Rena Lynn

Do you allow your chickens outside to range for food? They can get calcium & grit that way as well without needing extra supplement. I don't normally give supplements until there is a problem. It is common for a new layer hen for her first few eggs to be small, deformed or even soft shelled eggs (called fart eggs) as her system adapts.

Since I am more of a naturalist, I don't provide light to force my birds to lay when nature says it's time to take a break. I think it's better for the birds overall health, but that's my opinion and others may vary.

The extra protein in the grower feed also helps them to get thru the stress of winter and any feather loss from molting. Come spring, change to layer feed......unless you have any chicks. Baby chicks can't handle the calcium in layer feed. Roosters do just fine. I have found that if I feed higher protein feed in spring/summer (peak laying season), the eggs can develop protein or blood spots from too much protein their bodies are trying to shed. It won't hurt you if you eat them, but they don't look as appetizing. Late summer/fall (molting season) and winter doesn't have that problem, because their bodies need the protein.

But if you don't want to have to change up the feed every 6 months....once your hens start laying you can keep them on layer all year round, even if they don't lay as frequently.


BTW.....I live in the Puget Sound area, so we're almost like neighbors

I have aloe Vera, Christmas/Thanksgiving cactus, pineapple top, orchid, spider and pothos. My favorite??? Anything that grows in spite of my neglect & abuse.

As others have said, weather doesn't effect mint. I did have it growing at the corner of my garden and it kept spreading so I dug it up...…..3 years later it came back, so I dug it up again, only deeper and a wider area....that was 7 years ago and just last week I found it coming up again. So I don't know how anyone is able to get rid of it, once it's started. Best of luck.

Tomato sauce should be fine after a second processing. It's things like green beans or something that gets too soft & overcooked.

Where did you find Kerr jars? I haven't found any Kerr products in a few years since Ball bought them out.

I've tried to compost corn stalks left whole, but they didn't seem to break down over the winter. Once the corn is harvested, I'll cut the stalks into smaller pieces about 3 or 4 inches. Later, once I'm done with the garden, I let the chickens in there for the winter and by planting time the next season.....it's all broke down, fertilized and ready to plant.

As for sunflower stalks, I don't have the strength to cut them and they get too big around for me to handle so last year I tried to save them for bean poles, and had left them leaning against a tree over the winter. By spring they had degraded enough to be almost like paper. Definitely not strong enough to support peas or beans. They ended up in the middle of a berm.

All other left over plant material is left in the garden to keep those chickens entertained and actively 'working it'

Somewhat densely.....Things like peas & beans love being a little crowded anyway, but I also use companion planting methods to get more out of the same space. Usually the companion plants have different needs from each other and can maximize use of the space.

I grow pole beans on towers and celery inside the tower. The beans feed nitrogen to the celery and provide shade protection in the heat. Similar with onions or carrots planted with tomatoes or strawberries. Cabbage family planted between potato hills right next to corn, etc.

Then as soon as something is harvested, the area is planted with something else.  

Sorry about your tree. I've had similar problems with some of my trees over the years, including my apple tree uprooted this year within weeks of ripening. In the past I've had a prune plum & a pear tree that were overloaded with fruit that broke several branches off. Each time, I've harvested the fruit into boxes to ripen in a dark shed....much of it did, some did not. Atleast you would get some of the fruit rather than tossing it all. One year my husband had used a ratchet strap to hold one tree together, similar to what was mentioned earlier and it did save one from breaking off. If you thin the amount of fruit, it is probably better to take too much in order to lighten the load on the tree, than to not take enough and have it break anyway.

If it were me, and as I have done...…..I'd try to save as much of the fruit as possible, whether it's on or off the tree. And depending on the breakage, it is possible the tree may be able to recover. Also, isn't there some kind of fix available that you can put on the break as a protection from bugs so the tree can recover?

P Colvin wrote:Howdy from Chehalis. We are doing our first big garden this year. My Dad brought his tractor and tilled a quarter acre for me, and it is going like gangbusters.  The root crops got worms, and the bok choi got chewed on. Pumpkins are everywhere and out of control.

I'm trying to figure out why there are no worms here.  We have a few cows, goats, pigs, chickens... plenty of poop, and after a year... no worms.   Also trying to figure put how to keep bugs off my radishes. I only got to eat the tops.  My corn got half eaten by birds when I planted the seeds. The ones that did come up were 6 inches high, still. I think I will not be preserving corn this year... and I think I better learn to really, really like zucchini and pumpkin...

Hi, I'm in Tacoma and I find the worms tend to go deeper when it's warm &/or dry. Have you used a good layer of mulch?  That should help keep the worms closer to the surface during the summer months. No worries, the worms are there but in hiding.