I woke up this morning to Phil getting ready to play..I mean hunt but went back to sleep and later woke up to the sound of peeping. I was pretty surprised since my incubator has had a lot of issues holding the temperature and has had some very bad high spikes and I really thought all the eggs would be dead. Apparently not:
Eight of them hatched in all but two hatched late and likely won't do very well. Normally with quail the ones that hatch all-together do well and the late ones die.
Their hatching meant I had a lot of work to do. Had to move the quail out of the outside brooder and it had to be cleaned out and it hadn't been cleaned for a while. I took it all down to the raised beds and compost pile. Then the chicks in the indoor brooder had to be moved outside. It was time anyway.
And the indoor brooder had to be totally cleaned so the quail could go in it. It was a lot of work but had needed doing for a while and I am glad that it is done now. One more chicken picture and I will move on to gardening. I love the look of this Easter Egger behind it are the Norwegian Jearhon and to the side is a cochin. They are caged, waiting until they are large enough for a pen of their own (or for a pen to become available--hopefully soon as the ducklings are growing fast and will join the flock when I feel they have grown enough).
Ok, I wanted to show you a picture of the log raised bed, as I am calling it now. It won't be real deep but I think it will work just fine. The problem with the soil being pure clay here is that any improvements you make wash right off the clay in the rain so the raised beds, no matter how deep, should make all the difference.
As you can see the block bed has been filled. A variety of things went into it hay rakings, leaves, compost and manure from the pens. It should be a good bed by spring. I started filling the log bed as well today.
I have started laying down feed bags in between the beds and hope to add mulch later to keep the weeds back some. I have lots of feed bags that I usually burn so might as well put them to good use. Shouldn't take long before I have it fully covered. The garden raised beds are made out of quite the hodge-podge of things but they haven't cost me a thing so far. I still have room for a few more.We'll have to wait and see what I make those out of.
This is how my garden started too. I used bits of scrap timber for my first raised beds, but soon got dissatisfied with that and went on to do them more "professionally" in the end. The raised bed system certainly allows you to maximise the fertility of your growing area without wasting effort on the paths etc.
ReplyDeleteYup, that is what I think will happen here too, eventually we will build better beds but this will do for now. I actually made another log/board one this morning down the side of the "bed" raised beds. I believe it will hold 4 tomato plants with some sunflowers behind them (planning the spring garden already :) )
ReplyDeleteI love hogpog gardens, it tells me the owner cares about her enviroment and is thrifty just like me.
ReplyDeletebesides indiviuality seems to have gone out of fashion these days, all garden are starting to look the same. manicured! yours is breathtakingly unique.
Thanks angela, I like it a lot too. I can't afford to have a manicured garden, lol. I don't much care if it looks pretty as long as things grow and the weeds get better than they were.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great start what's growing in the back bed?
ReplyDeleteThere is red cabbage and broccoli in one and green cabbage, garlic and a little spinach in another.
ReplyDeleteToday I threw some seeds out into the cement block bed: kale, a salad mix and some radishes. I figured it couldn't hurt since I likely wouldn't use those seeds next year anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe chicks are soooo cute!
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