Planting some plants for your chickens

[AZGardenFarmer]

I live in Arizona. Heat seems to be the worst for growing. I run a misting system or line into each pen for my chickens. Helps keep them cooler and bring in more bugs. I was also thinking about planting some veggies. Not sure about giving my chickens iceberg lettuce. Is there a type a lettuce that is better for them?¿

 

[Indiana feather]

I live in Arizona. Heat seems to be the worst for growing. I run a misting system or line into each pen for my chickens. Helps keep them cooler and bring in more bugs. I was also thinking about planting some veggies. Not sure about giving my chickens iceberg lettuce. Is there a type a lettuce that is better for them?¿

Romaine .... possibly spinach too.. There are probably some heat/drought tolerant plants for your area. Do you get any stretches of cool weather as i know spinach n romaine are both cool season crops. Happy gardening

 

[N F C]

Here in FL we get really hot summers. We have better luck growing greens, such as collards, turnip etc., in the summer and lettuces when it's cooler.

 

[Indiana feather]

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

 

[Zland]

We are in zone 9 and I agree that turnips did very well and helped feed our flock for a long time in a small backyard. I kind of haphazardly sprinkled the Renee's Garden cover crop tin around and cut some for the chickens when it got too high. They were free-ranged gradually, and between that and the drought most of it finally died. We're going to have to section off most of the yard to get anything to grow, but turnips will definitely be in the mix.

Zucchini and pumpkin also grew very well for us. Our chickens didn't eat the leaves but love the fruits.

 

[AZGardenFarmer]

Romaine .... possibly spinach too.. There are probably some heat/drought tolerant plants for your area. Do you get any stretches of cool weather as i know spinach n romaine are both cool season crops. Happy gardening 

Not really. We get some cool temps but don't think they're long enough to get either to grow. I'll definitely look though. Thanks for the tip. ;-)

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I live in Arizona. Heat seems to be the worst for growing. I run a misting system or line into each pen for my chickens. Helps keep them cooler and bring in more bugs. I was also thinking about planting some veggies. Not sure about giving my chickens iceberg lettuce. Is there a type a lettuce that is better for them?¿

Quote:

Winter is the best time to grow lettuce and other leafy greens here in southern AZ. Ideally, you'd start sprouting the seeds sometime around the beginning of Sept., give or take a week or so depending on your elevation. There is still plenty of growing time this winter though, just start the seeds inside and then move them out when they are ready to transplant. I sprout new seeds every week to keep a constant production. You should be able to grow well into May before the heat scorches everything. I don't plant much lettuce in dirt anymore, but when I did I used hoops covered with plastic to help keep the moisture and temperature up inside around the plants (on hot days I would have to open one end for ventilation).

I haven't planted iceberg, but I have grown a dozen or so other varieties of lettuce and all have done well. I've only had mixed success at growing spinach here. For starters I'd highly recommend romaine (as suggested by Indiana feather) and Swiss chard. The Swiss chard does exceptionally well over winter here in the desert and is fairly cold hardy. The chickens really like both. I hope you're getting some of this rare and wonderful rain today.

 

[hennible]

Beautiful! It's the middle of winter here my greenhouse is very much dead and lifeless. Love to see those lovely greens!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Beautiful! It's the middle of winter here my greenhouse is very much dead and lifeless. Love to see those lovely greens!

Aww, thanks! Sadly though, that picture is probably four years old at this point. Although, we now have a greenhouse and it's cranking out all sorts of leafy greens. The lovely winter growing season here is our reward for enduring the brutal summers.

 

[hennible]

I bet! Must be tough to grow much in the heat.