Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[scottcaddy]

Everyone please welcome my daughter in the forum...she is HFRjunior! Hi Alex love you baby girl!

Hi to HFRjr!!

Scott

 

[perchie.girl]

One of my fondest memories is trying a new thing with my dad, we grafted different kinds of hybrid pecans (paper shell) on native trees and had about 50% success.

I really enjoy this thread ! Thanks Oz and welcome hrfjunior and moxies_chickienuggets

best Homer Simpson voice..... Ooooohh Pecannsss.... Grafting is a great tool in the Orchard especially if you have limited space. Both my Great Grandparents did this.... Stone fruit to Stone fruit, citrus to Citrus, Apple (pomme which includes pears as well), All grafted on a very robust Rootstock.

Another reason is some species need another to cross pollinate, in order to produce fruit... Cherries come to mind. Two solutions on that one.... Plant two cherries in the same hole.... (if you don't have the space for two trees ) or Graft.

Most good Orange Trees are grafted on a Lemon root. Lemons have very good hearty root systems. That's why when you prune oranges you have to get rid of the suckers below the graft line. Or you will get a lemon branch. That will not make good lemons.... LOL. The lemon root used doesn't make good lemons....

I have heard stories about each of my great grand parents. One had a tree in her back yard that had Oranges, tangerines and Grapefruit on it. The other had Peaches, Plums, and Apricots on it.
Both my Great Grandmas were very very good at grafting..... Which in of itself is an art form. Its also a way to preserve and propagate plant material that is exceptional. In the case of apples the trees themselves have a lifespan.... I forget what it is. But taking cuttings from an ancient orchard ..... imagine the possibilities.

deb

 

[Phage]

Any advise here would be greatly appreciated.....

We need to plant something that grows to about 6-8 foot fast but not higher. I am thinking as an immediate solution a row of sunflowers while something more substantial (not too substantial - they are on a slope) is growing .
We need to make a screen to camouflage the chicken coop from sensitive neighbours and the road.

Also we would love to grow some tart orange trees that grow to 6-10 foot. Any ideas?

 

[perchie.girl]

Any advise here would be greatly appreciated.....

We need to plant something that grows to about 6-8 foot fast but not higher. I am thinking as an immediate solution a row of sunflowers while something more substantial (not too substantial - they are on a slope) is growing .
We need to make a screen to camouflage the chicken coop from sensitive neighbours and the road.

Also we would love to grow some tart orange trees that grow to 6-10 foot. Any ideas?

Valencia oranges are tart. Meyer lemons are an excellent choice..... They are lemons with an orange after taste..... Excellent for Juice too.... I love em. Wont grow up at my house.

They make Dwarf Oranges Which are get about the height you need. Also if you plant young trees like five gallons you can Espalier them. By stretching a couple of wires behind the trees and bending the branches gently to follow the wires. You, can keep a tree that normally would get fifteen or twenty feet tall down to the height you can reach for harvesting.

Remember if you are going to grow citrus they are shallow root feeders.... Dont grow grass under neath. Water with sprinklers deep once a week or twice a month depending on your area.....

I know you have been having issues with your neighbors... Any chance of doing a decorative fence with shade cloth and trellis to help block their view?

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

an excellent discussion of

espaliering

OH wow you can buy trees already budded with several different varieties

Multiple bud trees

Very interesting.... I may get into fruit trees myself sooner than I thought...


deb

 

[MistyMountain]

I hope to actually grow something worthwhile this year

I entirely failed last year. Nothing grew past seedling stage, even after months. I need to learn to can... but I need something to can first. My mom used to make jam and just pour it in jars and the heat would pull the tops in... never actually canned the American way.

Planted a grape, a fig and a muscadine last year... fingers crossed they made it through our unusually cold winter (7F at coldest temp).

I grew up with my mom growing most of our produce... something I want to carry onto the kids. My step-son spent plenty of time in the garden with 'Oma' whenever she visited, he understands how important it is to keep her memory going by growing a wonderful garden. My 2 year old likes the animals best.. although he has no idea how to act properly around them (but he does the same with people.. he's got some issues). We go through several pounds of bananas a week.... I need to figure out a way to grow those suckers in Alabama

Anyway. I heard sprinkling bloodmeal around your perimeter can scare off deer, also, predator urine can be purchased. Along with a fence, it may convince them to stay away.

for your grape, fig and muscadine!!

Dad was always in charge of the garden. I still can not get a tomato plant to yield nearly as much as his did. I wonder if you can grow paw paws? I have never had them and just recently learned of their existence. I heard they taste like bananas.

I will have to look into those things for deer. It seems like I remember something about marigolds being a deterrent as well. We are their biggest predator here, maybe they will take note! That said, I do so enjoy watching them in the orchard on summer afternoons. We have a couple deer that are a light sand color. Beautiful creatures.

I think this is an excellent point of view. BTW as long as the surface of a pumpkin is undamaged you can store them in a cool dry place for at least Six months.... LOL. never did it just read about it... LOL

Oh yes, they last FOREVER! I just fed one to the chickens from October. Our pumpkin patch had an all-you-can-carry deal. Of course this turned into a challenge for my husband. We were grabbing pumpkins left and right. That was our last one. I hope to stock up on some reasonable sized pumpkins for next year. The chickens sure love them.

