I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.
#73 a 2016 pullet was Champion English and Reserve Large Fowl Safford, AZ
Last weekend I attended the Safford Poultry Show. I was pleasantly surprised that my Buff Orpington pullet #73 was judged Best of Breed, Best English and Reserve Large Fowl. There were not that many birds shown in the English class, but there were 108 large fowl show, so not too shabby.
Mount Graham, Jan 14, 2017
Mount Graham Jan 2017
Mount Graham was covered in snow. Can you spot the observatory?
My daughter shows off the marble size hail
I got home and unloaded in time for a little storm of marble size hail.
Sunset Jan 14, 2017
Followed by a really pretty sunset.
uh oh
twisted a 6x6' chain link panel
The storm however did a number on the compost chickens pen. It even twisted a 6'x6' chain link panel out of plumb. I had to leave it out and rearrange the remaining panels.
Ameraucana pullet's first egg
One of the June hatched Ameraucana pullets started laying. Her first egg was this tiny one.
Broccoli coming out
Later in the work I pulled out the broccoli bed and planted some lettuce mix in it's place.
Pinal Mountains Jan 21, 2017
This weekend we have had a lot of rain and have been under a winter storm warning. It's stopped raining for a bit but we have more rain and snow coming. I love that we are getting much needed rain but I wish it would spread it out a bit. Some parts of our county are under a flood watch now too.
There isn't too much run off at my place yet, but the winds have taken out the low tunnel. The plants are all hardy and can survive freezing just fine. The tunnel is just to help them stay a bit warmer so they grow faster. I will deal with it when the weather clears up a bit.
Well my supplier didn't get my EMT conduit in yet but I remember seeing some laying around somewhere.... So a check of the junk piles yielded just enough to finish the first bed in the new garden. Mmmmmm looks like a couple of issues. Partly these aren't connecting because the ground slopes a lot from one end to the other and partly because under the compost the ground is as hard as concrete.
my trusty 8' iron bar
So off to find my trusty iron bar. The pointed end is just right to make the holes deeper for a couple of the hoops so they go into the ground a little further.
purlin on, ends taped to protect cover from rubbing
You can buy special connectors to attach the purlins to the hoops and I probably will get some; they will help make the framework more rigid. In the meantime some baling wire (aka tie wire) did fine. Along with some Gorilla tape on the ends to prevent abrasion of the row cover on the end of the purlin.
wind.... grrr
It was a beautiful sunny morning, so calm and so still..... UNTIL I rolled out the row cover! Of course the wind started up the instant I went to put the cover on the hoops.
with 2 pieces of row cover
So I found some clamps and got it fastened down. Only to discover that either I should have pushed the hoops farther into the ground or I should have ordered wider row cover. What I have is not wide enough to cover the hoops with enough slack on the ground to weight it down. So for now there are 2 pieces of cover on these hoops.
planted!
Once all of that was settled, I got busy planting. Some baby pak choi, collard greens and broccoli. I'm thinking the pak choi and collards will be ready to pick in about a month. The broccoli will probably be about 8-12 weeks.
Well three years after I bought it I finally got my hoop bender bolted to a stable work space and got to use it! This little contraption will bend a 10 foot long piece of 1/2 inch EMT (conduit) into a hoop four feet wide and four feet tall. It didn't take very long for me to bend all 10 pieces of EMT that I had on hand.
first hoop done!
Most of my garden beds are sized four feet wide. The hoops are pushed into the ground and a purlin or ridge pole fastened along the top to keep them all together. Then various coverings can be fastened to the hoops, frost cloth, shade cloth, plastic, depending on the weather and needs of the crop. The nice thing about using the EMT is that it will last just about forever and does not need a bottom board or stake in the ground like PVC does to hold it's shape.
Sugar Daddy peas sprouting
In other news the Sugar Daddy snap peas are sprouting. If the weather isn't too severe I should have snap peas for sale about the end of March.
feed needs for meat chickens
While excess cockerels and cull hens supply me more than enough chicken for the freezer I have been contemplating and calculating raising broilers to order. So far no takers. $6 a pound for home grown organic chicken isn't a bad price, but I do need a non refundable 50% deposit to be able to get started. Perhaps that is what is throwing people off.
