Showing posts with label Garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garden. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

So you want to talk about Chicken Tractors...

I can do that.  I just hope I can stop once I get started.  

I have 13 chickens -- 5 assorted bantams and 8 Welsummers.  I love them all.  Even when they give me a little grief...







We keep them in a (somewhat) traditional chicken coop I made using an old satellite dish for the roof.  




But, I also keep a chicken tractor in the garden.  I rotate 2-3 of the girls into it every couple of weeks except for the coldest months --  January and February. 



What is a chicken tractor?  Chicken tractors are portable chicken coops without bottoms.  They are one of the top 10 inventions of all time.  I made that part up, but honestly, they are one of my top 10.



The chicken tractor provides shelter and protection while allowing the chickens to forage.  Tractors can be used on the lawn, in which case you'll want to move it daily, or in the garden, where it can be left for longer periods of time.

The size of chicken tractor can vary greatly as can their design. However, most urban tractors are small-ish and hold 3-4 chickens.

The advantage of chicken tractors to the gardener is a sustainable source of eggs, meat (not me), and nitrogen. Chickens excrete a high percentage of the nitrogen they consume. Raising chickens on green forage in tractors will also reduce your feed bill by as much as 30%.



This is how it works in my garden... 

Earlier picture of garden design
 
 I have 10 beds in my garden, each 3'x8' (the exact size of the bottom of my tractor) and each separated by a row of bricks.  When one of the beds is not in use, such as before planting or after a section is harvested, I move my tractor, sitting it down over the area where the girls can do their thing.  They defoliate, de-bug, till, weed and fertilize the spot in just a couple of days.  I will sometimes leave the tractor in one spot for 2 to 3 weeks but not too long so as not to overdo the nitrogen.  I might leave it longer for a bed where I'd be planting potatoes (they love nitrogen) and move it sooner for a bed of peas -- they don't like too much of the good stuff.


Chicken Tractor Design

Chicken tractor designs are pretty basic and can be made from scrap lumber. Our chicken tractor was made to fit 3 laying hens. One end contains three nesting boxes (with a hatch to gather eggs) that provide shelter and nesting space.



This design works great for people in town that want 3-4 laying hens and have a small to medium sized yard. Those living in the country need a more predator resistant and slightly heavier model than those living in town.

I like these designs but there are hundreds on the internet...














Eggs

On average, chickens lay two eggs every three days and do not need a rooster to lay eggs.  There are a couple of winter months when they stop laying due to shorter days but except for that, they are little laying machines.  Our eggs have large, rich, almost orange yolks and they taste delicious.   There really is a difference. 


I love my chicken tractor.  And who wouldn't?  A true chicken tractor is portable and gets moved around but even if you don't need (or want) your chickens to be mobile, chicken tractors are the perfect solution to house your backyard chickens.

You'll be surprised but many town and cities allow chickens (with some restrictions, of course) so check it out.

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Let's party here...


 Shanty2Chic
Hope Sudios
Craft Edition




C.R.A.F.T.
Dittle Dattle
Making The World Cuter
 The Girl Creative

*Under the Table and Dreaming
The Tablescaper - Seasonal Sunday

I heart Naptime





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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Super Simple Garden Bench

This super simple garden bench was made from lumber 
I pulled from my scrap pile. 



 The 4X4's were pressure treated.  The seat was a true 1X10x43 piece of cypress.  My only purchase was the two inexpensive plant hangers -- turned upside down.



You can do this...


You'll need two 32" long 4x4's.  Using post hole diggers dig holes about 16" deep and 24" apart.  Thank goodness I don't do this for a living -- I'd starve slam to death.  In fact, this might be a good time to appear helpless in order to attract some help.

Insert and test the posts to adjust the depth until the posts are the same height.  You want have 16 inches above ground and 16 inches below ground.  I used a level and laid it across the two posts to get them level.

 BTW, If you haven't been rescued by now, forget it, you're home free. 

Now, straighten the posts and pack the dirt back in around them.  You can use the handle of your shovel to pound the dirt in around the posts as you go.

Center the seat on top of the posts.  Screw down through the seat into the top of the two posts.  Use four screws in each post.

 




 Recycled sidewalk concrete was used to make the path and edging.







Now add your "brackets", stand back, and take a bow. 


