Garden as of this morning. (Just a little pic heavy.)

[hippywife]

Not all of the squares are planted yet. We've got tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers sprouting in a peat pot tray and some bowls of vermiculite yet.

These are still hard to see. There are only carrots, dill and chives in the back two rows of this box. The dogs broke the twine that separated the squares in this box. They are now completely barricaded out of the garden.



Spinach and lettuces.



Potatoes at the back and along the right edge, beets and turnips in the middle.



There's another box with onions and carrots that I forgot to shoot and a fifth box we just filled to be ready for the strawberries I'm ordering from the co-op that will be here on the 15th.

And the chickens!

[Inchworm]

1. Awesome!

It's coming right along. Are those one foot squares?

I'm just curious. I was reading that some things do well with "wide row" planting rather than straight single rows or hills. I kind of imagine wide-row like your spinach,lettuce, beets, and turnips are set up.

Looking good!

:yourock:

[hippywife]

2. They're just a little over a foot.

Nothing is planted in rows or hills at all.

See:

www.squarefootgardening.com


Thanx, Inchie! :hi:

[hippywife]

3. Finally finished the rest of the fencing tonight!

The dogs were still able to hop the rabbit fence, even with barbed wire around the top so we added another row of rabbit fence around the top and a half dozen more fence posts. I think it's finally secure.

[bvar22]

4. Nice !

I love it when the little green babies start doing their Spring thing.

What kind of chickens do you have?
Australorpes?

We got 18 chicks in mid-March, 6 each Australorpe, Sliver Lace, and Barred Rock.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=268x1437

We lost 13 of them two weeks later to a respiratory illness.
Very sad. :(
Of the 5 survivors, 4 are Australorpes, and one Barred Rock that looks like Gonzo from The Muppets.
They are now outside in the Chicken House with the 3 Guineas and doing fine.

I like how you have the chickens adjacent to the garden.
That may come in handy later in the Summer.
We had a late Summer Squash Bug infestation that a couple of chickens could have cured.

Starkraven and myself shared our first strawberry in the garden this morning.
It was delicious.
:)

[hippywife]

5. Congrats on the first berry!

It's so much fun getting stuff out of the garden finally. How'd it taste? What variety or varieties are you growing?

We have a little ways to go yet, apparently and haven't planted nearly everything we need to. Gotta get the eggplant and squash going soon. With such a long growing season, I'm sure if we get the seeds in the ground by this weekend, it'll be okay. I think. LOL

Our chickens are Jersey Black Giants. They're supposed to be a rare breed as the food industry doesn't want them because, altho they get really big, they do it slowly. It's hard to capture in a pic but their feathers shine an iridescent green. Two of this bunch are shining purple. Very cool! I love having the chickens in the garden! Now that we have the higher fence all the way around, we may eventually let them roam when the plants get bigger. I really would like some buff orpingtons, too. Both varieties winter pretty well.

We also got three Rhode Island Red hens and a rooster for our friend who is getting the bees. (Thanx for all that info, BTW. I'm going to send it to them!) They were gorgeous birds, too.

We've been experimenting with feeding them various wild green plants around the property. Have found many that they enjoy but the funniest thing is the chickweed! Usually, anything you give them, they grab and run away with and fight over, right? Not the chickweed. They all immediately dig in right on the spot where you throw it and don't utter so much as a peep as they eat it. We've decided it must be like catnip for them. My husband has them trained to put themselves to bed every night just before dusk gives way to dark. He just goes out and closes the door on the coop and they're safe for the night.

What do you feed yours? I would love to have organic feed for them but it's too far away and too expensive. We may look at getting some organic grain from local farmers and make our own feed mix from that along with the grasses.

I'm so sorry you lost yours. So glad the others are doing okay. We lost six last year to our dog after having them only a day. She ignored them the whole day we brought them home and had never jumped the fence before. I came home from work the next day to total carnage...black feathers everywhere and not a single chicken left. She ate them all! I adamantly refused to get anymore until that pen was like Fort Knox! I felt kind of like we let them down.

Did you name yours? A friend keeps trying to encourage me to do that but I really don't want to. I like having them and they are fun and entertaining but they are here to lay eggs. They aren't pets. At least to me they aren't.

We're going to build a chicken tractor next. Joel Salatin might be something of a right winger but damn that man is an awesome farmer! Great ideas!

[hippywife]

6. Updated pics!

Storm the other night once again redistributed all my mulch and moved the weed barrier around. Gotta get some edging to redirect all that water! But inside the boxes, all is going great!

Tomato plant a friend gave me with all the onions.


The root veggies and beans are really taking off! We cut the bottoms out of buckets and placed them in over the potatoes to give them more room to grow. Ran out of buckets so one section has a piece of black plastic corrugated board. Added more dirt last night and they are pushing through again this morning. Also put up an old cattle panel trellis for the beans. Husband needs to secure it to the sides so it doesn't blow over.



I'll be harvesting some baby lettuce and spinach today! :bounce:



Tomato seedlings in "the nursery" being hardened off.



And we've added ducklings! These were being sold on craig's list. Dad and kids thought they were a good idea...for a while, anyway. Mom hasn't time to take care of them.





Their enclosure is right next to the chicken pen and the chickens all huddle into that corner once in a while and watch them. It's too funny to watch!

[Joanne98]

7. Oh! The ducks are so cute.

[Richard Steele]

8. That's really looking good!

What type of lettuce are you raising?

[hippywife]

9. There are two kinds.

One is a Spicy Mesclun Salad Mix I got last year and had seeds left over:

http://www.seedsofchange.com/garden_center/product_details.asp?item_no=S15735

And Simpson Black Seeded Lettuce. Salad will be out of the garden tonight! :bounce:

[crispini]

10. Looks great!

:thumbsup:

[hippywife]

11. Updated Pics.

A few new pics from today. We built the ducks a big new enclosure in the garden this morning...complete with pool. They love it!






I picked a mess of lettuce and spinach this morning and the potatoes, turnips, beets, and beans are going gangbusters!



And my husband built a chicken tractor. The chickens are in heaven! They love all the greens and bugs they have access to!





Still tons more stuff to get in the ground and I hope to do that later this evening. This is the best garden we've ever had! Square foot gardening is awesome!

[wildeyed]

13. Great progress!

:thumbsup:

[noamnety]

12. any chance you could post up a photo of a tomatillo seedling?

I'm still having issues identifying my volunteers as tomatillos or weeds.