Well, the weather seems to have warmed up quite a bit, even if it has been rainy and windy on and off over the past week or so.
So, I decided to give it a shot and get the rest of my spring seedlings out.
~ I planted one bed with corn seedlings.
~ I sowed two more beds with corn seeds (had to fight the chickens off from nicking them before they got covered over).
~ On each of the corners I transplanted some pumpkin seedlings from my garden bed at the front of the house where they had popped up. And I think two of the plants might have been cucumber??
~ I then dotted about 4 bean seedlings into each bed - a bit random really, but hope it all works out all right lol. So that is the three sisters ready to do it's thing. Wasn't planted out as the online instructions usually suggest, but we'll see how this goes.
~ In one bed I put my 9 tomato seedlings around the border and will need to put some stakes in tomorrow since last year they got away on me and I got too lazy/overwhelmed to try and implement a system at that point and they splayed out all over the ground which made it tricky for walking down the paths and for harvesting. Four other tomato seedlings are down in the lower garden against a trellis wall, five other seedlings are in large pots on my porch and another three are at the front of the house. So I'm hoping this will give me a larger crop to prepare a longer lasting stash for use throughout the year.
~ The little chickens are really brave around me now and come up quite close without jumping away if I move too suddenly or close to them.
~ We moved their tractor off the garden beds and situated it down the bottom of the section where there is only just enough room to move it sideways once before needing to put it back to where it was. These two patches will need to suffice till I have harvested the other planted out patches.
~ I now have ONE spare 2x2m patch to find something to go in it once I've dug it up/dug in the straw and chicken poo. Should be nice and soft still from last year though since we don't stand on the beds (aside from the chickens) once they've been dug (and the kids have been trained to always go around too lol) to maintain their airiness.
~ At this stage, I only have capsicums to find a space for - but may put these along the front of my house since it's a sun trap there and plenty of space next to my peas (will need to check for companionship I guess).
And, to reinforce the mantra the kids like to chant once we've planted out...
GROW LITTLE PLANTS, GROW!
5 comments:
Kids bring out the sunshine in your life!
That's sooo cute, I can hear them shouting...
Hi Nikki - how are you going with protecting your plants from the chickens? Do you control where the chickens go, or have you taken some measures to protect the plants?
I'm just asking because one of our neighbours' chickens has been escaping into our backyard and scratching up some of my most precious herbs (as well as eating my NZ spinach!!!!)
I have no idea what to do. It's an ongoing problem with a chicken that constantly seems to escape no matter what ...
Any ideas???? xxx
Emmani, I love the little things like that they do too.
Johanna, I don't protect my plants, but I have found that they don't really go for my veges that often (and these days they only get to range when we're down there so can shoo them if need be). They are more likely to be found on the compost pile or bar patch of soil so perhaps you could set up a decoy? They do occasionally nibble the outer leaves of my broccoli or silverbeet but it's fine coz they don't completely eat it away so I'm happy to share. Is there no way to bar (lol I just corrected a typo of *bat*) the chicken from getting in? Is she flying over the fence or pushing her way through a small gap?
Ah, okay - yes - I can see that being around to shoo them would be a big help.
I would love to bat - er, bar - the chicken from getting in. :o) Basically she just strolls down the footpath from her home and comes up our path! lol. We probably could put some sort of better barrier on the path actually. She can also go a slightly longer route, which is harder to block up, though.
My dad has just brought round some wire netting and metal baskety things for us to cover new plants and seedlings with ...
I guess, being the newb that I am, I'm just discovering for the first time one of the issues that more experienced gardeners have been dealing with forever - how to protect your plants from the local critters ... Have never really felt the upset of having plants I was attached to destroyed before!
Wow Nikki, you must have well trained chickens! Or well fed of course... maybe that's why our birds devour everything in sight if let loose on the garden beds! I think we need to up their food. We like Orpingtons.
Yes, the rice growing is going to be quite a special thing. Am not letting the plants anywhere near chickens or children (our dear little son ruined 24 broad bean plants recently :(.
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