Experimental Garden Log: Stardate 05312010

Hey Gardening Groupies,

I know it has been a long time since I last posted to this blog but May has been a very, VERY, busy month. Besides tending to the "Experimental Garden Plot #1-A41110" and also trying to do all the other Non-Experimental Gardening, I became the proud papa of baby ducks, geese, chickens and turkeys. I’ve been building fence and tending to my extensive flock of rare and heritage breed poultry. They have already been on the attack to the insect population and are big fans of the dandelions too. If everyone had a few chickens or geese you could eliminate your lawn's chemical dependency.  I have read that Guinea Hens love Japanese Beetles and I am hoping that my chickens will too. In the south farmers used to raise “Weeder Geese” who would tear through the tobacco, cotton and corn fields, eating all the weeds and not touching the crops, a much “greener” method than today's herbicides.

Here are the breeds in my current flock as of May 31: 9 Saxony Ducklings, 17 Indian Runner Ducklings, 3 Chinese Geese 2 Buff Geese, 22 Bantam Chickens (21 Barnyard mix of colors and 1 all white), 16 Bronze Turkeys and 1 adult Grey goose currently referred to as “Mama Goose”. I actually started out with a few more but 2 chicks and 7 turkeys did not survive. I am quite impressed with the hardiness of the ducks and geese. The turkeys are being “turkeys” and looking healthy 1 minute and dead the next. One particular bird, “Charlie”, was looking ill earlier this week and was separated from the others. My Mother has been hand feeding him and he is doing much better and up and walking again. He may rejoin his brethren in a few days. Last Monday, one of the 90 degree days, 2 of the older turkeys, who are 5 weeks old, decided not to keep hydrated and dropped dead. So despite these deaths a couple of possible “births” have also emerged. About 2 weeks ago an adult grey goose wandered into the yard. She may have heard the goslings and ducklings at play. Anyway she is very tame and I put her in the dog kennel while we searched for her home and within an hour she laid an egg. We have yet to find out where she wandered away from and a few days later she laid another egg. A week ago I decided everybody seemed old enough and the overnight temps had warmed so all the ducks, geese and “Mama” got put together in the same pen. Mama Goose watches over everyone but in the last few days she has adopted the 3 Chinese Goslings. She now keeps the ducks a safe distance away and stands guard while the goslings forage. Also it has been over a week since her last egg so I think the factory may have closed once the adoption became finalized.  If I can find an incubator large enough we may try to hatch the 2 eggs.

So now on to the Garden.....the recent weeks of rain and current heat wave have made "Experimental Garden Plot #1-A41110" grow like crazy. I did have to cover it up with some tarps on May 12 because the 30 degree overnight temp was our last actual frost. Other than that I have not had to do too much. I will say these 2 methods require little or no maintenance other than watering. I also thinned the radish and beet seedlings a few weeks ago and added them to my coleslaw and salad for a tasty crunch, but that was like a 3 minute job. The “Dirt-Bag” portion of the garden has already had a few harvests, Radishes Onions and Spinach. The Lettuce could also be “saladized” anytime as well. I would also like to declare this method a success and recommend it for anyone with poor soil conditions, lack of space or time. A very prolific and successive salad garden can be grown in a very small space with very little effort. The “Myth” has been “Busted” and a use for “Dirt-Bags” has been found!

Straw Bale Garden: Okay, yes this is an experiment and I know not all experiments are successful, but I am starting to have my doubts on this method. First off the strawberries did not grow at all. I do however blame the bare roots that came from Home Depot. I planted some in the straw and some in the actual soil on the end of the garden but after 5 weeks they did absolutely NOTHING! Last week I dug around and found almost all of the bare roots just as they came out of the package, no signs of life at all. I have planted bare root stock before and had success but these had probably have been sitting in a warehouse since last fall and were dead before they went into the ground. I have replanted Marigolds in their space and they are doing well, which is more than I can say about the rest of the straw bales. Only 1 Cucumber has sprouted, all the Summer Squash came up as well as the Nasturtiums and so far only 3 of the Morning Glories. Everything is alive but it does not seem to be thriving. I am going to start giving the plants some fish emulsion fertilizer to see if that will perk them up. The Tomatoes, Cabbage and Peppers should have doubled in size by now at the minimum. Also everything seems to be somewhat pale and not a vibrant dark green which makes me think they are nutrient deprived. I mixed in a little 10-10-10 fertilizer in the planting holes but maybe that has already been used up. Nonetheless the "Experimental Garden Plot #1-A41110" is growing along pretty good for as early as it was planted and I have been enjoying the harvests.

Happy Gardening,

Dale