What did you do in the garden today?

[Farmdog267]

Good morning everyone, its hard to tell in some spots that we got a few inches of snow and sleet on Saturday. Home still has some evidence of the snow laying on the ground but at work, just 12 miles south more towards Philly, its hard to tell any snow fell at all.

 

[Acre4Me]

Very cold!! There is pooled water which is frozen and has created an entertaining impromptu rink. Luckily we can walk around the two frozen areas, so and skating/sliding is intentional. And the kid learned NOT to slide on ice with eggs in pocket...luckily the egg that broke fell out of the pocket onto the ice before breaking.

this morning it is sunny and blue skies. Hopefully it stays that way.

 

[Sueby]

Good morning gardeners!
I have three BO's but I am in a warm/hot/humid climate so I am not sure if my reporting on the breed is the help you seek, but anyways...
My 3 BO's are beautiful, people sweet and friendly, not my most reliable layers (maybe the heat) of BIG brown eggs and can be loud and demanding with their needs. They do rule the roost and are peck happy, even my young BO can alpha my senior BR's, Americana's and Bantam mix's. My lt. Brahma's hold their own. If I lived in a cold climate I would definitely have BO's in my flock, I think that they would be a good choice if they can be more pet like. Mine have never gone broody.
Did you say you were interested in lt Brahma too? I TOTALLY love my 3 light Brahma's and think orps and brahms are like peas and carrots, peanut butter and jelly, coffee and mornings!!! Mine are very well suited for each other and would be a #1 cold weather picks for me. My one lt Brahma went broody a few times, was easy to break and has not gone broody for the last year ++. Other two never have gone broody. My Brahm's are more heat tolerant, consistent layers and just very, very beautiful, quiet and pleasant, more of a working girl than my orps have been.
I lost one young BO @ point of lay and heat, and one BO who gets a little quiet so i have to keep my eye on her a bit more and my oldest BO's comb pales every so often, she tends to over eat every chance she gets. I have never had ANY issues at all with my Brahms (touch wood) and hope to get buff Brahms one day.View attachment 2006188

Absolutely helpful! Appreciate it! & no I hadn't mentioned Brahmas but I will look into them. I'm always open to suggestions since I'm a chicken noob!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. Welcome to the thread @BReeder! Most of us are in the planning stages right now. Right now I'm in the snow globe that is New England. The good news is no new precipitation forecasted for the next 4 - 5 days. We have a few members that are in more temperate regions and are actually gardening and harvesting now. We're back into the deep freeze today. Overnight low was 10F and it is now nearing 18 balmy degrees Fahrenheit. Yay! After cleaning the coop and defrosting the waterers I spent some time working on the garden plan. I think I'm almost there. While looking into companion planting I found some good info for which herbs and flowers to accompany them. I just hope we don't have a lot of snow in March so I can build the new garden bed and have it filled by early April. Oh well, will see what happens. I did a little extra shoveling yesterday and tried to entice the chickens out of their run - no takers. I think they have an aversion to fresh snow. The Old Farmer's Almanac site has good information on building raised garden beds @Boonie Stomper. Give it a try if you haven't already. Loved the pictures @TropicalBabies, keep them coming. Have a great day every one.

 

[WthrLady]

Well my African Violet did appreciate my 62 degree kitchen. Sigh.

That was did NOT appreciate. Maybe I'll plant a lemon seed.

 

[BReeder!]

Good morning gardeners. Welcome to the thread @BReeder! Most of us are in the planning stages right now. Right now I'm in the snow globe that is New England. The good news is no new precipitation forecasted for the next 4 - 5 days. We have a few members that are in more temperate regions and are actually gardening and harvesting now. We're back into the deep freeze today. Overnight low was 10F and it is now nearing 18 balmy degrees Fahrenheit. Yay! After cleaning the coop and defrosting the waterers I spent some time working on the garden plan. I think I'm almost there. While looking into companion planting I found some good info for which herbs and flowers to accompany them. I just hope we don't have a lot of snow in March so I can build the new garden bed and have it filled by early April. Oh well, will see what happens. I did a little extra shoveling yesterday and tried to entice the chickens out of their run - no takers. I think they have an aversion to fresh snow. The Old Farmer's Almanac site has good information on building raised garden beds @Boonie Stomper. Give it a try if you haven't already. Loved the pictures @TropicalBabies, keep them coming. Have a great day every one.

I do have three raised beds. We built them with 2x4 framing and corrugated galvanized steel walls. They measure 8'x4'x2'. I plan to actually move them this year. I plan plan to build a fourth bed. I may decide to knock the height of one of the existing beds down to 1' when moving them (I'll have to dismantle it anyway) and use the cut-off materials to build the fourth bed at 1' too. A lot of our garden gets sowed directly into the ground though. After moving the fence this year to expand the garden, the whole garden will measure ~55'x20'.
My biggest problem is clay heavy soil. It's hard to amend such a large garden. I have let the chickens pick through and break down leaves and then till them into the soil. I also picked up a load of free composted manure and straw (barn clean up) that was enough to fill a small u haul trailer (5'x8' I think) about 1/2 way up last Spring and tilled that in too. Lastly I have my own compost bins (check out my article on my composting adventure), and I have been adding the homemade compost to the garden - I have about 1 cubic yard of unsifted finished compost to add to the garden this year. It's still not enough though. I'm not a fan of paying for loads of amendments like sand, compost, vermiculite, etc. so I'm trying to find ways to fluff up the soil on the cheap. Besides, laboring away in the garden is what it's all about. Anybody have ideas?

 

[WthrLady]

Thawing from last night. Low was neg 1 and windchill was neg 25. Brrrrrrrr.

 

[igorsMistress]

That was did NOT appreciate. Maybe I'll plant a lemon seed.

Awe, that's a bummer! Try a lemon seed and see what happens!

 

[Farmdog267]

~55'x20'.
My biggest problem is clay heavy soil. It's hard to amend such a large garden. I have let the chickens pick through and break down leaves and then till them into the soil. I also picked up a load of free composted manure and straw (barn clean up) that was enough to fill a small u haul trailer (5'x8' I think) about 1/2 way up last Spring and tilled that in too. Lastly I have my own compost bins (check out my article on my composting adventure), and I have been adding the homemade compost to the garden - I have about 1 cubic yard of unsifted finished compost to add to the garden this year. It's still not enough though. I'm not a fan of paying for loads of amendments like sand, compost, vermiculite, etc. so I'm trying to find ways to fluff up the soil on the cheap. Besides, laboring away in the garden is what it's all about. Anybody have ideas?

Is anyone growing mushrooms close by to you? Normally many of the local mushroom farms give the spent compost away for free but they normally want to give it out in larger 2+ cubic yard amounts. Every now and then, someone on craigslist or facebook marketplace will post up about free manure as well.

 

[Farmdog267]

Thawing from last night. Low was neg 1 and windchill was neg 25. Brrrrrrrr.

Wow, thats cold... Makes our high temp of 30 with teens for windchills today seem balmy. Stay warm and I hope your pipes are well insulated and secure!