Weekend Update

An update from last weekend up until today...

1. A chicken died. I buried it.  It's the cycle of life.

2. What did you do last Saturday morning? Well, I was knee deep in a dumpster filled with horse shit and stable shavings, which now makes up the bedding material in the chicken coop.  After a while, it will find its way into the compost bin and then finally into the garden beds.  Win-win situation for everyone.  The horse stables let me have as much stable shavings as I want for free, the new bedding gives the chicken a form of entertainment as they spend countless hours scratching through looking for bugs and such, the shavings keep the coop tidier and smelling fresher (well, except for the faint hint of horse urine) and I get to eventually add all of this to the compost bin complete with horse and chicken manure.  End result = happy plants and full bellies.

Those are the bags I use for transporting the horse stable shavings

Why pile it like this?

Because within 2 hours the chickens have done my work for me, spreading the bedding out while looking for bugs. 

 3. I planted a few transplants that I bought from the local farmer's market.  I planted cilantro, cabbage, cauliflower, bok choy, and a variety of greens.

Transplanted greens including lettuces and bok choy

Cilantro

Cabbage and Cauliflower

4. I picked up some garlic and a variety of onion bulbs to plant last weekend....75 garlic cloves and 100 onion bulbs (a mix of yellow, red and white).

Onion bulbs

Half of the bed is garlic and the other half is onions.
I planted 9 garlic cloves per square and 12 onion bulbs per square.

5. Thanks to the advise of Mr. Bootwell, the cucumbers are growing happily on their new trellis.

1/2" electrical conduit

 

Happy Cucumbers

 6. The pole beans look great.  The greens do not. The caterpillars have wreaked havoc on all things green, especially the kale, collard greens, and swiss chard.  Don't fret, I have contacted the local expert on all things organic and he graciously brought home a sack of Sluggo (Product description: The only snail slug control product not based on metaldehyde. Organic, breaks down in the soil into fertilzer. Can be used around domestic animals and wildlife. Labeled for use in vegetable gardens.).    Oh snap, now it's on caterpillars even though you're not listed on the front cover of the product...oh yes, it's on.