NY chicken lover!!!!

[dragonlord483]

Whent out to collect eggs and I got a broody it a brown Leghorn so I left them I as thinking she was because I've been seeing her on them for about 3 days I am curious if she will stay and what they look like got a pbr bantam roo the eggs apear to be from my SSH and nit sure if it a Leghorn or a pbr bantam egg only 2 in nest they might look neat if hatch

 

[Glasshen]

A friend of my husbands gave us a lot of garlic the summer before last. We ate some, and I planted fifty cloves. It hardly takes any space, and does great. I have given a lot away, and planted a lot, forgot how much and we still have some. Fall is the best time to plant it, but I have planted some in spring and gotten heads of it, just not as large. The bulblets from the scapes can be planted, but it will take two years to get nice sized heads from them. The scapes are deliscious, but the soft necked kind can be braided. The big thing about garlic is that it doesn't like to be wet before harvest.

Garlic is a good thing to plant near roses, it keeps some pests away.

 

[rancher hicks]

Ahh Rancher, we get a lot of those little "scapes". Are those seeds in the scapes possible to plant? I have a bag of them. We always left them on and thought we were only getting little tiny garlic bulbs.

I'm going to try to cut off those little scape things when they come up and see if it grows a bigger bulb this year! Thanks for the info!

You should get bigger bulbs. The bigger the "clove" the bigger the bulb.

If you don't cut the scapes down, the garlic will not develop. You want to start with the bigest bulbs you can. I don't know if those "seed" bulbs will produce, but I imagine they might.

You can start garlic from seeds but it takes a couple of years to get anything worth having.

 

[rancher hicks]

Plant garlic in fall around October 15th or so. Then you can harvest them in early-mid summer, when the leaves start to turn brown. We planted our first last year and they were wonderful. Planted twice as much last fall in raised beds again. You do have to weed though in the spring.

I love my raised beds, can sit on a stool or I like my little pull cart made for that purpose with a seat. No more back breakinng weeding. I like to put newspapers in between my other plants to keep the weeds down. My beds are made from pure horse manure that has been composted for a couple of years. I plant right in it. It eventually turns to soil, although even 2 year old still has weed seeds in it.

probably cause its just piled up in one big pile & we don't move it around.

Compost piles need to "Cook". If you cover it with black plastic to hold the heat in it should help. There can be the risk of spontaneous combustion but not a great deal. There have been whole books on the science of composting, but I just do a quick peruse. I don't have time to read an entire book on it.

Now I will say this. I used to get free mulch from the city and put it in plastic garbage bags. If I didn't get to it and left it til the next year it would break down. Point being if you bag your chickens cleanings and other stuff in black plastic bags and leave it in the sun it will break down much faster. Also don't pay for those so called composters they sell. Just get yourself a couple of black trash cans and fill them up. Put the cover on and leave them.

 

[dragonlord483]

Compost piles need to "Cook".  If you cover it with black plastic to hold the heat in it should help.  There can be the risk of spontaneous combustion but not a great deal.  There have been whole books on the science of composting, but I just do a quick peruse.  I don't have time to read an entire book on it.  

Now I will say this.  I used to get free mulch from the city and put it in plastic garbage bags.  If I didn't get to it and left it til the next year it would break down.  Point being if you bag your chickens cleanings and other stuff in black plastic bags and leave it in the sun it will break down much faster.  Also don't pay for those so called composters they sell. Just get yourself a couple of black trash cans and fill them up. Put the cover on and leave them.  

Wount clear work better because the black will reflect more I read that to yse clear on garden to warm soil up fadter then black because it traps more heat were black will repel.

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

I posted this in the southern NY page, but with all this talk of raised beds, I think you all might find this very interesting. It is how to get 100 lbs of potatoes in 4 square feet using a raised bed model. Essentially you make a 4 by 4 raised bed and plant seed potatoes in it and then keep adding boards and soil as the plant grows and it keeps making layers of potatoes and then you harvest by taking the bottom boards off and "stealing" potatoes as you need them. It is too intriguing not to, even if you have the space to do it the conventional way.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-grow-100-pounds-of-potatoes-in-4-square-feet-81760

http://seattletimes.com/html/homegarden/2002347126_potatoes25.html

I saw a thing on YouTube that you can do the same thing with a 50 gal drum. You start the plant on the bottom and as it grows you add more dirt till it gets to the top. It said that after the first frost and the plant dies that you tip over the barrel and harvest the potatoes out. I would think that you would want to dump it on a tarp or something to keep the dirt.

