garden pics

So I've been working hard on getting the garden built and ready for planting. I'm determined to make it work right this time, last time didnt work out so well but I tried to skimp on things, bad idea.

so heres the progress in pics.

First I enlisted the help of my 8 yr old, shes more than willing to help daddy work around the house. We picked up the supplies and she directed me on exactly how the lumber should be stacked on the cart LOL.

then I had her drill the holes




and stain the wood


the next day I put the boxes together and layed them out, my wife and I went and picked up a yard of cedar chips to lay down around the beds and keep teh mix from flowing out around the areas where the ground wasnt level. eventually,we're going to put crushed gravel pathways between the boxes.



I also built a huge trellis with some old grating that was left here when we bought the house. it worked out great because it's strong and exactly 4' wide. Thats where we'll be planting watermelon and pumpkins.



Yesterday we got to putting up the fence mostly to keep dogs and critters out but also for the look.




I'll finish the gate today.

more pics from around the yard..
the chickens , we had 16 but we have neighbors who dont control their animals, a couple dogs got in and wiped most of them out. now we just have 5 left. four hens and a big loudmouth rooster.




and I just went in to the coop and picked up breakfast. mmm, nothin like fresh eggs. I got 10 yesterday

Beautiful garden. I don't have time or $$ to make mine as pretty. I just go with functional.

Hey, it's going to look beauuuutiful when you're done! Your daughter is going to feel proud for what she helped make.

We just got 6 Plymouth Rocks that are a week old. Our first time with chickens. Hopefully it's like SFG-cry about the upfront costs and it's easy going thereafter!

(I'm getting a little carried away making my chicken tractor)

one week old chickens... whew, they can make a mess and smell pretty bad too.
So some tips on chickens, they're pretty easy to take care of, they eat almost anything so toss em some veggie treats or bread now and then. the only thing I can really stress is keeping them safe, everything is trying to eat them. raccoons, dogs, cats, foxes,hawks you name it and it'll try and get to em.

our entire property is surrounded by 4ft high chain link and it's gated, the run is pretty secure (or so I thought) somehow a neighbors dogs from down the street got into the yard, tore through the fencing of the run and got into the coop. they killed 11 of our 16 birds. This isnt the first time it happened either, before that we had 15 or 16 birds and another neighbors free roaming dogs got in and did exactly the same thing. one bird survived because she ducked into the woods.

make your coop secure, like ft knox and when you think it's secure enough...do even more. Raccoons will pulls chickens right through a fence if they can latch onto them, my brother back in PA has a 12 ft high chain linked fence around his birds (the previous owner used to keep elk) and Racoons still manage to jump the fence and kill his birds.

I've heard of hawks actually diving down and pulling chicks from people hands.

Great looking set up. I look forward to seeing pics when everything is growing.

Your garden is beautiful (and so are the chickens)! Thanks for sharing.

Putting up a couple lines of electric fence works great for keeping the chickens safe. You'll want one at ground level, and one a bit higher up to deter predators. You can use a Zareba solar fencer, I know a lot of people say they don't work as well as a plug-in, but I have the 10 mile fencer on a 2 acre pasture for my pony and I got zapped last week and almost had a freaking heart attack. The pony bolted and ran for her life from the fence, and she's not a small pony!

Also, attaching Hardware Cloth over the bottom 2-3ft of your run and burying it down anywhere from a foot to four feet can help keep predators out.

Stephy....who has 5 Easter Egger hens, 1 Baldyhen (meeting her maker in May...she's in rough shape and has been for 2 years), and 5 Dominique Pullet Chicks and 1 Dominique Roo Chick coming June 4th!

PS, I love that fence! ... We're doing a wood picket fence with the basic squared off 1x4 pickets around my garden. I also love the wood chips, I'm thinking of picking up a few yards for our garden.

That fence looks really nice. Too bad about the chickens. Did your neighbors reinburse you for them?

well the as far as the first ones that got attacked, that neighbor actually told us his dog had brought one of them home. He said he would pay for them, so I said all i want are replacements so I'll tell you how much they are when i get them. I placed the order and it came out to about $50 including shipping. I gave him the bill and never heard a word back about them. my other neighbor who was friends with the guy said he said something to the effect of "I'm not paying that dude $50 for freakin chickens".

