Saturday we went over to my parents house to help them decorate their Christmas tree... usually my mother has the tree up in early October...
She likes to "enjoy" her decorations...and according to her... if you wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate...why bother...because you will just have to take down the decorations 30 days later.... so why not decorate early... and enjoy the "season" for like... 90 days...
Meanwhile back at the suburban garden... I feed the chickens some left over corn from last night's dinner...
Then sprung them from the Eglu for a little exercise...
After loading up the garden box with leaves last weekend and adding "chicken power" the birds successfully turned the leaves under the garden soil...
All I had to do was rake it nice and level...then I moved the Eglu to the next garden box... 2 down 12 more to go.
At this rate the garden boxes will be ready to go by early March.
Look at this beautiful compost in the garden bed...
Several of the herbs are still kickin...The rosemary is looking good...
Oregano
Mint
There are even a few chives left to clip...
The Christmas kale is growing well...
Leeks are coming in nicely...
I still have about 12 beets left in one of the beds...I am saving those for Thanksgiving...
And a few Walla Walla onions as well...
I went down to the park and collected another truckload full of leaves for the garden beds...
I went down to the park and collected another truckload full of leaves for the garden beds...
and then covered the garlic beds with leaf litter...That's about it...
Next on the "To Do List"
is to try and figure out how to prune the raspberry canes...
It looks like the chickens did a great job turning the leaves into mulch. I love how you are moving them from box to box. I just finished pruning our raspberry canes and am glad to be done with that task. I'm curious, how old are your chickens?
ReplyDeleteGreat post Mavis! I like your pics...could you answer a question?? Do you just put leaves in the garden beds as they are or mulched up...or mixed in with anything else?? I am new to this gardening thing and am curious if i should be doing the same thing! Only answer if you have time!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Camille
Here's how we prune raspberries...We wait until very early spring before sign of bud and chop them off knee-high. Once they start showing a little green, we remove the dead canes and thin out some of the new growth (coming up from the ground) so the larger canes have plenty of breathing room. I'm not sure this is the textbook way of pruning, it's just how my grandmother did it and how we've been doing it- and we've had great success.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your mother. I am fighting, I tell you, fighting the urge to get out our tree and stockings.
Mr. H... The birds arrived mid-June and were about 18 weeks old ...so about 10 months old? I thought egg production was suppose to slow down by now but they keep laying about 3 to 4 eggs a day. They're more fun than I thought they would be :)
ReplyDeleteCamille... Last year (before chickens) I simply worked the leaves into the garden beds in the fall and waited til spring then turned the soil again before planting. I have heard of people putting their lawn mower on the highest setting and "shredding" the leaves first before adding them to the garden compost/soil. It all works :)
Thyhand...Thanks for the pruning tips... I think I'm going to have to prune mine soon... I can't stand looking at them... they look like scrawny little Dr. Seuss trees all over the place...
Thanks for answering Mavis! I will have to try it...learning as I go....
ReplyDeleteHave a terrific week!
Camille