I look at these videos all the time, and without fail they keep their chickens confined in a small area and use commercial food. Of course the bored birds destroy everything they can reach.
My birds have 3 acres and I want them to be able to forage the majority of their food. So tree fruits, nuts, berries and herbs, flowers and trap plants to bring in insects.
Walnut leaves and hulls are a vermifuge. Pecans are in the same family and both will be part of the three layer shelterbelt, with maples, fruit trees, oaks, and chestnuts. Lots of understory stuff, but I havenāt even started on that yet.
The plan right now is hazelnuts, sea buckthorn, and other thorned berries like gooseberries and goji.
If I can plant enough that I donāt have to feed the birds, that opens up more resources for the human element. At the moment Iām giving them less than half the recommended amount of feed, and they usually leave some. Theyāre foraging the rest.
I planted the walnuts and pecans this week. Likely theyāll come up next spring and be large enough to plant out fall of 26.
Having little velociraptors wandering around under fruit and nut trees eating any fallen fruits and nuts seems like an excellent way to decrease the population of pest insects who are competing with you for them.
(And a great way to get those velociraptors more protein! )
At this point Iām thinking I wonāt replant the beans. A lot more came up after that last frost (maybe rather than keeping the early plants for seed I should eliminate them?) and most areas have at least one per square yard. Which doesnāt seem like a lot when thinking of a 6 inch planting grid, but it means if thereās a gap in one row the one next to it is there to fill in.
Something is taking out my tomatoes, and I suspect itās the bunny rabbits. Iāve lost about half of what I planted, main garden as well as dry garden. Most just disappeared, but one of the larger plants was snipped off at the base and just left there. Iāll be buying more today to fill in the gaps in the dry garden. I may just leave the main garden and have wider spacing.
Last week I scattered corn seeds in a section of the main garden. These seeds were labeled as 2012, so 13 years old. No problem. They popped right up. I didnāt plant them, just scattered them in the mulch, so they might not grow to maturity.
I am not seeing quinoa or sesame yet, but amaranth and chia are up.
I have a pest problem. My tomatoes are one of my major projects this year. My tomato storage is almost empty, and aside from the project aspect I have GOT to get tomatoes for eating.
I planted them in deep woodchips, and the rollie pollies have found them. Theyāre leaving everything else in the garden alone, as far as I can tell.
I think part of the problem is that the soil is very wet under the woodchips. The insects are driven up out of the saturated soil to find food on the surface, and the woodchips provide a perfect environment. They basically chew through the plant at ground level, then when the plant falls they finish it off.
One thought is to plant a trap crop. The tomatoes right now are about 5-8 feet apart, so I donāt think most bugs are going to travel that far. If I interplant, the bugs will be better able to travel. Connecting flights, in a sense.
Next year I can make sure to plant out only strong plants (the commercial plants donāt seem to be affected yet) but that doesnāt help for this year.
I was thinking of pouring boiling water over the soil before I plant, but that causes other problems. I will be doing sweet potatoes later in the season, and some will be planted in this area, but that doesnāt solve the immediate problem.
Next year I could do some direct seeded, but again that doesnāt solve the problem this year.
The idea of planting them out this early was to take advantage of the spring rains, but I guess everything else had the same thought.
2 apple seedlings, and 6 peach seedlings up in the dry garden, from seeds planted 2 years ago (spring 2023). The single apricot seedling also survived the winter, and the almond seedling I thought had died came back from the root. They will all be given mulch and soil from near the other surviving trees of the same type.
One of the diakon radishes that survived the winter is blooming. I need to find a way to protect it. The other is not blooming yet, and I hope itās self compatible since only 2 survived the winter. More are coming up from seeds planted last fall, so thereās hope for another generation. Favas are blooming. 10 planted, 4 came up, 3 have survived to bloom. Rutabagas are also blooming.
Chia is getting secondary leaves. No sign of sesame yet.
