Your 2026 Garden

[Debbie292d]

Ditto what your husband and fuzzi said.

Also, unless she bit off all but the cotyledons (the first two leaves out of the seed) she helped the plants get bushier. What a helpful little kitty. OTOH if she did chew them down to the nubbins, well, you're supposed to choose just one per plug anyway. What a helpful kitty. Maybe grow some cat grass (rye oats, wheat, and/or barley) just for her. What a helpful kitty

I did grow oats and wheat for her. She likes it, but it doesn't stop her.

I was hoping they'd still grow without their top two leaves on them. A few she didn't get, so I'll manage to come up with four.
Yep, only needed one per pot, so I guess I should look at it your way; she saved me having to pick later.

 

[Cebarmlds]

My seeds came and I ordered my new apple tree today

 

[jxp]

My seeds came and I ordered my new apple tree today

How exciting. What variety apple and where'd you get it?

Personally I don't order trees for the same reason I don't do grocery delivery. I'm too much of a control freak. I want to be able to look at that tree from all angles, inspecting the graft, checking for insects and damage, look at the root ball, and compare it to the one next to it.

 

[Cebarmlds]

How exciting. What variety apple and where'd you get it?

Personally I don't order trees for the same reason I don't do grocery delivery. I'm too much of a control freak. I want to be able to look at that tree from all angles, inspecting the graft, checking for insects and damage, look at the root ball, and compare it to the one next to it.

I ordered from Jung, a Wolf River standard size. I wouldn't be able to find Wolf River locally, it would be nice to pick out the tree personally but it's not possible. I have gotten trees locally that died so it's not a sure thing no matter what.

 

[jxp]

I ordered from Jung, a Wolf River standard size. I wouldn't be able to find Wolf River locally, it would be nice to pick out the tree personally but it's not possible. I have gotten trees locally that died so it's not a sure thing no matter what.

Looked this up. Sounds like a wonderful cooking variety. Good luck with all your seeds and new tree.

 

[Debbie292d]

It looks like I did wind up with one per pot and two in another. They should make it now that they're covered. Once they get about 8" tall, they'll outgrow that but at that point, she can't do much damage to them either. Plus, eating full leaves of anything isn't her style. She'd rather play with them and might be what she did in the first place.




One of the leafless stems is getting leaves. I never would have thought!

 

[Noodler]

I did a lot of gardening back in 2020 but have basically been stuck in a cycle of trying to clean it out, start getting traction, and then end up neglecting it while talking about how next year will be better.
It's been like 6 years but I'm determined I'm going to clean it out this year and make it a good "Playpen" for the chickens this fall. I know that we have issues with cutworms in there and the girlies would love that lol

 

[Sally PB]

If you let the chickens work that area over late summer/fall*, you will have some fantastic!!!! soil for the next spring. They'll clean out bugs, dig/eat up weeds and seeds as they sprout, till the soil, and fertilize it. Let it sit over winter, and the manure will age nicely.

* Where are you located? Just the state is fine, or country if you're not in the US. Climate matters a great deal with gardens and chickens. If you put your location in your profile, it shows up automatically, which lets people responding to your posts know what your general climate is.

 

[Noodler]

If you let the chickens work that area over late summer/fall*, you will have some fantastic!!!! soil for the next spring. They'll clean out bugs, dig/eat up weeds and seeds as they sprout, till the soil, and fertilize it. Let it sit over winter, and the manure will age nicely.

* Where are you located? Just the state is fine, or country if you're not in the US. Climate matters a great deal with gardens and chickens. If you put your location in your profile, it shows up automatically, which lets people responding to your posts know what your general climate is.

I'll look into adding that later since yeah, that's good info for people but I'm west coast Washington state.
The big goal really is soil improvement since we have basically clay in every inch of the property. Clay and rocks lol.
From what I've read, we're looking to plant squash, potatoes and peas. All the potato plants would be removed before the chickens get in there. Along with the tomatoes my brother insists on growing. Hopefully this would set us up to have the garden we really want in '27.
Main reason we didn't release the birds on it at the end of '25 is because we have a lot of stuff in there right now that they could get hurt on so this year is clean up and rebuild.