Of course I never saw a dime from him.

the other neighbors, they were pretty good about it. they had just moved in about a week before and the girl explained that the dogs arent even hers, they had roomates at the previous place and the roomies moved out and just left the dogs with them. they contacted the humane society who wanted like $60/each to come and get them. She apologized and said she would give me money for the chickens when she got paid the next week. I just told her give me $20, it was more principal than anything and it was pretty obvious they were just struggling to get by.


@Lupin
The fence was a freebie, my bro in law is a fencing contractor for lowes, he actually won Installer of the Year for the entire USA about 2 yrs ago. He had removed that fence from someones property and gave it to us. it was perfect for the garden. Of course when he sees it, i'm sure he'll have comments LOL

Neighbors, jeesh, , some of them can be so darned neighborly, and others can be....

Well, on to more pleasant topics, your fence is beautiful! Hopefully your BIL's comments will be happy ones! Your entire garden looks lovely, and now I want a fence like yours.

(12 feet fences - keeping elks - hawks swooping down to snatch things out of your hands...it's a wild wild world out there!) (Says Martha who loves all (*almost!) things wild!)

Wow, I'm impressed! It's beautiful.

When I heard about the chickens, the first thought I had was...think of all the great compost from chicken manure!

yeh i just used a bunch of compost around my banana trees, bananas have
a voracious appetite for nitrogen and potassium and if you want them to
fruit you have to feed, water and mulch them. I wasnt aware of that
when i planted them last year but I'm trying to get them to fruit so
the chicken manure compost should work real well.

Orionsbelt, I want to eat your tomatoes!

Orionsbelt, I want to eat your tomatoes!

Omg, that variety is so delicious. I want to eat them too, but right now the new ones are only seedlings. They're heirloom black cherry tomatoes. We grew them in a more "traditional" method, and they sprawled all over.

that explains everything! I had black cherry tomatoes last year for the first time ever - OH MY GOD they are so delicious! Growing some this year, for sure!

boffer wrote:Hey, it's going to look beauuuutiful when you're done! Your daughter is going to feel proud for what she helped make.

We just got 6 Plymouth Rocks that are a week old. Our first time with chickens. Hopefully it's like SFG-cry about the upfront costs and it's easy going thereafter!

(I'm getting a little carried away making my chicken tractor)

(I'm getting a little carried away making my chicken tractor)[/quote]

I'm still designing my chicken tractor. I've googled & bookmarked
several designs I like. Do you have any pics of yours? I have a
large chicken lot attached to the barn with chicken house, outside nest
boxes, all completely covered in wire, varmint-proof that worked great,
except the chickens have eaten/scratched up all the grass & we've
been feeding commercial layer pellets with kitchen scraps. I had let
them free range, but they weren't too bright - they would fly onto the
top rail of the dog yard (Boxers) and jump in with the dogs. The dogs
thought they were home delivery lunch & now we are going to do the
chicken tractor thing. I've got 2 hens left, but found a local source
of day old chicks & am picking them up this week & will have
the tractor ready for when the chicks get big enough to move out of the
brooder. The tractor needs to be large, but easy enough for me to move. I think we are going to go with a metal frame instead of wood for the fence part since it would be lighter weight.

I love the fence around your garden. How lovely. That should keep out the dogs and other varmints.
It surely looks like a labor of love.
Enjoy your garden.

Awesome garden. What a great way for the kids to learn too. My 8 and 10 year old sons have been a big help too. Nature's science lab...

dixie wrote: Do you have any pics of yours?

Just two in my personal gallery

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/gallery/Personal-album-of-boffer/Personal-album-of-boffer-cat_u7.htm

It looks like a portable porta-potty with stubby wings!

I've got a couple 6x12 chain link panels that I'll attach for their 'playground'

by the way, in case you dont know about it
http://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html

also that forum is extremely useful and people are more than willing to help answer any questions

Warning from a fellow chicken enthusiast... The Back Yard Chicken Forum is the most helpful forum ever created...but is highly addictive!

I just transplanted about a dozen black cherry tomatoes. Can't wait to taste them! I'll be growing them in a Topsy Turvey, (also with red Tumbling Toms and Yellow Pears). What a pretty little salad they will make...

WOW your daughter did a great job! Everything looks really nice and the chickens are beautiful too! There is nothing like fresh eggs, just like growing your own veggies and fruits, much better than store bought!