The Productive Back Yard July - Dec. 2012

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ellyphant
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Re: The Productive Back Yard July - Dec. 2012

Postby ellyphant » Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:55 pm

Just had a beautiful little hummingbird come to the big pot of red impatiens I have on the front porch! Had a great view of him out the window as I sit here on the computer.
How you do your work is a portrait of yourself.

ellyphant
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Re: The Productive Back Yard July - Dec. 2012

Postby ellyphant » Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:52 pm

My hummingbird is back--2 days in a row! Hope this will be a regular stop for him.
How you do your work is a portrait of yourself.

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Nancy
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Re: The Productive Back Yard July - Dec. 2012

Postby Nancy » Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:39 pm

I thinned the peaches last week, this week I thinned the plums and picked a couple of apples from the back yard.

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Harmony
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Re: The Productive Back Yard July - Dec. 2012

Postby Harmony » Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:26 pm

We have a couple watermelon vines growing just off the back porch in the grass. Kids who were here for bonfire spit seeds out there and they sprouted. DH is not cutting the grass around there and he's watering. Vines appear healthy and thriving. Ha! I tried them in garden once and they grew and then wilted and died.

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Nancy
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Re: The Productive Back Yard July - Dec. 2012

Postby Nancy » Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:55 am

My squash are all the same some vines died others are okay and one has a huge pumpkin sized fruit on it I show it to all the folks that come by! LOL!

The neighbors are excited about the hen pen aka chicken run we are doing. Herbs have been known to be a great addition to nest boxes. Dson suggested letting them out 1 hr. before night fall so they can eat bugs hoping to hold down the poop problem on the deck patio areas that way. The back yard is not "chicken proofed" yet. So wondering if I'll have to do that as well. Next we will try to get some sort of portable coop for grazing especially young ones we will acquire later on.

:arrow: Next will be to remodel free dog house in to nesting boxes. Dson has some wood for that bead board from the bathroom remodel project they did. :mrgreen: Back yard looks more and more like a construction zone! With the patio area expansion dug up, we know that we should have waited but in typical SHE fashion we got the cart before the yet horse again.

I recommend this book Chicken Coops 45 building ideas for housing your flock. By: Judy Pangman There are no blue prints in it but great stories how each coop was created with the ideas behind it and drawings of how it's set up. H. enjoyed it too. I learned so much from this book it was a great read as well!

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Harriet
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Re: The Productive Back Yard July - Dec. 2012

Postby Harriet » Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:31 pm

I'm so happy for you, Nancy. One thing I guess I ought to say is don't let your heart get broken because they are fragile and when you least expect it suddenly you'll lose one, and never be able to figure out why. Other than that, hurray, you are getting chickens! I let mine out in the evenings and that way they put themselves up again, so all I have to do is shut them up. Also it seems there are a lot of insects in the evenings. But I will tell you that doesn't seem to be the time they poop. Although they might poop at any time, they seem more like other animals in that they are likely to poop as they wake up in the a.m., or when they are first stretching their legs after they come down their ramp. So we end up with a lot of poop in the straw right under the roost and in the area around their waterer.

I've never grown watermelon, Harmony. I hope these are tasty for you.

Impatiens - one of my favorite annuals, ellyphant. I love how they just keep getting more and more beautiful through this time of year, when many others, like petunias, look straggly. I saw what I thought were pots of impatiens at the dentist's office. But when I got close I realized they were vinca (periwinkle), which will grow in more sun. They must have been a new hybrid variety border vinca because the blooms were huge and the plant shape was lovely, like a bed of impatiens. Looked very much like this basket, only more, in wider, taller containers. Interesting to me that the look of impatiens was there, but they were in full scorching sun.

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Nancy
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Re: The Productive Back Yard July - Dec. 2012

Postby Nancy » Sat Aug 25, 2012 11:31 pm

I'm bracing my self against that Harriet knowing that chickens are replace-able! Good info. thanks for letting me know.

I'm also understanding the neighbor is rather attached to their hens and that might not work out so I'm looking in to other places to get some, but 2-4 is a great place to begin I'm thinking but would rather have 6 at least when all this fruit is on that they could eat!

I picked blackberries today they can have 'em if we don't eat these berries for now I've froze most of them and left some out for h. to have on his cereal. They do not drive my blood sugar way up so that's good.

Peaches are the size of apricots but very sweet, this is a young tree so I"m please with this crop. Hoping that the apricot tree does more than just leaves next year! LOL! Maybe chicken poop will help it to grow and produce more shade at least as it's by the hen pen how handy for them! :lol: I raked up fruit and picked it up got the leaves and grass in a pile for composting hens to play in or ? Not sure but it does look better.

Hubby took a stroll around the garden and looked at the stuff growing, we talked about how to treat the lawn for weeds and stuff w/ hens so I feel better about that now. We talked about a plan for taking the forms off the patio next week.

We are talking about hot to track what hen lays, I've been thinking about record keeping.
Also time to do a bit of planning for planting for spring bloom, I do have one plant on my wish list variegated iris bulbs to plant in my "collection".

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Nancy
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Re: The Productive Back Yard July - Dec. 2012

Postby Nancy » Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:13 pm

Chicken coop tour today on my walk saw one that had a few hens and half was for two goats, very tiny space in some one's back yard. They had Banties barred rock buff O. & R.I.R. used 5 gal buckets for nesting. They were pened up not free range when I was there. A strong smell of amonia in the nesting area. Maybe b/c of the heat.

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Nancy
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Re: The Productive Back Yard July - Dec. 2012

Postby Nancy » Tue Aug 28, 2012 12:22 am

We have the roof done and it's secure on the coop. That took longer than we thought it would. Got the tin off the dog house to remodel for the nesting boxes we can get four out of it and this is going to work out great! =D The run is 8' x 14' bigger than I was thinking by about 3x. H. had visions of grandour I think he just likes the excuse to play with his tools! LOL!
:idea:
The neighbor gal has been peeking through her garage windows and said it looks good, she can't wait for the chickens to be there. I told her it takes as long as it takes it's not going as fast as we thought. Trying to enjoy the process need to get it done before Oct. when they stop selling chicks LOL!

I've been noticing when the birds take roost now that the days are getting shorter.

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Nancy
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Re: The Productive Back Yard July - Dec. 2012

Postby Nancy » Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:04 pm

Got some walnuts for the chickens today on my walk that was fun!


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