Getting Busy with Chickens
Feb. 20th, 2010 03:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
errantemberWe've gotten our first order of heirloom seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, a non-profit seed exchange. We have a 200 sq. ft. garden under a very poorly maintained hoop house right out the front door that's been largely overrun with Bermuda grass. Few plants are left from last season, so I've been pulling Bermuda all day in preparation for spring planting of cold season crops. Even though I only got about 1/3 of the wall around this garden built, and therefore only about 1/3 of the soil into it, it's still the best place to start planting. To reclaim more of the lawn for gardening will require hours of back-breaking labor, as the soil is about 1/3 limestone rocks. You can't dig with a shovel, you have to use a pick axe or rock hammer. For now, getting this existing garden prepped is much easier.
As I was pulling away, I realized that a lot of bugs and snails had been going crazy under the hoop house because birds can't get in. The soil has also settled quite a bit, and there are lots of weed seeds.
I have this strange psychosis that I blame on the public "education" system that leads me to believe that chickens are the Deus Ex Machina that can solve every problem.
It had to do a double-take when I realized that for once, I was *right*!
So I appropriated a chicken from the back yard, took it with me into the hoop house, and together, we Got the Fuck to Work. It's fabulous! I pull the grass, and she wanders around tilling the soil, eating the bugs and snails, and occasionally producing high-nitrogen fertilizer. Because we're planning on planting in this bed soon, I'm collecting the chicken poop to put into the compost heap. It's too hot to put directly on new plants -- it has to cure for a while first.
In the future, the way to do this is to bring in the chickens a few months before we're going to plant, leave them in the same spot for a few days until they've picked the area clean and fertilized well, then mulch that area until we're ready to plant in the spring. This will get us out of just about 100% of the weeding and tilling necessary after beds are done for a season.
As I was pulling away, I realized that a lot of bugs and snails had been going crazy under the hoop house because birds can't get in. The soil has also settled quite a bit, and there are lots of weed seeds.
I have this strange psychosis that I blame on the public "education" system that leads me to believe that chickens are the Deus Ex Machina that can solve every problem.
It had to do a double-take when I realized that for once, I was *right*!
So I appropriated a chicken from the back yard, took it with me into the hoop house, and together, we Got the Fuck to Work. It's fabulous! I pull the grass, and she wanders around tilling the soil, eating the bugs and snails, and occasionally producing high-nitrogen fertilizer. Because we're planning on planting in this bed soon, I'm collecting the chicken poop to put into the compost heap. It's too hot to put directly on new plants -- it has to cure for a while first.
In the future, the way to do this is to bring in the chickens a few months before we're going to plant, leave them in the same spot for a few days until they've picked the area clean and fertilized well, then mulch that area until we're ready to plant in the spring. This will get us out of just about 100% of the weeding and tilling necessary after beds are done for a season.