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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Tomatoes 101

 I grew up in the south where my next door neighbor was an elderly lady named Mrs. Ardis.  She could grow just about anything and spent her days in her garden where I was always welcome.  I realize now I learned about sustainable gardening from her although it was not called that back then.

8x6 Oil on Masonite
I painted one of my seedlings a couple of years ago...
I must really like tomatoes!


Mrs. Ardis rooted roses, azaleas, and hydrangeas by the dozens.  She planted her cuttings in old coffee cans.  Each was covered with a bread bag making a mini hot house.  She grew her vegetables using seeds she saved from one year to the next.  Once, she pinned a leaf to her kitchen curtain that sprouted tiny little plants all along the edge.

I was fascinated.

I was remembering her and her Dixie Cups filled with tiny tomato plants yesterday when I was working in my vegetable garden.  I have wonderful memories of my sweet little Mrs. Ardis.

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My first round of tomatoes were planted 5 weeks ago when they looked like this...



Now they look like this...







Planting Tomatoes

  • Plant a few hills early in the spring.  If we get a frost,  I just cover them up.  I just planted 3 more hills and will add another 3, a month from now.  I stagger my planting this way so that when one planting begins to play out, another one is just getting started -- I don't get all my tomatoes at once.  
 
  • I purchase plants (shame on me) from the garden center.  I like Celebrity and Sweet 100's and I look for plants that are not too leggy, stand upright, have no wilted leaves and no blooms.  

  • Grow two plants for each member of the family who will eat lots of tomatoes, as a rule of thumb. If you plan on canning tomatoes or making fresh and canned salsa, use up to four plants per person.

  • Plant in  a sunny spot.  Place tomato plants in a site that gets full sun (7 hours or more daily). Tomatoes need lots of warm sunshine.

  • Prepare the garden bed by adding lots of well rotted compost if you have it. 

  • Remove the leaves from the bottom half of the plant and plant deep in the hole burying 50-75% of the plant.  This is hard for me to do when I buy such a nice, tall plant but it's a must!  It makes for a stronger plant.

  • Give each plant about 1 gallon of warm water within ten minutes of transplanting to avoid transplant shock.

  •  Space tomato plants 18 to 36 inches apart.  Don't forget to leave yourself enough space to get in between the plants to water, weed, and harvest. Those cute, little seedlings may not remain that way for long. 

  • Use a tomato cage or a tall stake to support the tomato vine about 14 days after transplanting. 

  • Choose whether to use chemical fertilizers. I am lucky to have chickens and all the chicken poo I want.  I use soiled hay from my coop as a mulch for each plant being careful not to let the mulch actually touch the plant.  This is the only fertilizer I use because I have a chicken tractor that's been on all of my planting beds so the chickens have already fertilized each bed.  If you choose chemical fertilizers make sure they are made for vegetables and not grass and follow the manufacturers instructions!

  • Shake your plant poles or cages gently once or twice each week for about 5 seconds once flowering starts to promote pollination of the blossoms (from one flower to another).


  I'll have to post about chicken tractors soon but here is a look at mine in last year's garden...

Click on the picture if you'd like a little backyard tour with some pretty shocking "before" pictures!


Ha! Notice the tomatoes gone wild!

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I'll be hooking with these fun ladies...


May 27 - Favorite appetizer recipe
A Little Knick Knack 
Fireflies & Jellybeans
Tales from Bloggeritaville
Brambleberry Cottage
My Repurposed Life
French Cupboard
Beyond the Picket Fence

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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Thrift Store Table meets.....its match!

I paid only $15 for this little kitchen farm table so I don't mind so much putting it outside on my shabby carport turned breezy patio and hoping for the best.  The patio is covered but the ceiling is so high it still gets wet sometimes.  I think it will survive.  But if it doesn't,
I can still sleep at night. 



It needed a little livening up.  So, I broke out the (New Avocado by Valspar) spray paint and gave it the update it needed to be able to keep up with the blue chairs I snagged for $5 each at GW. 

 



What came next was a hard sell...

I may have added that last part myself.

*

 These are my tools of choice--



And this is the "damage" they can do--




A little stain...



And I love, love, love this color!








He'll understand when he's older.


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I'm linking up with Donna @ Funky Junk Interiors




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