Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[kada6305]

I don't let mine out until 10:30 or even as late as noon as long as I'm going to be home. I used to let them out as soon as I got up in the morning but now that they're starting to lay, I'm trying to make sure they get into the habit of laying in the nest boxes. As soon as I'm convinced that they'll keep doing it, they'll be getting out at like 8-9am

Mine always lay in their nesting box, or the spare rabbit hutch, The Ducks on the other hand...lol sometimes I find one on the sidewalk, or one randomly in the field.

Also on five acres, backed up against fields and woods. I haven't closed my pop doors in two years.
Mine have a rather large own top fenced run. They very rarely lay in the run.

Their run is fenced on top as well, never close the door to the run, the door to the 5 acres usually around 8, was temted to open it at 6 today but was worried about predators.

 

[joe72]

I'm from Hanover pa anyone close to me

 

[kada6305]

I'm from Hanover pa anyone close to me

Your about 4 hours from me. I'm in Kersey.

 

[dheltzel]

I'm from Hanover pa anyone close to me

My Mom's family was from the Hanover area, and I go through there whenever I visit my Dad in MD (he lives just south of Taneytown). Now I live close to Philly, about 2 hours east of you.

 

[fisherlady]

I'm from Hanover pa anyone close to me

Not even close!! But welcome to the thread! I'm sure we can help you find everything you never knew you wanted!! LOL

 

[LisaYolkUm]

It's too late in the season to get any sort of potatoes growing, focus on cool weather crops instead. My mother used to get phenomenal yields but just putting them in the ground and letting them grow. Weeding was the only thing she did to them. I haven't grown potatoes "on my own" until this year and we haven't tried harvesting any yet. They are so cheap to buy I don't think of them as worthwhile to grow, but my sister wanted to grow some.

Personally, I'd avoid all the "newfangled" ways of growing vegetables, like the potato towers and hanging bags of tomatoes. Read a classic book like "Square foot gardening" and follow that. You can adapt what you learn and get better results from experience.

Potatoes are hot weather crops, plant them the same time as tomatoes, or later. Mulch them well as soon as the soil is warm (mid to late June) and you can harvest a bumper crop.

I hear you............but I still wish I could have had a better result.
Its not so much about the cost........I just thought that they would be healthier, tastier etc.........
I will try them again next year................
the potato tower was just so that it would not take as much space............and get more yield...........I have the sq foot gardening book.......but potatoes in a raised bed......seems like it would take lots more space..........

 

[dheltzel]

I hear you............but I still wish I could have had a better result.
Its not so much about the cost........I just thought that they would be healthier, tastier etc.........
I will try them again next year................
the potato tower was just so that it would not take as much space............and get more yield...........I have the sq foot gardening book.......but potatoes in a raised bed......seems like it would take lots more space..........

Yeah, potatoes are not nearly as good a crop as tomatoes, peppers, beans, etc. for replacing expensive or sub-standard vegetables. Potatoes are easily cultivated in large areas and produce a lot for little effort. Other root crops and corn are similar. Tomatoes are about the opposite end of the spectrum, needing a lot of care per plant to produce less "calories". Oddly, potatoes and tomatoes are quite closely related. Some people have even grafted tomatoes onto a potato to try to get both from one plant (nice novelty, but not for maximizing yield).

Potatoes love mulch and can emerge through thick mulch that will keep all the competing weeds at bay. Start saving mulch now for next year. Leaves are great for mulching potatoes, so if you can manage a big pile this fall, keep them from blowing away and you are all set for next year.

 

[chiques chicks]

Yeah, potatoes are not nearly as good a crop as tomatoes, peppers, beans, etc. for replacing expensive or sub-standard vegetables. Potatoes are easily cultivated in large areas and produce a lot for little effort. Other root crops and corn are similar. Tomatoes are about the opposite end of the spectrum, needing a lot of care per plant to produce less "calories". Oddly, potatoes and tomatoes are quite closely related. Some people have even grafted tomatoes onto a potato to try to get both from one plant (nice novelty, but not for maximizing yield).

Potatoes love mulch and can emerge through thick mulch that will keep all the competing weeds at bay. Start saving mulch now for next year. Leaves are great for mulching potatoes, so if you can manage a big pile this fall, keep them from blowing away and you are all set for next year.

I will say my tomato table experiment this year was a success. I had one variety that didn't do well, but the other five plants were excellent. I've never had success with cages and I'm too lazy for posts. Table solved the issue. I'll try to get a picture one of these days.

 

[dheltzel]

I will say my tomato table experiment this year was a success. I had one variety that didn't do well, but the other five plants were excellent. I've never had success with cages and I'm too lazy for posts. Table solved the issue. I'll try to get a picture one of these days.

I would like to see a current pic. I think you posted a pic when you first put it up, but of course the proof is how it handles the plants now. I use cages a lot and they work ok as long as you keep pushing the stems back into the cage. But it's hard to remember to do that often. I assume a table solves that.

 

[troyer]

What time does everyone let their chickens out? I have a coop with a small fenced in area for them, But open the big door for them to let them frr range in the mornings, how early do you let yours out? I would like to let them out 6-7- we live on 5 acres and worry about predators. We lost a Duck to a fox a few weeks ago at noon but i can't keep them in until that late.

I let mine out at 6 o'clock every morning. They need to dodge hawks and the occasional skunk for the most part. Most of them are out all day long and go into their coops or roost on top in the evenings. I go out shortly after night fall and put them all (usually about half a dozen) inside and securely close all the coops. I've lost three pullets to a hawk lately.