growing in the garden

[freemotion]

Hmm...how deep is the hole, do you line it, (I guess not, if the mice might get in) and do you use a cover or just pile leaves? How deep? How cold does your winter get?

 

[digitS']

I'm sorry Dranefotie2, we are hijacking your thread . . .

BTW - my chickens have always prefered carrot peels over potato peels. I still need to nuke them . . . then they will eat about 1/2 cup each.

I dig a hole and frame it with short boards at the top. Digging down at a slope for the longest parsnip to the shortest carrots standing like people riding in an elevator. Only 6 or 8 inches of dirt piled on top but PLENTY of leaves or pine needles.

It may get down to a minus 10°F here, sometimes colder.

Steve

 

[vermontgal]

This time of year my gals are enjoying munching on Brussels sprouts leaves -- I'm still harvesting sprouts although it has been down to around 10F so far here. Brussels sprouts are just about the hardiest vegetable!

Fortunately, the chickens seem to like the leaves, and leave the sprouts alone - so this is a perfect, symbiotic relationship where they eat the part I don't want, and vice versa.

My chickens seem to really like all of the brassica family -- I didn't get any kale this year because they ate it all...

 

[freemotion]

The chickens can have the Brussels sprouts, too, in my world!

Sooo.....Dranefotie2.....You store all those veggies in a clamp, too, don't ya? (un-hijacked????

)

 

[bayouchica]

We grow Jerusalem artichokes & it is a wonderful crop for the chickens.Good people food,too. It is one of the first plants that come up here in early spring,they are similar to sunflowers.They are a root crop, chickens love the leaves & the cover they provide.In the winter they dig up the roots & eat the roots.
We eat them too, they are like water chestnuts with a nutty flavor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunchoke