Jen Fulkerson

The peas do seem to be recovering. I can't wait, they are my favorite garden veggie. I'm also going to start more. I have the room, so why not. Thank you

I have thought about rhubarb, but it's very hard to grow in my hot dry climate. It grows like a weed in western Washington where I grew up. If I liked it better I'd give it a try, but there are some many things I like better to fill the space. Good luck

This is kind of off subject, but I thought you might find it interesting. I live in a city where there are many chickens living in several of the cities parking lots and a strip along the highway.  It gets very hot in the summer here. The population never seems to decline, they got to be such a nuisance a couple years ago the city caught and re-home many of them, thought today you would never know. The wild chickens are on the small side. They are by people, but keep there distance. The roosters are never mean or aggressive, at least that I have ever seen.  There's a very diverse color and comb/waddle look.  It's illegal to feed them, thought I see people do it all the time. I don't know what else they eat, or where they find water. I see they sleep in trees and bushes.  There's lots of theories on where they came from, and how long they have been here ( I have lived here 35 years, and they were here a long time before that) but no one really knows for sure.
I have a fan and put ice in the water, at even spray my chickens with water on the 105 days because they have their wings out and panting, yet the wild chickens seem to handle the heat like it's just another day.
I hope you don't mind me sharing this with you. It's not what you are trying to do, but it is natural selection. None of the birds look like the breeds available. They are there own breed unique to our city.

I have made two, and I'm planning on making #3 soon. #1 was one of my first woodworking projects. It was made totally out of what ever I found. It was 5' wide about 18" deep counting the egg tray, and about 31/2, 4' high. It had 4 nesting boxes. Though it was obvious I'm not a builder, it worked very well. The problem was all that scrounged wood was impossible to clean.  We used it for many years before I built a new one. Sorry I don't have a picture of this one.
#2 is basically the same dimensions. Except I made two levels totalling 8 nesting boxes. The major difference is it tilts to the front (I don't know why I thought this was a good idea) and I lined it with an inexpensive linoleum. It's very easy to clean. I like that part. The rolling to the front was a terrible idea. It rolls the egg right in front of the hen. Almost encouraging them to peck it. This one is only a few years old, and it's got to go. I do have chicken wire from the top of the nesting box to the top of the coop, this is the area I have the fan to keep the chickens cool in the summer. It also keeps them from pooping all over the top.
#3 I'm still a major amateur, but I hope I've learned a little over the years. The dimensions will basically be the same. Our coop is 5' wide, so the box goes on the end. The 1'X1' nesting box seems to be a good size, with 4 to 6" for the egg tray. That will definitely be in the back. I'm going back to 4 boxes because they seem to choose two, and no matter how many hens I have they all want to use the same two.  I've got coated hard wire cloth. I'm going to use this for the bottom. I think it will make it super easy to clean, and maybe discourage them from sleeping in them. If it doesn't work I can always line it with linoleum.  Of course there will be a place of wood across the front with a board ladder to make the boxes easy to access, and a lid with a hinge to protect the eggs, but make it easy to get.
It's not a hard build. Basically it's a large box sectioned off. The front,or back legs are longer than the opposite. If the angle isn't right a piece of wood, or brick can solve the angle problem.  There's lots of videos on YouTube if you need plans. Good luck

My girls get fermented grains once a day and a scoop of organic soy free egg laying pellets. I used to fill the feeder up with pellets so if something happened like I was sick, or what ever they always had food. I had to stop because the rats (assuming they are rats by the size of the hole they kept digging into the coop) were out of control. So now they get one days feed so there's nothing left at night.  They also get what we don't eat in the garden (buggy stuff, bitter, or just extra) They also dig for bugs in the chicken yard.
It always amazes me when people say I have to feed my chickens crumbles because they won't eat pellets, or they ask me how I got them to eat pellets.(I work for a co-op). Chickens won't starve themselves. They may protest a day or so, but they will eat that you feed them.  Sometimes in the winter I will feed scratch, sometimes meal worms. I also change up the grains I ferment depending on the season, and just to add something new.  My theory is that chickens are scavengers by nature. I just can't free-range them anymore, so I feel they are healthier and happier when provided verity. There's no science behind it, it's just what makes sense to me.

Hmmm good question. My knee jerk response is just do it. You learn more from doing. But... I know a person where I work who didn't manage to get anything to grow. I tried to help her, but it was clear she didn't want to do it the way I do, and I didn't want to be pushy.
I think you can get a lot out of the Internet, and YouTube. The key is try to find someone you enjoy that is close to where you live, or at least a similar climate.  In addition to this I always recommend talking to people who grow what you want to grow. Most gardeners love to talk about gardening, and what works for them.  Start small, but try a few different veggies, fruit, herbs and flowers. Most importantly remember to not take it personally if something doesn't work. We all have failures. It's part of the challenge that keeps gardening interesting. Sometimes it's the gardeners fault, maybe they forgot to water, or planted at the wrong time, sometimes it's something not in our control, like weather, or pests, or lots of other things. Enjoy your success, and learn from your fails, and most importantly have fun.

