Illinois...

[Molpet]

I tried starting sweet potatoes last year. The slips grew great indoors. I started them in water with sweet potato halves partially submerged. I had a lot of slips develop. The rabbits ate them within days of planting outside though. I didn't bother this year. Maybe I'll try again next year. It would be nice to have a harvest of them. This year's new root crops are some different potatoes (purple and pink) and Jerusalem artichokes. It looks like I can expect a harvest from this year's newby root crops at least.

I started them like that too. Last year I just threw a sp in the ground that had sprouted, no roots. It didn't produce anything. ....Umm I have a couple rabbits running around. I haven't seen them in the garden yet. I grow enough Yukon gold for the winter. This year I got some huckleberry gold, they seem to be doing well, they are low glycemic purple skins

 

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

Romeoville... not sure why I put Lockport. Definitely not Lockport. Sorry for that confusion.

Actually I had a friend that lived at renwick and Weber. They had Joliet water, romeoville fire, lockport mail. and there was 1 more odd thing I don't remember but that area is screwed up. 1 light south of there on the east side of the street is actually lockport, I worked at towing company there for a bit.

 

[Molpet]

The rabbits ate them within days of planting outside though.

Well 4 sp were in a row covered with black landscaping fabric. The 2 in a different place are still there. ... how long is the question lol

 

[Faraday40]

Any gender predictions?
black silkies, both 10.5 weeks old. One is still small. I believe it had a developmental delay.

Bigger one
I've pretty much guessed female all along because it has a narrow comb.... but is more outgoing. Sometimes stands upright, sometimes not. Crest is developing. Are those streamers???? or just feathers coming in?

smaller silkie
feathering in slower. Comb slightly wider, but not fat like my past males. More skittish & hides under the bigger one. Crest is still cone shaped

very close up

 

[Faraday40]

@homeschoolin momma
Pretty sure my 7 week old silkied serama chick now identifies himself as male. What a difference one week makes! I like his color but prefer the seramas that can be sexed much earlier. Both are super friendly, but will be for sale soon.

 

[BReeder!]

Storm is on us now... I managed to make progress on the duck run renovation. The old pond hole is nearly filled in. I the everything in this hole. It was 5'x10'x4'. I put rotted wood, old landscape edging blocks, pavers from a very wavy patio (tree roots and ground settlement) we are redoing, gravel from the old pond, weeds, sticks, and finally typing it off with dirt I has piled up in a corner of the yard from previous landscaping projects.

Eventually I'll get this done... and then on to redoing the patio behind the sunroom that we took pavers up from.

 

[Molpet]

Storm is on us now... I managed to make progress on the duck run renovation. The old pond hole is nearly filled in. I the everything in this hole. It was 5'x10'x4'. I put rotted wood, old landscape edging blocks, pavers from a very wavy patio (tree roots and ground settlement) we are redoing, gravel from the old pond, weeds, sticks, and finally typing it off with dirt I has piled up in a corner of the yard from previous landscaping projects.
View attachment 2715785

Eventually I'll get this done... and then on to redoing the patio behind the sunroom that we took pavers up from.

Those pavers will work their way up over the years with frost heave. I grow a lot of rocks that way.

 

[homeschoolin momma]

Any gender predictions?
black silkies, both 10.5 weeks old. One is still small. I believe it had a developmental delay.

Bigger one
I've pretty much guessed female all along because it has a narrow comb.... but is more outgoing. Sometimes stands upright, sometimes not. Crest is developing. Are those streamers???? or just feathers coming in?
View attachment 2715721View attachment 2715715View attachment 2715714View attachment 2715718




smaller silkie
feathering in slower. Comb slightly wider, but not fat like my past males. More skittish & hides under the bigger one. Crest is still cone shapedView attachment 2715732
very close up
View attachment 2715734View attachment 2715735

I think you have two girls.

 

[BReeder!]

Those pavers will work their way up over the years with frost heave. I grow a lot of rocks that way.

Oh well. They are at least a foot under for now. The ground will sink over the next few years and I'll keep adding dirt so that will just bury those pavers back down. I worry more about the sinking than the heaving because I know the dirt will work its way down between the debris we have in the hole and the dirt is not compacted so it well also sink from compaction. I'm going to wait until next year I decided to build the new pond. For the rest of this year they have a kiddy pool.

After the rain passed and the scorching sun quickly died things up we went back to work and finished added dirt (for now). I types of the dirt with hay to keep things from getting muddy. I plan to use straw in there actually and pull it out from time to tone to use as mulch in the garden or add to the compost piles.

Excuse the trough in the back in of the pen. That was meant for a pond filter. I think I'm just scraping the filter idea and will eventually build a new pond that is shallow and raised so it can be drained into the adjacent garden, rinse out and refilled easily.

 

[BReeder!]

Also, while out with the ducks today I noticed that of the 9 ducklings (was 11 but two parished over the past two months, one was a runny and the other was unknown causes) it looks like at last 4 are going to be drakes by the white neck rings that are developing already. I only need one drake, so I'll be processing drakes in the near future.