted. The good thing about this winter has been that we've gotten loads of snow at once, with a long, warmer pause in between, so it hasn't had a chance to layer up so that it would stay on the ground for a long time. Hopefully we'll get an early spring this year.

Karin found one of the older kits wrapped up in the hay net this morning, it's left foot had tangled in. We got it released, but he wasn't using the foot at all. We gave him some painkillers, but if he doesn't show signs of improvement by tonight, we'll have to put him down. At least he's eating and drinking.