What did you do in the garden today?

[WIchickMama]

Happy Thanksgiving, hoping your table is full of homegrown goodies!

 

[Sueby]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I was also gifted a nice egg from one of my Buff Orpington’s. This is a record. This is a 2 1/2 yo hen. Bless her crazy little heart.

I have a 4 year old RSL that is still laying this winter. She has slowed down to like every other day, sometimes every 3 days! She is a machine.

As soon as the birds are done laying I'm going to go clean the coop for the winter & bring in the last of the unheated waterers. My nest sleeper was laying on the floor in front of the blocked nest last night. She's killing me. Maybe if I put the spare roost I built for integrating in there she'll use that, it's only a couple inches off the ground.

While I have the tractor out for cleaning the coop I'll turn the active compost pile one last time for the season. I actually have leftover finished compost this year!

 

[Ascholten]

Maine Potato Lady is taking orders for next spring now. I got onion sets from her last spring, and am getting a pound of Red Baron sets for next year. I'm also going to try again with sweet potatoes.

I grew them once, a couple years ago, and got nada. Well, if she can grow these in Maine, I should be able to grow them here in Michigan. I hope.

Dang. I don't recall what variety I chose. A reddish skin with orange flesh.

Sally I grow sweet taters here in florida so you should have similar results. They LOVE a ton of water, just not soggy standing in them. let them grow until the frost kills them off. A bit of nitroget up front to get the big and leafy, they will ramble, and then phosphates to build the root system, ie the food part. I fish and throw the cooler water and small fish bones in them too and that helps a ton but another cheap source of safe phosphates is that TSP wall cleaner you can get in the paint section of any hardware store,
good luck

aaron

 

[Ascholten]

Fluffy is hit or miss on eggs for some reason, midnight is molting so is out of the picture and now i find that shadow is molting TOO. so there go both of my reliable egg layers.

I am finding some soft shelled eggs every now and then so think baby girl and convict are getting ready to lay their first eggs VERY soon. I predicted the first week in december so it IS that window. I can't wait until they start producing. With winter right around the corner im not holding my breath for miracles though, it is what it is and when they start laying, I get new eggs. I just want them to be healthy no matter what happens.

aaron

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!


I have a 4 year old RSL that is still laying this winter. She has slowed down to like every other day, sometimes every 3 days! She is a machine.

As soon as the birds are done laying I'm going to go clean the coop for the winter & bring in the last of the unheated waterers. My nest sleeper was laying on the floor in front of the blocked nest last night. She's killing me. Maybe if I put the spare roost I built for integrating in there she'll use that, it's only a couple inches off the ground.

While I have the tractor out for cleaning the coop I'll turn the active compost pile one last time for the season. I actually have leftover finished compost this year!

My hens have always stopped laying mid October in the past. I have one Columbian Wyandotte and one BO that didn’t molt and were still laying fairly regularly until a few weeks ago. It’s a treat when they lay so late however I would prefer they put their energy into bulking up for the cold winter ahead. I still have eggs in the refrigerator saved up and some in the freezer.

 

[jerryse]

Happy Thanksgiving . Pie is done and turkey is cooking .

 

[WthrLady]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Morning full of chores that were just time to do, laundry, pantry cleaning and sorting, hard boiling eggs, controlling the Tupperware avalanche and such.

I have plans to get the spaghetti sauce going and then going out and cleaning the workshop. But it's only 32 degrees out and I like to work out there with the giant door open, so we'll see if I bump it to tomorrow. (Who am I kidding? I'm going to bump it to tomorrow 56' and no wind tomorrow)

Garlic knots are on the baking menu as well today.

I'd like to let the birds out, but only if the temps go up as the winds are starting to blow. When they get cold they just go hide, so no point in letting them out.

 

[Acre4Me]

@Sally PB sweet potatoes in Michigan - probably similar to here, but you likely have a little bit shorter season. We grew 12 varieties this year. Here are my recommendations:

1. Pre heat your soil. Prep bed and cover entirely with black plastic. Do this 3+ weeks before you will plant.

2. Plant slips into warm ground. Leave the black plastic on, just cut holes. I also used cut pvc to keep open the holes and to give a target area for watering. I cut a4” diameter sewer pvc pipe into 1.75” thick slices. The sewer pipe was the cheapest here.

3. Don’t plant until night temps are reasonably warm - cold really stunts their growth, so better to wait, or to somehow protect them/keep in some warmth at night.

4. Water consistently. With the plastic, it is a little harder to water well, but just check on them. But, they don’t like soggy, either.

5. Unless you have poor soil, all written sources I checked said to not fertilize them bc soil that is too good actually hinders their growth of the tuberous root.

6. Loose soil is better - add sand if needed. But heavy clay soil will also hinder their growth.

7. Choose short season varieties. I had short and mid season, and for certain the short season ones produced best.

Hope you have success!

 

[Ascholten]

@Sally PB s

5. Unless you have poor soil, all written sources I checked said to not fertilize them bc soil that is too good actually hinders their growth of the tuberous root.



Hope you have success!

Good soil, generally almost always means a nice amount of nitrogen which makes GREENS, ie the leaves grow like crazy. If it's putting it's energy into a huge boquet of nice leafy greens, then it is NOT putting that energy into it's root system, which in THIS instance is what WE want. Get bush early, because bush will sustain the entire plant BUT once it's a bit leafy you need to promote the roots. Phosphates are what help the root system beef up. Buy triple phosphates from a garden shop, or use other sources. TBH I use TriSodiumPhosphate, ie TSP, a soap product. with very good results.

Sweet potatos can and will vine, and every few feet may want to put down another root patch, IF yours has decided to grow along your fence etc etc, make sure you water and fertilize EVERY root bunch it put down, because EVERY one of them will turn into taters come winter and you hit em with the shovel!

One little 'tater hack' I like to do is, the pipe where the Air Conditioning drains itself outside the house. put them there, constant water in the summer, they love it and will thank you later!

Aaron

 

[TJAnonymous]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am thankful for our little gardening & chicken family. I've learned so much from many of you. Thank you all. Sending blessings to you and your families this holiday season.