This week in the garden: Nov. 31, 2011

Well, I skipped last week's update due to the Thanksgiving holiday!  Luckily, this time of year, the garden isn't changing much.  The greens are continuing to grow, and I still have a few flowers blooming, much to the delight of the local bee population.  The blueberry bushes finally turned a lovely shade of red--they make a fantastic edible landscape choice. This week I harvested a basketful of tatsoi plants to put into an asian soup.  They were fantastic!

Daisies still blooming late November.

Blueberry bush turning red

Tatsoi harvested.

Chicken Chatter: Meet the chickens

My garden just wouldn't be the same without my five hens, so it is only fitting that they are each introduced to you!  In pecking order:

Sunshine

Sunshine is a Buff Orpington hen, who loves to pose for the camera.  She is one of my friendliest chickens, and the first to come running when I come to see them.  She has superior treat snatching abilities: no matter how hard I try to give another chicken a treat, she usually ends up grabbing it first.  She's pretty quiet, clucking occasionally.

Pebbles 

 I am actually not sure who is 'head hen'.  Pebbles and Sunshine seem like they are tied for first to me--but then again, I am no expert on chicken social protocol.  Pebbles is a Jersey Black Giant hen.  These chickens are known for their size, and Pebbles is the largest chicken in my flock. Her bright red comb and wattles provide a lovely contrast to her black/blue feathers.

Johnny Cash

Like Pebbles, Johnny Cash is also a Jersey Black Giant hen.  She is unusual in that her comb and wattles are black rather than red.  Because of this anomaly, she was named Johnny Cash in honor of the famous singer's dress code.  Johnny Cash and Pebbles seem less fond of their human caretakers, compared to the other chickens.  While they tolerate our presence, they are the most resistant to being picked up. 

June

June is also a Buff Orpington hen.  She is much more shy and timid than Sunshine, and it is probably this characteristic that has resulted in her low standing in the pecking order.  Sunshine, Pebbles, and Johnny Cash make a close gang of 3, and it is clear that June is not part of this clique.  She makes up for her low social prowess, with magnificent acrobatic skills--I sometimes call her 'ninja chicken'.

Angel

Last in the pecking order, but first in my heart, is Angel.  She is a Salmon Favorelle hen.  This breed's personality has been described as 'quirky', and Angel is no exception.  She is by far the most friendly, entertaining, vocal, and flat-out weird chicken in the flock.  Everything she does is weird or awkward: she runs weird, she talks weird, she drinks weird, she eats weird, she scratches weird, etc.  I think it is her bizarre antics that have caused her to be a social outcast with the other chickens.  But it is ok: Angel seems completely unaware of her social standing, and even if she is aware, she doesn't appear to care.  She is very friendly to her human caretakers. For example, if I am sitting Angel likes to hop up on my knee and engage me in 'chicken talk'.  This chicken certainly marches to the beat of her own drummer.

This week in the garden: Nov 17, 2011

Well, it is that season again in North Carolina: very cold days interspersed with warm days.  Yesterday the temperature was in the upper 70's.  But a few days before, the night temperature dropped below freezing.

The pepper plants finally died, but I harvested many peppers off of them right before their final day.

At this point, the lettuce is looking lush and the other greens (tatsoi, kale, collards) are all doing well.

Mixed lettuce

I planted a few cilantro seeds this fall as an experiment.  All of the cilantro I plant in the spring bolts really quickly when the temperature warms.  But, this fall crop of cilantro is doing well and has shown no signs of bolting!

Fall Cilantro

Hairy vetch seeds were scattered over a few beds as a green manure a few weeks ago.  In our climate, it should overwinter.  Here it is now:

Hairy vetch cover crop

And here is a close up of hairy vetch:

Hairy vetch cover crop

And our chickens continue laying eggs for us every day!  The golf ball was put in there to 'inspire' the chickens to lay in the nesting box.  So far every egg has been laid in the box--they are smart little ladies.

Salmon favorelle egg!

