What did you do in the garden today?

[Jiffyrocks]

Ya I was going to chime in: mint keeps the bugs away and chickies love sunflowers!

 

[BirdsNRabbits]

Hey all! This will be my first year gardening by myself! So far I have broccoli, tomato, sweet and hot pepper, kale, oregano, basil, dill, sage, and okra seeds in some trays indoors. Too cold to bring them outside right now! Broccoli is sprouting up pretty good, others not so much yet. I think I have some weeds sprouting up in the trays with them

 

[dan26552]

cucumbers, indeterminate tomatoes, tall peas, interspersed with some herbs:  oregano, mint, lemon balm.  How bout some corn, sunflowers, sorghum?  

Corn goes in on Thursday.

 

[lazy gardener]

We're getting about 12" of snow today and tonight. My Jalapeno and Habanero are germinating.

 

[dan26552]

We're getting about 12" of snow today and tonight.  My Jalapeno and Habanero are germinating.  

Supposed to freeze Wednesday, after that we should be clear.


Yuck on the snow, congrats on the peppers

 

[chickadoodles]

Sorry about the snow Lazy G.

We will get three nights of freezing temps. I will be hunting pinestraw this afternoon. And cover all my blooming trees with sheets I guess. I hope I don't lose any this year.

 

[lazy gardener]

I think our last freeze is scheduled for 4/24. Of course that could change. That's about 3 weeks earlier than the old almanac date.

 

[trailrider330]

I've been thinking about trying straw bale gardening around the perimeter of my chicken pens. Has anyone else tried this? If so, I would love to see pictures. Also, any suggestions for a high nitrogen fertilizer that is not toxic to chickens?

 

[BirdsNRabbits]

We have a small layer of snow on the ground right now. My apricot and plum trees had already bloomed. They're too young to produce anything yet anyways. Can't say the same about the apple trees though. Hope this freeze didn't do too much damage.

 

[lazy gardener]

I've been thinking about trying straw bale gardening around the perimeter of my chicken pens. Has anyone else tried this? If so, I would love to see pictures. Also, any suggestions for a high nitrogen fertilizer that is not toxic to chickens?

I've done both hay and straw bale gardening. I gave up the straw bale gardening when the price of straw went through the roof. It got so expensive, I think it could be spun into gold. One thing you need to be careful of is this: Be sure that where ever you source your materials from, the land has not been treated with herbicides. Some of those are so potent that they will persist in the soil, and in the vegetation for years, and even be excreted in animal manure after the animal has grazed on that vegetation: having a long term negative effect on your gardens. I prefer hay bales for price, and for the denser nutrition provided by the bale. It's very important that you set your system up with easy access to water. IMO the biggest draw back is that they are water hungry. If I did it again, I'd have the system over plastic with a collection reservoir to recirculate water by use of a submersible aquarium pump.

Nitrogen sources: Urea, unscented ammonia, urine.

You can find plenty of pics and even how to information by doing a google search.