Nevadans?

[Lacy Blues]

You know what... as far as I'm concerned, those who don't want to read about gardening can skip your posts. I want to hear. Please don't back off.

You talk about composting but you're talking about doing it directly in the soil? I got a composter this year and my son, being well-intentioned, dumped a bunch of stuff in there but didn't know where the instructions were so he dumped all this stuff in there and watered the heck out of it. Oh well. There's a big lump in there still and I don't know what to do about it. Should I just try to get it out?

I too have many many projects but my body won't cooperate. My lower back has been out for a couple weeks and it's just this week getting back in shape (thank God for chiropractors) however, I wish it would come along faster. My upper back has been out for months! Also, I'm quite heat sensitive and sunburn easily. So, that doesn't help with summer chores. Also, money is an issue.

But according to the forecast, its supposed to be cooling down! Yay!

Maybe I can get outside and get some of the smaller stuff done... I'm building a grow out coop/run for some of my baby birds that need to be able to stretch their little legs and develop some coordination and strength.

I have a HUGE pile of horse manure/straw out front AND out back and no method to spread the stuff. I need a machine of some sort.

Keep advising on the garden stuff Missy. I'll be copying and pasting into a document to keep for myself.

 

[Lacy Blues]

Well, here I am again. Dark has caught me unawares! Now I get to go out and juggle a flashlight while I turn feeders over and dump waters! I refuse to feed mice! Or let them have anything to drink! I have a snake or two in my coop (non-poisonous) and I let them stay so they can eat mice!

 

[horseshowmomnv]

You know what... as far as I'm concerned, those who don't want to read about gardening can skip your posts. I want to hear. Please don't back off.

You talk about composting but you're talking about doing it directly in the soil? I got a composter this year and my son, being well-intentioned, dumped a bunch of stuff in there but didn't know where the instructions were so he dumped all this stuff in there and watered the heck out of it. Oh well. There's a big lump in there still and I don't know what to do about it. Should I just try to get it out?

I do dump my horse manure directly into the garden area DURING the winter. When spring comes we turn the soil. The water from the rain and snow seem to do their job and I have never had issues with burning because of "too" fresh of manure. We don't compost much anymore because of the chickens... they get all my scraps now.


We have dogs and they seem to love to eat the chicken manure. I want to clean out my hen house and dump it into the flower bed area. I am concerned that the dogs will get into it and eat too much. Anyone have experience with this? My manure will include pine shavings.

 

[chicharomirinda]

You know what... as far as I'm concerned, those who don't want to read about gardening can skip your posts. I want to hear. Please don't back off.

You talk about composting but you're talking about doing it directly in the soil? I got a composter this year and my son, being well-intentioned, dumped a bunch of stuff in there but didn't know where the instructions were so he dumped all this stuff in there and watered the heck out of it. Oh well. There's a big lump in there still and I don't know what to do about it. Should I just try to get it out?

If you have something that is not composting well, I would take it out.

I have a document with gardening advice from Missy and Sunny, too! It really helps to have local people since advice from elsewhere may or may not work in our unique climate.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Last week, a friend commented that we ALMOST have Reno gardening figured out. If we moved, we'd be in big trouble. I don't compost nearly as much, but there are still onion peelings, banana peelings, citrus, avocado, dryer lint (yes, it composts,) old feathers mixed with straw and crusty poop. Plus, during canning season, there are more corn husks and apple pulp than a flock of chickens would know what to do with.

If I have a free garden space and several months before planting, I put it directly into the soil. After harvest, I'll keep a shovel sticking out of a garden bed so I can go out with a bowl of compost, dig a quick hole, dump it, and cover it with dirt. The more nitrogen something has (like chicken manure) the longer it needs to compost before being exposed to live plants. Overwintering chicken manure is a good idea. And if you're unsure if it's ready but need to plant anyway, plant nitrogen-hungry things there, like corn or squash. You can offset extra nitrogen by using some clean wood ashes from your fireplace for phosphorus and potassium.

Your non-composting stuff (if it's all plant-based except egg shells and hair/feathers) can be put directly into an unused spot of dirt. It helps to chop it up with existing soil. The bacteria in the soil will speed up the decomposition. Also make sure you water it once in awhile, just to keep that bacteria alive.