Harvest photos: remembering summer

With many plants in the garden starting to die off now, it is easy to forget how wonderful it was to harvest vegetables in the spring and summer.  I looked back at my pictures for some inspiration, and to remind myself of how bountiful my garden was.  This was definitely helpful as I am now in the middle of planning next year's garden!

Here are some typical harvests from my garden during the warmer months of this year:

Yukon gold potatoes, cucumbers and zucchini.

Red potatoes, zuchhini, ground cherries, tomatoes, cucumbers.

I pruned the basil and ended up with this huge basket! I had
about 30 basil plants, and used them to make pesto for the freezer.

Chicken Chatter: Our baby chicks

I decided that a small flock of chickens would be a productive and beneficial addition to our vegetable garden.  If you are interested in raising chickens for the first time, I strongly recommend checking out backyardchickens.com.  I spent a ton of time on their site before we decided to get the chicks, and I feel like they helped me immensely.

My husband and I spent 2 weeks constructing a chicken coop before we picked up our chicks at the local feed store.  Every spring, our local feed stores and farm and garden supply stores get shipments of baby chicks for their customers to purchase.  It's a good way to get just a few chicks (if you order by mail, there is a minimum number of chicks you can purchase).  Call the store ahead of time to find out what breeds they have available.

We originally wanted to get 4 chickens--2 jersey black giants and 2 buff orpingtons. But they also had salmon faverolles when we got there, so we decided to get one of those too!  I strongly discourage 'impulse' chicken buying, but we ended up loving our little salmon faverolle.  So here is our little flock of 5, in their brooder (a cardboard box).

Baby Jersey Giants, Buff Orpingtons, and Salmon Favorelle.

We loved them!  They were much more active than I would have expected for chicks that are only a few days old.  We checked on them very frequently and gave them attention.  Baby chicks are delicate and need to be checked on multiple times a day.

They weren't scared of us at all and let us pet them and pick them up.  I was particularly fond of the salmon favorelle, who is very energetic and fun to watch.  She's the yellow chick at the top of the above picture.  The two black ones are the jersey black giants and the two buff ones are the buff orpingtons. 

  Stay tuned! Our chickens (now adults) will be introduced soon!

This week in the garden: Nov 10, 2011

Not much has changed in the garden this week.  The temperature warmed up a bit, and the peppers seem to really be doing well. 

Here are some things that I harvested over the weekend: Bell pepper, cayenne pepper, jalapeno pepper, chili pepper, basil, marigolds.  Don't worry--I just used the marigolds for decoration, not for food.

Weekend harvest.

The tatsoi, collards, kale, and lettuce are all doing well.

 

Kale

And the chickens have been enjoying the cooler weather during their outdoor time.

Buff Orpington Hen

How does your garden grow?

Garden Organization: Reflecting on last season

As a vegetable gardener, it is important to keep track of what you grow each year.  And, it is equally important to track whether or not you liked it!

With the weather cooling, and garden activities slowing down, it is the perfect time to sit down and reflect on last year's garden.  Here are some questions to consider asking yourself:

• What did you grow? 
• What variety did you grow? 
• Did you like the flavor?
• Was it productive?
• Would you grow that variety again?
• Anything you would change? - For example, did you plant too few or too much?

Hopefully, you already wrote down where you planted each vegetable and how many plants you had in spring.  But if not, now would be a good time to answer those questions too!

If you are like me, you won't remember the answers to these questions when spring rolls around, so I find it most helpful to write the answers down.  This would be a great time to invest in a notebook to be your garden journal or, if you are tech-savvy, create a garden folder on your computer.  I am a bit of a rebel, so I actually keep some information in a notebook, and some information on my computer.

Here is an example of a spread sheet I created to document my opinion of last year's garden:

Spreadsheet to track garden performance

I like having this information in an electronic spreadsheet because it is easy to sort the information by whether or not I want to grow it again, or alphabetically.

By having a written record of this information, I can more easily plan next year's garden. 

Did you have any varieties that you loved or hated this year?