I know this lady that put all her leaves that she raked up and tied them in black garbage bags after she wetted them down. Then she put them by her garden and left them. In the spring she would dump the bags out and had some great compost. The talk of the garbage bags reminded me of that.

 

[Cass]

I posted this in the southern NY page, but with all this talk of raised beds, I think you all might find this very interesting. It is how to get 100 lbs of potatoes in 4 square feet using a raised bed model. Essentially you make a 4 by 4 raised bed and plant seed potatoes in it and then keep adding boards and soil as the plant grows and it keeps making layers of potatoes and then you harvest by taking the bottom boards off and "stealing" potatoes as you need them. It is too intriguing not to, even if you have the space to do it the conventional way.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-grow-100-pounds-of-potatoes-in-4-square-feet-81760

http://seattletimes.com/html/homegarden/2002347126_potatoes25.html

I just saw that idea on Mother Earth News. I am GOING TO DO IT. Our soil is sooo clay, you could make pots out of it, so I have to grow everything on top of what is already here. This will work so well for my situation. I also saw a tower with wire and layering the soil and straw....planting the seed potatoes around the outside so the plant goes out the side of the wire cage. That was pretty cool too, but you can't steal potatoes from the bottom and I wonder how long the wire would hold up year after year. I am going to use the wood square method.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Well i dont recommend it but since i'm staying awake by the silkie brooder i figured a way to keep them warm i hope. I took the cat cage i use as a brooder for first few days after a hatch and put candles in it. Have the hardware cloth lid on it then took a box put shaving in it and put the chicks in there on top of cat cage. Have thermometer in there so dont get too hot and have part way open to vent. Here is a pic.

Now i'm worried about the bator.

Very Smart ! Im sure the eggs will be fine ...a momma checken leaves the nest occasionally

 

[Cass]

Wount clear work better because the black will reflect more I read that to yse clear on garden to warm soil up fadter then black because it traps more heat were black will repel.

Black absorbs heat. But both would work, the black just a little faster than the clear. Every compost bin I have ever seen is opaque.

 

[Cass]

1. When did you plant it? Garlic is best planted in late fall/early winter. Plant it about 4 - 6" deep and cover with straw or hay after the first frost.

2. Where did you buy your bulbs ? Grocery store garlic can sometimes be planted but it's better to buy bulbs at the Farmers Market. Local growers will have the best kind for your area. I've read that all garlic varieties are similar to each other, just given different names.

3. How did you plant it? Garlic is made up of "cloves" . These should be broken apart and planted 4 - 5 " apart, pointed end up. The larger the cloves the bigger the bulb you will harvest at mid to late summer.

4. What type of soil did you plant it in? Loamy soil is best that has good drainage. It like full sun. Takes about 8 months to mature.

5. There are two types of garlic. Hard neck and soft neck. I believe it is the Hardneck that form what are called "Scapes",. these are seed pods on top of long stalks. In order for the bulbs to form they must be cut off as soon as they show up. Many times you will see them sold in baskets. The can be used to make Pesto or grilled. If they are NOT cut off the plant will got to seed and the bulb will be used up.

Similar to onions and tulips.


The "Scape " in this picture has started to go to seed.

It should have been cut off at this point. You can cut it off a few inches down the stalk. I've had Scapes saute'd at the Copper Turret in Morrisville and mistook it for Asparagus. They're very good.

Thank you. You just solved the mystery of why my bulbs were so small. I thought those scrapes were so cute I just left them. When I harvested them I fed the little seeds to the chickens. The loved them. But if I want garlic bulbs I will have to deprive my little darlings of garlic seeds, won't I?