What did you do in the garden today?

[MarkRainbolt]

I got the tomato and pepper plants started in the green house this past week. Will start the rest of the vegetables next month.
Mark

 

[WthrLady]

Their catalog is garden porn! Gorgeous photographs of beautiful food.

Their full, expensive catalog is amazing.

 

[chickengr]

Cartoons? I don't think Bugs Bunny would be helpful. LOL. ❤ (autocorrect is hilarious sometimes )

this time I was hilarious, not autocorrect, lol. I was tired when I wrote a post.

 

[gtaus]

I was checking out some composting YouTube videos this evening. I was laughing at the videos on how to make compost in 30 days, 3 weeks, or even 10 days. Sure looks like a lot of work to me turning those piles every other day to make compost as fast as possible. Well, good for anybody who wants to put in that effort.

I prefer to let my chickens compost all my organic matter in the chicken run.

It might take a good 3-4 months to have that stuff break down into black gold compost. However, I have so much finished compost in the chicken run that I cannot use it all. When I need a cart full of compost, it takes me about 15 minutes to load it up. I don't have to bother with all the work required to make hot compost, constant turning, monitoring the temps, etc.. I have 15-minute compost whenever I need it!

Oh yeah, and the chickens love digging in the chicken run compost looking for tasty bugs and juicy worms to eat. You don't get any of those benefits from making hot compost in a separate bin, barrel, or pile.

As I have often said, I have composting chickens and eggs are just a bonus!

 

[Sueby]

They just updated the snow map - 8-14 inches. Ooofff. The girls are going to be mad.

 

[Insnesnakos]

I was checking out some composting YouTube videos this evening. I was laughing at the videos on how to make compost in 30 days, 3 weeks, or even 10 days. Sure looks like a lot of work to me turning those piles every other day to make compost as fast as possible. Well, good for anybody who wants to put in that effort.

I prefer to let my chickens compost all my organic matter in the chicken run.

View attachment 3745980

It might take a good 3-4 months to have that stuff break down into black gold compost. However, I have so much finished compost in the chicken run that I cannot use it all. When I need a cart full of compost, it takes me about 15 minutes to load it up. I don't have to bother with all the work required to make hot compost, constant turning, monitoring the temps, etc.. I have 15-minute compost whenever I need it!

Oh yeah, and the chickens love digging in the chicken run compost looking for tasty bugs and juicy worms to eat. You don't get any of those benefits from making hot compost in a separate bin, barrel, or pile.

As I have often said, I have composting chickens and eggs are just a bonus!

I do this too in a corner of the yard, they have a blast digging around and the leaves have really gone down
When they're standing on it, they look like they don't have legs

 

[Insnesnakos]

There's going to be rain and snow later this week
The chickens won't be happy

 

[gtaus]

I do this too in a corner of the yard, they have a blast digging around and the leaves have really gone down
When they're standing on it, they look like they don't have legs

After my chickens devasted all the grass in my chicken run, leaving nothing but bare dirt and mud after a rain. I started dumping in wood chips at first to cover the dirt, but over time I converted the entire chicken run into a composting system. I now throw almost all my organic matter (weeds, grass clippings, leaves, spent bedding and coop litter, etc...) into the chicken run and the chickens turn it into compost.

My chicken run is about 13X40 feet, and last year I filled up and topped off all my garden beds and still only used maybe less than 10% of the finished compost I have in the chicken run.

Compared to when I used to buy compost at the big box stores, I am harvesting easily $200-$300 dollars worth of black gold compost from the chicken run about twice a year.

Now that I don't have to buy my compost by the bag at the big box stores, I have more than doubled my raised bed gardening since I got my chickens. And I truly believe my homemade chicken run compost is much better than the commercial compost I used to buy at the big box stores. My plants have never grown so good.

When I look at my chicken run, all I see is money in the bank! To me, there is nothing better than seeing all that organic material in the chicken run turning into compost. The chicken run never smells and the chickens spend all day out there scratching and pecking in the material looking for bugs and worms to eat. They love it.

 

[gtaus]

There's going to be rain and snow later this week
The chickens won't be happy

My chickens won't go outside and walk on the snow. Living in northern Minnesota, that can be a long winter living in the chicken coop.

What I have been doing for the past couple of years is saving bags of leaves for use in the winter. Every once in a while, I will take some leaves out of the bags and spread a little spot on the snow for the chickens to walk on. Then they go outside and walk on the leaves.

 

[Molpet]

This is what I do too, and dried lawn grass and straw I get for free after Halloween

My chickens won't go outside and walk on the snow. Living in northern Minnesota, that can be a long winter living in the chicken coop.

What I have been doing for the past couple of years is saving bags of leaves for use in the winter. Every once in a while, I will take some leaves out of the bags and spread a little spot on the snow for the chickens to walk on. Then they go outside and walk on the leaves.