Flock and coup size for "The Master Plan".

[aart]

I would not want to 'rake back' 6-10" of wood chips to run a seeder.

 

[Beekissed]

Well...that's the thing. The wood chips are placed way before that seeder would ever arrive and by that time they've composted down into soil and only the top layer is still wood chip. So you aren't raking back 6-10 in. of wood chips by then....maybe 2-4 or maybe just 2.

Now, one could do that or continue to compact the soil and overload it with heavy nitrogen manure until everything in it dies, then disturb the soil so that no microbial life that keeps it healthy and thriving can get established, and keep doing that and doing that each year, wondering why you have to labor so very hard to keep the weeds out, to keep the vegetables watered, to keep the soil producing.

Or, you can take the time it takes to rake back a few inches of wood chips before you plant. To me it's an easy choice, but maybe some folks love to struggle so much? I'm not one of them.

 

[aart]

Would depend on how quickly those wood chips decomposed....which would depend on a plethora of other variables.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep....it does. But it's worth the wait...if applied in the fall, the wait isn't too long. Keeps the chickens healthier and provides them with foraging opportunities, keeps the soil healthier, instead of removing from the soil each year it actually adds compost back to it on a continuous basis, retains moisture to the crops, disperses moisture when it's a too rainy season, and suppresses weeds.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've been gardening the Ruth Stout method for about 30 years, and would not have had it any other way all of those years. My well supply is poor. Even in a wet year, if I were to water my garden the way a lot of folks do, my water supply would have turned cloudy with silt at the bottom of every glass of water. Mulching has saved me LOTS of watering, lots of weeding, has vastly improved my soil, allowed me to start working my soil 6 weeks before my neighbors who keep bare soil and use a tiller. The only down side to using the hay mulch all of thes years is that the hay melts into the soil so fast that by the end of the summer, the 6" layer always disappears! I was replenishing it every season, and when time and funds allowed, twice a season. I'm looking forward to converting to BTE so that the mulch I put in place will last through one season and into the next season! Mulch helps dry soil to retain moisture. It helps soil with too much moisture to dry out a bit (since that mulch holds the moisture like a sponge, allowing the soil underneath to remain a bit dryer. As the soil dries out, the mulch releases more water) It keeps heavy wet clay soil from turning into cement because you won't be working it with a tiller and creating a hard pan. It improves the texture of both sandy and clay soil by adding lots of humus. My Troybilt sits in the garage. It takes a fraction of the time to use a stainless steel garden for, to open up a planting row, drop the seeds in and pull the mulch back. No need to till up a whole garden bed. No need to disturb the soil structure, or the microbes or worms!

If any readers are intrigued by the BTE concept, but not willing to commit, I challenge you to do a trial garden. It could be as small as a 4 x 4' or 4 x 8' section. Plant the BTE bed with the same plants that you put in a similar sized conventionally tilled bed. Do a side by side comparison. Which plot produced better? Which plot required more work? Which plot required more water?

 

[Johntodd]

It takes a fraction of the time to use a stainless steel garden for, to open up a planting row, drop the seeds in and pull the mulch back.

So, my little seeder will work on that deep mulch?

 

[MeepBeep]

If any readers are intrigued by the BTE concept, but not willing to commit, I challenge you to do a trial garden.  It could be as small as a 4 x 4' or 4 x 8' section.  Plant the BTE bed with the same plants that you put in a similar sized conventionally tilled bed.  Do a side by side comparison.  Which plot produced better?  Which plot required more work?  Which plot required more water?

It's an interesting concept and I might actually experiment with it for my corn, but I really prefer container gardening as it gives me total control over soil content that can be adjust per container per specific needs of the plant in there... Weeding the containers is dead simple and minimal, watering is drastically reduced since it's spot location watering and I have very high yields in the containers...

 

[Kassaundra]

Hi! I am a newbie to chickens, although I do have experience from when I was a child.

My plan is to split my HUGE garden in half, and let the chickens process one side while I garden the other. Each year, I flip-flop the garden and chicken run. The coop will be in the middle and have doors for each side. All will be fenced as needed to keep the chickens where they should be. Obviously, the door on the garden side remains closed that year.

I intend to flip-flop indefinitely into the future. I need all the help I can get with bugs and weeds in the garden. So, let'em rip and process the ground for me ahead of time.

I've got the overview of the plan done, and now it's time to crunch the numbers. Here's my big question:

How many chickens?

Each run is ~3000 sq. ft. How many chickens should I put there to have them "clear" the run in one year? (52 weeks).

I'd like them to scratch around eating bugs, weeds, weed seeds, etc, making compost for me, etc., all the things chickens seem to enjoy. What I don't want is a muddy barenaked run for part of the year. And I'd like to minimize feed purchases. Esp. during growing or warm season. I understand I'll need feed for the winter.

All these things, to me, point to a smaller flock of 3-5 chickens. That's 3-5 chickens in a 3000 sq.ft run for a year.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks so much!
-Johntodd

W/ 3 - 5 chickens in that size run you won't have bare ground at all in the year, you will have bare spots. They won't "clear the ground" at least in those numbers.

 

[Kassaundra]

Linda Woodrow has really great ideas about permaculture gardening w/ chickens, guild planting, rotating gardens etc... She gardens in Australia so not everything can be applied to our cooler area but her book is a great read and a great starting point to get really good ideas. This link is just to show you the book I'm talking about I'm sure you can get in most anywhere even the library. http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/permaculture-home-garden.html

 

[Kassaundra]

I discovered I wasn't organized enough for this method, I do love the concept. My original chicken houses were much much to hot, I was very new to chickens and didn't realize the heat was more deadly then the cold here. I don't know where the pics went, I never took them off on purpose. Here is a link to my FB album that has a lot of the pics (plus others about my gardening back in 2011 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1812541606166.101506.1618822299&type=1&l=97d68419d5 and here is one for 2012 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3403344335240.148889.1618822299&type=1&l=4a7b25d71b