23,594 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

Chickens love them - I despise them - but...

Going to make a concerted effort to "harvest" as many pests this spring/summer to feed as a primary protein source for our chickens. Really want to get the chickens off of store bought feed (which I just discovered is GMO corn). Found an excellent book that gives great direction on how to naturally feed chickens.

It is definitely an attitude adjustment to look at garden pests as advantageous when considering them as an excellent food source for our girls. Didn't mean to hijack the thread - just wanted to extend a little hopefulness to those of us bothered by pests such as the hornworm (and the Japanese Beetle).

Posted link to book below.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Small-Scale Poultry Flock

Yep, we "treat" our girls with the hornworms too. So funny to watch them squabble over them!

Edie

I don't know about willow water but soaking some seeds like, squash/melons family, some beans, onions, parsley, ... can speed up germination. I personally always soak cucumber and squash seeds for about 24 hours in plain water before planting. In ground or in potting soil they might not get enough moisture for a good while, when planted dry. You can even sprout them before planting. We know that it take most seeds shorter time to germinate in warmer environment.
YMMV

This post was edited by seysonn on Wed, Jan 15, 14 at 4:40

Very true, and as I said rooting aids have their place to be sure. I am not at all knocking the idea, just saying it's not something that I would personally worry about. It very well may help with germination rate and/or speed. I honestly don't know. I've always left them more or less to their own devices. My theory would be that non viable seeds could not be made viable by adding extra stuff to it, but I've been known to be wrong before (ask my wife, lol).

I guess the margin of error in the experiment would be that it would be hard to tell if the increase in germination speed was caused by the additive or simply the soaking itself.

green mulberry , you are right, I'm planting a 40 foot row for my 85 year old dad. He doesn't bend like he used to, and honestly neither do I, lol .I'm looking for any edge I can get.

Floral, I thank you so much, I have ordered some of them from your suggested search and hope to have some success at making some home made seed tape with them. Hopefully dad can have lots of greens I like the bottoms , lol .

Doing certain tasks is like eating some food that is in front of you:
-- you can use you bare hands.
-- You may use a fork.
-- You can use a spoon.
-- You can use chop sticks( if you know how to use them)

The bottom line is the same.

I just took about 4 of them that i had and each one was made of two pieces, when I removed tha wrap and then planted them.

Here is one before dividing;

Here is the same shallot after removing the wrapper and dividing it.

I have grown onions all three ways:

1) from seeds. They did not get very big (maybe wrong kind)
2) from sets: Those are tiny onions. In my case a lot of them bolted.
3) seedling or plants: Those are grown in greenhouse, then bunched up, the tops cut and sold.. I have done that fairly successfully. Almost no bolting.

Another thing is that as they say "onions are heavy feeders". You should treat them as "leafy" vegetables, because the bulbs are just continuation of the leaves. So they need a lot more Nitrogen than "P" and "K".

The tricky part is to plant the varieti that is right for your climate.

I've been successful with Sets so far. I planted them in mid to late March last year, and pulled them around August or so. I got some pretty big ones, and they were sweet onions. I got about 80 for $3. I'll probably try some Red and Yellow and maybe White also. We'll see how many I buy, I probably could grow 300-500.

The biggest thing with the Onions was to keep them watered enough and weed every now and then. Once I popped in the sets, they were easy to grow though.

When we went to tractor supply, a nice man (who worked there) helped us cut our panels into two pieces using a tool from the store. It was good because we would needed to cut them anyway and then we didn't have the problem of a little curve being left in the wire from being tied shut. I don't remember the first one I bought being too springy when we untied it, but there were two of us opening it. It might have been different with just one person. :)

Many stores will cut them in half for you - sometimes for a small fee - but you'd have to call around first to your local stores that carry them to find out if they will.

Otherwise, as suggested a rope tying the two ends together so they can't spring until after unloaded and you cut the rope works fine.

Almost any kind of fencing will work as a substitute but it won't be as strong a support.

Dave

PS: of course if you can get them to deliver the panels flat or haul them on a flat trailer then no problems.

The spinach will grow faster as the days get longer -- but you have to clip it, too, to encourage it to grow. Clip the leaves that are quarter to silver dollar size and use them now.

The insect damage doesn't look bad at all to me. THink of it as sharing.

I've had spinach stay at a stand still in store bought soil in the one raised bed I have. I guess it could be a soil issue, if those plants are really tiny (can't tell the scale in your photo.) Someone else may have a suggestion for that.

You should have thrown in a lot more seeds in ther than one could not see the bare soil.

As far as the growth, They will probably pick up the speed very soon when it warms up a bit.

I would think that sulfur would be the opposite direction to go on ph for you. Wood ashes raises the "sweetness" of the soil, sulfur makes it more acid or "sour". (a quick test kit would tell you for sure which way you need to go.)

My limestone soil is perpetually too "sweet" or too alkaline, so I have to add sulfur to my garden. I notice alot of chlorosis when some extra acid is needed, but unfortunately adding sulfur won't help for the quick fix...just as wood ashes probably wouldn't be for you. These must be added a season ahead of time so the microbes in the soil can break them down and adjust the actual soil ph. For a quick fix for me I add some horticulture grade vinegar to the watering can. For you, I'm thinking you might want to invest in a bottle of PH-UP. This is what nurseries and greenhouses use to adjust the water for their operations. Aquarium people use it too. It's very safe for fish and plants as long as you follow directions.

The point about sulfur is well taken. Sulfur is used to lower pH, such as in my area, where the limestone bedrock typically raises the soil to a pH of 8.0 or above. There is very little sulfur in wood ash, though; the primary component is potassium salts.

