Judith Browning

Doug McEvers wrote:We have hollyhocks here on our farm, have been in the same spot for years. Ours seem to be a 2 year plant, smaller plants show up in mid to late summer and that I believe are next year's flowering hollyhocks. They are tough as I have burned the bed in spring the last couple of years to slow down grasses and clean up leaves. Hollyhocks come on strong even if they got singed a bit. The site where they grow is about the hardest, dryest soil on our farm. I have watered them on dry years and the water, 300 gallons at a time just vanishes. Our hollyhocks have been in the family for as long as anyone can remember.  All of my great aunts had flower gardens, some with white picket fences and of course many hollyhocks. I save the seed from ours in the fall and have been giving them to friends and family. They do like balanced fertilization I have found; some were about 7' tall this year. We have 4 or so main colors, white, a deep red, many shades of pink and one that is kind of a light lavender, this is my favorite. I cut the stalks in the fall with the seed heads and then store overwinter in a 36 gallon garbage container. I have a seed debearder for native grass seed and run the hollyhocks through to thresh out the seeds. Long live the hollyhock !!

Doug, I'm hoping these are the type you describe....the big colorful ones that reseed and come back with no particular care.
I think I may have to buy some additional seed for certain colors though.
Growing up in Illinois they were common on every farm we lived on and always a favorite!

Jen, that's a different one yet...pretty color!
Can't wait to see what I have if they survive the winter and bloom next year.

.....they have become a kind of weed.  

my kinda flower🙃

 I'm going to try to put pieces of old wire fencing on the ground along the border between us to hopefully prevent them from coming here.  

Our son lays pieces of fencing on certain beds to prevent cats pooping there, hogwire, chicken wire, woven wire.

The same would work for chickens and could be laid over a bed of leaves covering your already emerging bulbs I think...seems like that might at least prevent more damage.

It would be necessary to weight or pin at the edges a bit...could even leave in place until after bloom and leaf grow out if your beds are fairly weed free (mine aren't) and then lift off the wire to clean up the bed.

The most fortunate are those
who have a wonderful capacity
to appreciate again and again,
freshly and naively,
the basic goods of life,
with awe, pleasure, wonder
and even ecstasy.

Abraham H. Maslow
(1908-1970, Psychologist)

so the chickens are flying over your fence into your yard? or there's no fence at all on that boundary?

Susan Boyce wrote:My neighbors chickens are tearing up my flower beds in front of my house. I have called them 3 times, now they won't answer my calls. My understanding is there is NOT open range in Western Oregon and my Private property is not free range. What can I do short of shooting their birds? I'm going to try to set mouse and rat traps under the leaves I always leave under a tree that is surrounded by flower bulbs that don't come up till late winter/early spring but are now trying to grow because of these birds and they make a huge ugly mess. My neighbors are disrespectful to all my neighbors not just me but take advantage of me since I live alone and am not a young woman anymore.

I'm not sure mouse and rat traps are a good idea as they would only catch feet or beaks and be very difficult and painful to remove from the birds.

We had this problem with neighborhood dogs and ended up fencing our property here on the edge of town....amazing what a relief it was not to be upset about dogs romping over my plants anymore  .....fences really do make good neighbors!

Otherwise I might lay hogwire or any sort of wire that would prevent scratching until the plants were up enough that they can survive the disturbance.

Sorry you're having to deal with this

paul wheaton wrote:Maybe get a 50 pound sack of organic alfalfa pellets.  

Have you tried urine yet?  Wow, it makes a huge and immediate difference.

Yes, the pee bucket has been part of our gardening practices for many years.

We scythe areas for mulch and use all of our mower bagged grass clippings.

I've wondered about alfalfa pellets...might help until the alfalfa I've planted is better established.

I have comfrey everywhere for a green tea and mulching.

Maybe what I need to do is go back over what we have and see how best to utilize differently....reassessing is always ongoing!

hi Paul,

I could probably be easily dissuaded as I've never bought bagged or unbagged compost before, or topsoil for that matter...that is why I was looking for high quality stuff.

I just had the urge to give some of the things we are growing a big boost this year...impatient at 75yrs and reading Elaine Ingham's 'compost tea' manual I was inspired to try.

I've never bought a 'gadget' such as an aerator either (and have not yet)...more plastic.

We have always gardened slowly although in the past had the full range of livestock to provide a bigger boost for growies.

thanks for your input😊

Adopt the pace of nature:
her secret is patience.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803 to 1882, American Poet)

Annie, we are zone 7 or so...maybe 7b?
this week we've had nights in the teens and expecting single digits on the weekend.

Sometimes our winters have long cold spells well below freezing.

In the winter of '75-'76 we had 18 below...real temp not wind chill.

I've seriously considered a worm bin...have some worm activity in the kitchen scrap piles but not red wigglers.

I've also looked into bokashi and am tempted by that also.

I'm trying to keep my wandering brain focused on one thing that might give our gardens the biggest boost this next year.😊