What did you do in the garden today?

[SheaLoner]

Well, it might be the heat...but I'm starting to wonder if there's something wrong with my mulch. The peppers are doing better since I pushed all the mulch back to give them a 6 inch clearance between the peppers and the edge of the mulch. But places where the mulch is touching my nasturtiums, sunflowers, and dill, I've also got plants dying. Most of my nasturtiums are dying after reaching about 6"+. The sunflowers that don't have any mulch around them are doing great. The ones in the mulched area have either died or are stunted. That just seems like an awful lot of coincidence to me to not be suspicious of the mulch. It was a pile of green mulch (shredded bark, logs, leaves, pine needles, in addition to wood chips) that was dropped last spring (2021) so it has had a year to break down and compost a little. There's tons of fungi that grows on that pile but I don't know what else would make it toxic or bad? It's not exposed to chemicals or anything...

Do you know what type of trees were in there? It could have some black walnut or others that have a negative impact on other plants.

 

[CNJ]

ey outta curiosity when yall say "bite" do the roosters peck and PULL your skin til you jerk away? Is that a bite?

Roosters that bite are usually aggressive and like to challenge you to a duel. They call them man eaters in the chicken fighting circle. This is an inheritable trait, so they are culled.

 

[igorsMistress]

Roosters that bite are usually aggressive and like to challenge you to a dual. They call them man eaters in the chicken fighting circle. This is an inheritable trait, so they are culled.

Mine isn’t allowed close enough to draw blood. I know the signs quite well from previous experience.

 

[Elyrian1]

Mine pecks, latches on, and then rips a chunk of skin out if he can. He's headed to freezer camp this weekend. I found a stock pot big enough for scalding!

 

[pennyJo1960]

If your not bug on skin. It is easier to skin if placed in boiling water.

 

[NewBoots]

Hello! It's been a long time. I hope everybody's garden's are doing well.

So glad to hear from you again!

They were one of his "scores" from work. They had to make and install Covid signs for a local hospital. When the hospital was done with the signs, they didn't want the posts. So I got 25 heavy duty posts, for the hauling away.

That is SUCH a good deal! I'm so jealous, I can never seem to have posts.

We're currently building a small barn and paddock to keep goats next year, and our original plan was to have wethers to keep the blackberries under control, and be pets. But maybe a better plan would be to have a breeding family so we can milk them...The way food prices are increasing, anything we can do to be self-sufficient might be necessary.

I've thought about having goats over and over, but unless we can manage to buy more land I just can't.

My chart comes from Portland nursery and even has an author listed and 3 references! Hopefully this is helpful!

I miss things we had easy access to in Portland but Portland nursery is at the top of the list.

I transplanted this little tree sprout. It was growing up through the bushes beside the house. Too close to the foundation.

Looks to me like a Tree of Heaven sprout, we called ours Tree of Heck if you catch my drift.

I have a few varieties of corn I'm planting this year too!

I love growing corn, it just looks beautiful!

Morning Gardeners I only had to go 3 pages this morning.
We have a rain front parked over us. Think Mother Nature needs to kick it's butt out here

We were lucky, we just caught the edge of the weather here.

@Sueby, I'm so very sorry for your loss. Try to remember the good times. For me, remembering her smiles helped when I lost my mother. Best wishes for you and your family.

Well with all the rain and cooler temperatures we've had this year, we've lost more strawberries to rot than the slugs and snails. The bunnies and chickens have made out like bandits though.

The littles have been pretty well integrated and the tinies are well on their way. I still hadn't gotten to getting a net over the top of the open run. I was pretty confident that the ladies were too big to be a target for hawks, especially after the one hawk that did try to take Inky dropped her after lifting her over the fence (she was fine though she hid under a shed for 2 days poor girl). That said, the littles would be the perfect meal size and the tinies are more fun size snack. But I keep putting it off because I wanted to get a frame put up to hold the netting high enough to easily walk under. Well I walked out to give the girls a treat and no one is in the uncovered run and there's a clump of feathers just inside the pen...it took me a second to realize that they were dove feathers! It was raining but I immediately got out the netting and a bag of zip-ties (I so love those) and now everyone is safe and happy except for the feed stealing doves. I'll still make a frame out of pvc pipe but now it can wait till I have room in the budget.

Got more peppers and tomatoes moved out to the beds and removed a huge amount of borage and comfrey as well as weeds and grasses. I still need to get the green beans in. Got most of the giant weed choked pots out of the deck next to the greenhouse, the ladies were a big help with the contents of the old pots. They love the snails but now they even eat the slugs too. Good girls. I'm sore and stinky and ready for a hot shower, a hand-full of ibuprofen and bed.

Oh and I took care of our last naughty cockerel today, he didn't bother the big girls but he was a real beast with the girls his own age.

 

[chickengr]

He has tried to fight with me and with hubs. This is a young roo though, not even six months yet and a big boy. He’s a beautiful bird, Speckled Sussex, so he’s getting a pass for now. If he keeps it up then he’s soup and pot pie.

I had a speckled sussex roo who was like yours. at some point I sent him to a friend of mine who needed him for breeding. he has more room at her farm to wander around and never caused any problem to her. maybe this breed cannot be confined? I have 3 coops with runs, not much room for the wanderers.

 

[chickengr]

If you are talking Livestock Guardian Dogs I think the Maremma is the smallest breed. Still a big dog of course. They look like small Great Pyrenees.

I have heard about maremma dogs but they are very rare here. I would like some smaller dog though to guard the house and coops at night and not interested in killing chickens. I wish I could find rat terriers here.

 

[chickengr]

Do you know what type of trees were in there? It could have some black walnut or others that have a negative impact on other plants.

or black locust?

 

[igorsMistress]

I had a speckled sussex roo who was like yours. at some point I sent him to a friend of mine who needed him for breeding. he has more room at her farm to wander around and never caused any problem to her. maybe this breed cannot be confined? I have 3 coops with runs, not much room for the wanderers.

That’s a possibility! My crew has has ~300 square feet of run and coop. It’s clear they want out to the big yard, but I have things out there that need a chance to grow first.