Wow I'm learning so much. I'm going to have to look up lots of plants I've never heard of.
Gauri I think it's amazing you can go through so much and still have a positive attitude. You are truly an inspiration.
I also started celery. It's growing slow, but I guess that's what it does. I have cauliflower growing . I have never tried it before. I'm not sure about it, it's pretty small, seems like it should be a decent size head by now.  Time will tell.
Thanks for the interesting choices. Good luck I hope we all have great success.

I live in N. California zone 9b. I always wanted a greenhouse, which is a total indulgence because I have a very long growing season and don't need a greenhouse. My son and I built a small greenhouse (I already wish it was bigger).  Mostly I use it to grow my seedlings until I can plant them in the garden. Even in the spring, actually late winter it can get quite hot. It's already been 102. I can easily put shade cloth over the top.
You might be scratching your head thinking Jen this is a total no brainier. But... I didn't manage to get the shade cloth on last year. Those seedlings survived some very hot temperatures.  I had to water every day. I didn't want to plant the tomatoes and peppers until we had night time temps at or above 50 degrees. It was a strange cool spring for us, and I didn't plan until May. I know that is normal for lots of you, but pretty late for me. My tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant produced earlier  by a lot then ever before, and continued to produce through the the late fall. Once the warm weather finally came it was recorded breaking heat for consecutive days over 100.  
Here's my dilemma. Almost everyone I talked to in my area had a terrible garden year. Tomatoes didn't grow, or produce well.  I know some is luck. I do lots of things that could have contributed. I try to build healthy soil, over plant a very diverse plants. Pay attention to water, and don't use any chemicals, even organic.
So seeing the 102 temp. I thought I should get shade cloth, but then I began to wonder if maybe starting out there life growing in the extreme heat conditioned them to continue to grow and produce in weather that normally stunts growth and production.
I know it's unrealistic to expect a definite answer to my question, but I'm very interested in what you think. Should I put shade cloth on, or leave it off?
Thanks

I have done a little research on heating a greenhouse without power. I'm in a warmer zone, but the suggestions should still apply. I would just combine them. Someone mentioned a heat sink, and that's a great idea. I took all my heavier jugs, like bleach, and laundry soap container. I cleaned the outside and painted them black. I filled them with water and placed them between the plants/seedlings I want to protect. I also had a gap around the bottom of my greenhouse. I made a simple frame and filled it with concrete. It was easy and pretty cheap. I would think anything that seals the gap would work. I have a gravel floor, because I was inexpensive, but brick, or pavers will work too.  If you can get some tile, brick, I would think even terracotta saucers would work. Paint them black. Basically anything you can find that you can paint black, and will hold the heat it soaks up during the day will help. You can also use milk jugs like the winter sow method. It adds another layer.  There's lots of videos on how to make a heater with terracotta pots stacked on top of each other, using a jar full of crisco and a wick. It's supposed to keep the space warm for about 8 hours. I want to try it, but haven't yet.
I start my warm weather seeds in the house. Some on a heat mat, and humidity dome. As soon as they sprout I transplant them in a small pot under a grow light until they have two true leaves. Then I put them in there own pot and they go out to the greenhouse.  My greenhouse is new to me as of last year, so I'm still experimenting. I did try to sprout seed in it last year. It did work, maybe even better seedlings then in the house, but they took so much longer, and I really had to be on the soil moisture, because it would easily dry out during the day, so inside is easier for me.
Good luck, let us know how it goes.

Every season I enjoy trying something new to me.  This year I'm growing
Malabar spinach: I've heard it's great, and I've heard terrible. I thought I'd give it a try. My family loves their veggies, so why not.
Swiss chard perpetual spinach: I grow Swiss chard, it grows year round here. It's pretty bitter in the summer heat, so I feed it to the chickens, they don't mind a bit. This is supposed to taste more like spinach, I can't wait.
Fennel: I'm not a big fan of licorice flavor, so have never tried it, but my daughter wants it, so it's on the list.
Tumeric: last year I struggled to grow ginger. All of YouTube says how easy it is to grow, but I had a very different experience. Finally at the end of the summer I got some to grow. I planted it in the center of a raised bed that had loofah, and  a large tomato. It hardly got any sun, and seemed happy that way. In our intense heat, it seems it needs to be an understory plant. So I hope to actually get it to grow and I'm going to apply the same for tumeric.
The next list are not exactly new. Last year I tried and failed.
Moringa: I got it to late. It didn't get big enough to survive the winter. I will start them early in the spring, so it will be established, and maybe I can get it to survive the winter.
Butterfly pea: another "easy" on that didn't grow. Totally my fault. I built a raised bed with a trellis. I work for a co-op. We were cleaning the chick tanks, and I took the wood pellets from the tanks home for the compost. For some stupid reason I decided to put it in the beds. I'm pretty sure it was just to much because all the peas sprouted, and grew about 2" and that was it. I think poor soil, and planting to late so it was to hot kept them from growing.
Hyacinth beans: same as the butterfly pea. Bad soil and to late. I removed a bunch of the wood, and replaced it with compost. I hope this and the time to break down added a much earlier planting will make the difference.
Of course I'm always trying different varieties of tomatoes, peppers squash and melons.
What new plant are you trying? Maybe I'll add it to my list.