Starting a garden

[Skip]

Squash is nice too. Winter squash, I mean. Cut it in half, and they'll pick it clean down to the skin. Seeds are good for them, too.

 

[lilrosc]

excellent suggestions, thanks! And Carrie Lynn, seems like a perfect plant for fall, perfect!

lizch - a year ago I was sitting in my first apartment with my boyfriend with a cat and 4 rats, and thought that having a large courtyard was perfect. Now, we've got a house with a yard and a dog and chicks, and I can't imagine it any other way.

I also plan on doing raised beds, as the soil out here is rather horrible and sandy. I do not plan on using any weed protection other than weeding myself on a regular basis. And I guess with slugs and beetles all I have to do is pull them off the plants and give to the chickens. mehehe.

Will any initial fertilizers be bad for the chicks? I have to get copious amounts of potting soil, but was mostly planning on stealing some manure from my neighbor with horses. So that should be good for most gardens I would think, instead of getting Miracle grow or whatever.

 

[Baymule]

Pile up the horse manure and let it rot before using it on your garden. Google compost......you can add lawn clippings, leaves and other organic materials. It is like black gold for the garden. Chicky poop is great stuff, but also must be composted before adding to the garden.

 

[JLT9807]

I have a small garden in our backyard. I'm hoping the fence around it will keep the chickens out - they are awful nosey though! I did plant some left over seeds by their run. I'm hoping it will last long enough that they will be content with picking in their areas as opposed to picking out of mine!

 

[hennyannie]

Last year a fiend gave me two or three tree tomatoes. I planted them near the coop where the run off would help with watering. Well I think something was wrong with these maters because they grew huge and bloomed a little but did not produce fruit.Finally one day I took down the chainlink panels I had around them and in one day the hens ate them to the ground.

 

[classicsredone]

Quote:
They probably got too much nitrogen from the run-off. That will cause awesome leaf growth, but blossoms just fall off and don't grow fruit.

 

[hennyannie]

My dad thinks so too. I thought they were far enough away from the manure area that it would not be a problem, I guess I should have measured in miles.

 

[kittycooks]

Corn salad is also called mache. I wasn't impressed and thought it was too soft and bland, but I love hearty greens like swiss chard and spinach.

You all are so nice to your chickens to raise greens just for them! I don't have a large garden so the homegrown produce goes to my family!

 

[lilrosc]

I live in a rural town, on a decent lot with just my boyfriend, so it makes sense to supplement store feed with fresh grown stuff. You can probably grow greens for yours in a box attached to their coop, if you had room for that. that way they can stare out the window at the tastiness, mehehe.

 

[7L Farm]

My girls like stawberry's .