Tropical soils are more likely to be acidic (low pH), so the goal would be to raise pH. Wood ashes would accomplish this. If there are pieces of natural charcoal embedded in the ash, so much the better... they will help to increase soil fertility (see "terra preta" soils). My only reservation would be the source of the ash - scrap building materials & commercial charcoal might have additional chemicals which would not be suitable for a vegetable garden.

While I also advise digging ashes into the soil the year before, I believe this has little to do with microbial action. The object is to diffuse the highly-concentrated salts (which can cause root damage in their undiluted form) evenly, so they can neutralize the soil pH throughout the root zone. For you & I, RWS, applying ashes in the Fall accomplishes this naturally over time, as rain & snow melt leech the minerals deeper into the soil. The original poster has a year-round growing season, so this may not be practical for them. Digging the ashes as deeply into the soil as possible (I would recommend double digging), plus several weeks of either rain or irrigation, should spread the ashes well enough to allow planting.

Well, perhaps I'll follow everyone's suggestions -- try to save these seedlings but also start more as soon as I can with the new instructions. If all happen to survive, we'll just have two crops several weeks apart. We eat a lot of broccoli.

While I have people's attention, I'll sneak in a basil question. I started basil at the same time and in the same conditions as the broccoli, but it germinated more slowly (and only some of the pots germinated -- I think I buried the seeds too deeply). Now I have many tiny basil seedlings, not leggy. But I read that while broccoli is a cool weather crop, basil likes a lot of warmth as well as light. I'll put both types of seedlings out in the daytime, but should I continue to keep the basil artificially warmed to 66-75 degrees at night, or will it be okay with the broccoli, at lower indoor nighttime temps maybe down to 50?

Again, this is all Growing from Seed forum info - the primary reason that forum and all its detailed FAQs was created. Please check out all those resources.

But one point I think you may have missed is the light issue. All other factors aside, without sufficient supplemental lighting you cannot grow successful transplants. They will be leggy, have long narrow stems and weak circulatory systems, and be prone to diseases. Even in our greenhouse supplemental lighting is required this time of year.

Please understand that full spectrum and full intensity light is simply not available from the sun this time of year in the northern hemisphere. That is a fact of life.

should I continue to keep the basil artificially warmed to 66-75 degrees at night,

All plants once they germinate prefer cooler growing temperatures in the 60 degree range as long as they are growing in an artificial environment of any kind. That basically means anything except in the garden.

It slows the top growth and allows for stronger root development instead.

Dave

Lettuces, spinach, and kale should all be planted asap, the weather is perfect for them- sunny and not too hot. With this warm, dry winter we've been having I have volunteer tomato seedlings that have come up and begun to flower. It's always possible we'll get a cold spell but if you're coastal frost is not really much of a worry - or even where my farm's at in Fallbrook. Tomatoes (in coastal areas) and kale can both be grown as perennials here although tomatoes usually don't do much past thanksgiving. I still have peppers ripening on my plants at this time.

One of the major perks to being a gardener here is that there isn't as much worry about too early or too late. You can sow your tomato seeds now and then plant them out once any danger of frost has passed (if you even get frosts, much of the county doesn't in any regular fashion). The other side to the coin is that starting plants early indoors here where we have a long growing season and nearly frost free weather is arguably not worth it. I wouldn't bother personally unless you have a greenhouse or are trying to get the crop to market ahead of your competitors. You'll find more experience with starting seeds indoors among northern gardeners who might completely miss a crop if it's not sown at the right time.

What I've described mostly just applies to indeterminate tomatoes. Determinate varieties would make more sense to sow in early spring in order for the plant to reach maturity during good fruiting weather. Ditto for cucumbers. They mature quickly and do well direct sown. I'll sow cucumbers mid spring and then again in late summer because the first planting is likely to be spent by then.

As others have already said, San Diego has one of the most forgiving climates in the country. You can start most of your garden outside with no worries. Tomatoes, on the other hand, are best started inside if you have the right set-up. A very detailed description of tomato culture can be found here:

Tomatoes grown in the Biodynamic French Intensive System

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

I think it really depends on what areal coverage you're after. The Burpee Ultimate Grow Light illuminates a 12x12 inch square with about 1000 lumens -- that's maybe about 9 small pots. A CFL in a desk lamp will do exactly that for $15-20. Now, a shop light will cover a lot more area, maybe 4x1 foot, with about 4000 lumens. No question that in $/unit area covered, a shop light is the way to go if you need the coverage and have the room for it.

Yes Nature, that was it.

I have two 48" shop lights set up on a table with shelves that I am using. I bought the table from Lowes it is ideal. The shop lights were free, I have been replacing some lights at work and they were headed for the dumpster.

I was just looking for something to be able to use on the top shelf that would be an easy set up. I bought 4 of the "goose neck" table lamps from BL's.

Sorry I didn't reply earlier! I couldn't find my post :( We're in the niagara region of southern ontario. I'll be planting both as soon as possible in the spring. Not sure when exactly because the may 24 rule doesn't seem ideal anymore lol

I second lettuce, mini bok choy scalions, corn salad....

Was there any snow on the ground? We had -14 to -16 for three nights in a row, but with significant snow I know the soil never goes below 26F or so. And that is a temperature at which turnips may stay unfrozen. They certainly sweeten a lot after a first ground freeze.

They are definitely toast. Just noticed a little while ago that the turnips were soft. So ends last years garden.

I can`t wait until spring! LOL!