Would it be worth cutting back the mature flowers on your first diakon so it sends out fresh flowers that hopefully would overlap with the second daikonās flowering?
A fair concern. I donāt have experience with daikon specifically, but most brassica family species are prolific seed producers and respond to being topped by producing side shoots. Itās a technique Iāve used to successfully synchronize flowering times for kale & collards. Daikon are not obligate outcrossers, so they should theoretically be capable of self pollinating, you just wonāt get the benefit of them crossing this year.
My biggest concern would be your climate (I.e. do you have enough time before itās too hot/dry and the plant just goes dormant without seeding?)
My drunk neighbor decided to mow the horseradish. It might survive, but it was mowed right down to the ground. I had it surrounded by various barriers, and he decided to move them all to mow it.
So much for seeds.
He got the comfrey as well.
My sister says I should contact the sheriff, since this isnāt the first time. I know heās trying to help, but you donāt āhelpā by drinking until youāre unsteady and then going driving on someone elseās property.
I was trying to save for more pressing needs, but fencing just went to the top of the priority list.
One tomato came back from the root after that last frost. Itās just getting new leaves on it. I suspect that if it recovers enough it will bloom late, which is fine.
I put woodchips around the tree seedlings in the dry garden, and if I can control my impulses thatās the last help theyāll get from me. Since I now know that trees can survive under those conditions, Iāll likely reseed this fall.
Woodchip onions and potatoes are doing great. Woodchip green beans are on their way, and I saw the first melons this week. Cucumbers have so far avoided the notice of the velociraptors.
Still waiting for quinoa, watermelons and sesame. I havenāt grown quinoa or sesame before so Iām not sure when to consider replanting. Watermelons came up in April last year (I think) but no sign of them yet. I want them able to overwinter, so I really donāt want to reseed.
Fruit on one of the commercial peaches, on the commercial cherry, and on one of the ancient cherries that was here when I bought this house. I may actually get to taste that one! It has bloomed every year but no fruit. If it tastes ok, I may try planting the seeds.
Man. I wouldnāt call the sheriff on a neighbor whoās just trying to help, because I tend to believe thereās always a better solution when you talk directly to a person who genuinely means well. I would definitely recommend having a serious talk with him about that. It is not helpful to you to mow your land, and so if he wants to help, he needs to understand that. Unfortunately, yeah, it sounds like fences are probably also necessary.
Iāve talked to him about it before. He gets all weepy and depressed, says heāll never do it again, and the next time heās drunk there he is again, āhelping,ā and throwing his beer cans all over. Iāve mostly ignored it because he was usually in areas where nothing is growing except grass.
I get it, but I canāt allow it any longer. Heās done āhelpingā me. I have the money for the fencing. It was saved for something else, but I have it.
I also have a text from him, acknowledging that heās not to mow in my yard any more. Maybe that will make a difference. I doubt it, but itās possible.
As far as the plants, he said he didnāt see them, which is a flat out lie since some rather substantial barriers were moved to the side in order to mow that area.
At this point Iām thinking that waiting for cover crops to outcompete the grass in the dry garden is a losing proposition. I canāt do tarps, with consistent 30-50 mph winds, but I also donāt want to fall back on regular tilling.
The area where the beans were last year is a little more sparse. Flax did nothing. The remaining diakon radishe seeds from last fall are coming up, so weāll see how they do. I havenāt planted buckwheat yet.
Grain rye is good to outcompete grass and weeds. The drawback is it needs to be planted in the fall and doesnāt terminate until later spring/early summer. The YouTube channel No till growers has several good videos on cover crop options and planning.
I donāt baby sweet taters. I donāt give them āSTUNā treatment, but they donāt get the best soil and compost either. They just seem content to make do with whatever you give them, even if itās very little water. Iād probably go with the future berry spot. Last yearās rotted tater spot is probably more nutrients than they need. All i give them is loosened soil with no sod to compete with. They typically outcompete everything else once they get going.
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Thatās a difficult situation.