Two More Trees in the Ground

Nanking cherry

My Nanking cherry bushes which I grew from seeds are mostly doing OK but a couple of them need some iron & nitrogen. I added an organic iron product awhile back, but so far it doesn't seem to be helping. So I loosened up the soil around them a bit with my digging fork, then added some vermicompost. I hope this helps them perk up soon.

loosening up the heavy clay soil

vermicompost

Vermicompost is the compost made with earth worms. It is very concentrated in nutrients and in plant growth hormones. I have used it to save many ailing plants. This batch I scooped up from the worm bin without bothering to seperate the worms out, so there will be worms in this area now too. Earthworms help break down organic matter, concentrate plant nutrients in a plant available form and help loosen up tough soil.

Desert Willow

Yay! I got to plant 2 more trees today! A desert willow which have really pretty lavender/purple flowers. The other one was a Mission Fig. I think Mission has some of the biggest figs I've ever seen. This gives me 6 fig trees of 5 varieties.

Mission Fig

The Compost Chickens  finished out their first week with a full dozen eggs layed with ZERO commercial feed. Check out their own page for more information!

Two More Trees in the Ground

Nanking cherry

My Nanking cherry bushes which I grew from seeds are mostly doing OK but a couple of them need some iron & nitrogen. I added an organic iron product awhile back, but so far it doesn't seem to be helping. So I loosened up the soil around them a bit with my digging fork, then added some vermicompost. I hope this helps them perk up soon.

loosening up the heavy clay soil

vermicompost

Vermicompost is the compost made with earth worms. It is very concentrated in nutrients and in plant growth hormones. I have used it to save many ailing plants. This batch I scooped up from the worm bin without bothering to seperate the worms out, so there will be worms in this area now too. Earthworms help break down organic matter, concentrate plant nutrients in a plant available form and help loosen up tough soil.

Desert Willow

Yay! I got to plant 2 more trees today! A desert willow which have really pretty lavender/purple flowers. The other one was a Mission Fig. I think Mission has some of the biggest figs I've ever seen. This gives me 6 fig trees of 5 varieties.

Mission Fig

The Compost Chickens  finished out their first week with a full dozen eggs layed with ZERO commercial feed. Check out their own page for more information!

Slow Progress

pop door open

Well it was slow going today on the little silkie coop. I did manage to fix up the sliding pop door though.

pop door closed

door frame try out

I also got the door frame built and tried on for size. But then things got really bogged down. I wanted to use some small panes of glass that I had but of course they were just slightly too big. So a lot of time wasted finagilling what else to use and how to go about it. I'm still working on this problem.

I did manage to put some tar paper on the roof. And in other news, I did actually work in the garden today, but I forgot to take a pic. Of course all you would see would be white row covers. I planted some lettuce in one bed and some carrots in the other.

vermicompost

I also emptied part of my worm box of compost to spread on the seeds I planted. I thought about feeding some of the worms to the chickens but decided to wait until next time I clean out the box as I want to get the population up there before summer.

I also just took a few minutes and hung out with the birds.

Mr. No Name

Precious

Mr. Snowman

Smokey

Since the coop did not get finished and the eggs are due to start hatching tomorrow, I brought the broody girl in to a crate so I can give her the chicks as soon as they hatch. She did not like the box I gave her for a nest but as soon as I put a couple of eggs on the crate floor she promptly sat on them.