Gardening Report June 1, 2020

We seem to have thwarted the chickens.

As you may remember from previous posts, we had a problem with the community garden chickens (i.e., “the girls”) getting into out plot and damaging plant roots as they scratched for grubs and worms.

We rent two adjoining 10x10 plots at the community gardens, and each side has two removable chicken wire panels for access (we removed the two panels separating the plots in order to better work both sides).

Along the east side is a trellis where (eventually) flowers will grow and blossom.  Right now the twine we’ve strung for the flowers is enough of a barrier to keep the girls from hopping in.

To the south and west sides we’ve strung gossamer thin black plastic webbing, designed to hold soil and mulch down but pressed into service as an anti-poultry device.  They’re practically invisible to the naked eye, but the chickens can see them and that’s all that matters.

Along the north side, one plot has panels that are a couple of inches taller than the rest; this is enough to intimidate the girls and keep them from hopping over.  The two shorter panels have three twines stretched above them, and I use plastic loops meant to hold plants to stakes as clasps to hold the two ends of the twine together.

When we want to enter the plots, we remove panels along the north side; the rest are now too well protected to get through easily.

As I said, we seem to be enjoying some success:  Since completing the fortifications, the girls haven’t jumped into either of our plots.

A new problem is am embarrassment of riches, so to speak.

Our plants are growing fast and tall, but we’re getting mostly leaves, few flowers (and flowers are needed for fruit to bud and grow).

It seems we’ve way over fertilized the soil, making it too nitrogen rich, and thus encouraging stem and leaf growth but not fruits.  There’s not much that can be done this year but we’ll try to balance out the soil mix for next spring.
The nut grass is going into abeyance as it normally does this time of year.  It keeps sprouting, but in fewer numbers and thinner clumps.  We’re at the point where it’s no longer a big chore but just a quick once over.

Finally, we’ve had our first harvests!  So far five cucumbers matured enough to pluck and eat, and the basil and parsley plants and producing enough leaves to let us harvest fresh cutting every time we visit the plots.

© Buzz Dixon