And when tearing down your garden, remember to throw away or burn anything that might be infested by any kind of plant disease or insect. It will all overwinter and infect next year's crop.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I do dump my horse manure directly into the garden area DURING the winter. When spring comes we turn the soil. The water from the rain and snow seem to do their job and I have never had issues with burning because of "too" fresh of manure. We don't compost much anymore because of the chickens... they get all my scraps now.


We have dogs and they seem to love to eat the chicken manure. I want to clean out my hen house and dump it into the flower bed area. I am concerned that the dogs will get into it and eat too much. Anyone have experience with this? My manure will include pine shavings.

Yes. I haven't particularly paid attention to what my dogs are doing lately but I am subscribed to the Fermented Feed for Meat Birds thread and someone talked about how their dogs would eat the chicken poop because there is still protein in it. Apparently, a lot of the food we feed is wasted because their digestive system works pretty fast and they just can't get all the nutrients out of it before it finds its way to the ground. Well, since she started feeding fermented feed, her dogs have no interest in the droppings anymore because the fermenting process "pre-digests" the food to some extent and when the chickens eat it, it is well digested and their bodies can get more out of it.

If you're interested in fermenting or at least reading about it... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds/1080#post_9500997

 

[Lacy Blues]

Silkie roo = gone! He will have 6 easter egger girlfriends out in red rock. they are the same age as him. And I just got another person wanting to take him. I told that person I would let them know one of my other silkies turns out to be a roo.

Missy still has a silkie roo that needs a home if any your others don't turn out to be boys.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Missy still has a silkie roo that needs a home if any your others don't turn out to be boys.

Actually, I rehomed my roo last week.

He went to a good home, too, with 4 teenage girls to coo over him.

My dogs eat the chicken poop, as well. And the chicken food. And the scratch grains. And the chickens eat the dog food, but only a few pieces when I let them. So far, nobody's showing ill effects. Egg production has actualy gone up since the chickens discovered the dog food, but that could also be related to the lower temperatures over the last week, or my lack of broodies. I figure since I buy cheap dog food, it's mostly grains anyway. And nobody is getting too much of anything.

I've found that the best way to keep animals out of compost (or poop) is to bury it at least6 inches deep, or make it inaccessible (in a composter or under some sort of barrier) until it's no longer tasty.

 

[Peep_Show]

StevieNay
Yes, exactly! I lived in B Bldg (many years ago) which was the Integrated Studies dorm right next to the parking lot and the cow barns were on the other side. I was a chicken-and-horse-crazy kid and wanted to go to an ag school..... My parents were both extreme city folk and couldn't understand what planet I dropped from. Mom delivered me at the dorm (Nirvana for me as soon as I heard the mooing) and proclaimed "I'd slit my wrists if I had to live here." She when she came to visit me on my ranch in later years (I put that ag ed to good use with the stud farm) couldn't even recognize it was a bullfrog making all that nightly racket and not a wayward cow, so I guess her ignorance came from a lack of exposure. Different strokes for different folks.

HorseshowmomNV
There's lots of horse folks in this flock. Manure is just a fact of life, chicken or pony. We installed a veggie terrace on a slope and realized it would cost a fortune to fill with soil and so buried all the manure we could find (which was lots) at the bottom of the beds. On one that had tons of it I planted my peach trees (peach twigs at that time) over. OMG! Year two or three when the tap root hit all that fertilizer richness the trees shot up to the barn rafters in height....AND the peach crop was limb-breaking baseball-sized fabulous! (Dang...now I want some peaches and all I've got in the house is some oranges.) Horse manure is wonderful for the garden.

The next year's horse/chicken manure/bedding/compost went straight out onto a slope in the pasture to help ease the erosion caused by horse feet. The following season I had the most interesting crop of hybrid pumpkin/spaghetti squash. Like orange footballs.

Out in the yard is always interesting. In the barn is always amusing.

 

[Lacy Blues]

How deeply was that manure buried? I would probably need a back hoe to get any buried here.

That sounds like a dream come true.