LOL, totally hear you on the big dreams. When we bought our house, we had so many ideas and dreams and plans on what we wanted to do. Then hubby broke his leg and missed 7 months of work and that just completely set us back. Now, at this point, we're content with what we've got and when we can fix things, and re-do things, it will come.

The garden is a priority though...I grew up uber suburb and the only family that gardened was the "weird" family on the other side of our cul de sac. I figure, we live in Mennonite country and are surrounded by farmers...our closest neighbor grows produce for a living. He's always available to answer questions and help me prune trees, etc. We'll learn as we go!

Our raspberries did very well...got to the point where I unleashed the kids and told them they could eat the berries, as we had enough.

Our blueberries...well...they did not survive. Actually, one of the plants did, but my husband accidentally mowed it down, thinking it was a weed. We'll try those again...but blueberries are hard to grow.

How wonderful to have such great resources nearby!! I need to get out and talk to some people at the local orchards. Our apple trees were seriously neglected. They are thick and produce a TON of apples, but none get very big before ripening and rotting. To much energy is going to too many branches/fruit to make any of them big enough for eating. I guess right now would be a good time to do some chopping. Same goes for the peach trees, though I think those just need to be chopped down and started over. I would like to get some pear trees going as well. I saw some in a catalog with multiple varieties grafted into one tree. I am tempted.

We have some sort of berry, I can not remember if it is raspberry or blackberry. We snacked on a few before we bought the place. By the time we closed and moved in the bears and deer had picked everything clean. I would love to grow some blueberries. What do they need that makes them hard to grow? We eat them like crazy when they are in season.

Ah, orchard will have to wait, though. My husband is repairing the barn roof right now. That will be followed by replacing the barn boards with the rotten bottoms. Those old boards will get the rotten bottom foot cut off and will then be used for my permanent coop. Can not upset the work flow now!!

 

[crazyhen]

Any advise here would be greatly appreciated.....

We need to plant something that grows to about 6-8 foot fast but not higher. I am thinking as an immediate solution a row of sunflowers while something more substantial (not too substantial - they are on a slope) is growing .
We need to make a screen to camouflage the chicken coop from sensitive neighbours and the road.

Also we would love to grow some tart orange trees that grow to 6-10 foot. Any ideas?

A small growing fig tree is a great plant Negrone is a short type of purple fig. oh, blueberries need an acid soil and most need a cold period.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

for your grape, fig and muscadine!!

Dad was always in charge of the garden. I still can not get a tomato plant to yield nearly as much as his did. I wonder if you can grow paw paws? I have never had them and just recently learned of their existence. I heard they taste like bananas.

I will have to look into those things for deer. It seems like I remember something about marigolds being a deterrent as well. We are their biggest predator here, maybe they will take note! That said, I do so enjoy watching them in the orchard on summer afternoons. We have a couple deer that are a light sand color. Beautiful creatures.


Oh yes, they last FOREVER! I just fed one to the chickens from October. Our pumpkin patch had an all-you-can-carry deal. Of course this turned into a challenge for my husband. We were grabbing pumpkins left and right. That was our last one. I hope to stock up on some reasonable sized pumpkins for next year. The chickens sure love them.

How wonderful to have such great resources nearby!! I need to get out and talk to some people at the local orchards. Our apple trees were seriously neglected. They are thick and produce a TON of apples, but none get very big before ripening and rotting. To much energy is going to too many branches/fruit to make any of them big enough for eating. I guess right now would be a good time to do some chopping. Same goes for the peach trees, though I think those just need to be chopped down and started over. I would like to get some pear trees going as well. I saw some in a catalog with multiple varieties grafted into one tree. I am tempted.

We have some sort of berry, I can not remember if it is raspberry or blackberry. We snacked on a few before we bought the place. By the time we closed and moved in the bears and deer had picked everything clean. I would love to grow some blueberries. What do they need that makes them hard to grow? We eat them like crazy when they are in season.

Ah, orchard will have to wait, though. My husband is repairing the barn roof right now. That will be followed by replacing the barn boards with the rotten bottoms. Those old boards will get the rotten bottom foot cut off and will then be used for my permanent coop. Can not upset the work flow now!!

Blueberries are picky about their soil...they need it acidic. We had ordered all of these fruit trees and berries and whatnot and the very next day was when hubby broke his leg, lol. So a few weeks later, we found ourselves in a bit of a pinch and more or less just had to plant stuff without really taking care of the prep work. We had help, our church came by and dug holes and our neighbor helped us quite a bit, but we needed to get everything into the ground...fast...and prep took a back seat.

We need to rebuild our barn/garage too. My husband has a garage's worth of tools which he is storing in my dining room because our barn has a huge hole in the roof. We need about 10k to put up a structure that can house all of his tools...and that's not happening anytime soon, lol. So for now, my dining room is his garage.

 

[ozexpat]

dinig rooms are overrated and make perfect garages

 

[Tomtommom]

I am glad y'all say that. Our diningroom is a garage too!

We've been working on fixing up the house for much, MUCH too long.... glad to hear we're not the only ones.