Weekly Gardening Outlook

This will be a continuing series.  Each Monday we will look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.


With the warmer days, insects are beginning to arrive.  Don't be disheartened to see large numbers of insects in your garden.  Most of them are beneficial or harmless! 


Things to be on the lookout for:
Imported cabbageworm is a pest of broccoli, cabbage, kale, and kohlrabi.  If you are growing any of these be on the lookout for small white moths fluttering about, large holes in leaves, and small (up to 1 1/2" long) green caterpillars on the undersides of leaves.  They like to align their bodies with the central vein of the leaf to better blend in.  If you see any of the signs of this insect, spray both sides of the leaves with Bacillus thuringiensis to control them.  This is very effective and organic.


Powdery mildew and Downy mildew are severe diseases that can quickly kill squash, cucumber, and melons.  If you see any white powdery spots or small yellowing spots on the leaves of these plants, take action immediately.  There are many treatments, but our favorite organic solution is neem oil.  Be sure to spray it in the evening hours to avoid direct contact with bees.


Watering tips:
-Avoid getting water on the leaves if possible to lessen fungal problems
-Water in the morning (evening if you must)
-Do not water during the heat of the day
-It is better to water very well once than to water lightly often


What's being harvested:
-Squash blossoms (they are good fried!)

-Loose Lettuce (enjoy this now, because this hot weather will soon have them turning bitter)

-Turnips

-Radishes

-Strawberries

-Mint

-Green onions


What's coming soon:
-Broccoli heads are forming
-Pepper and squashes are putting on fruits


Weather outlook:
-very warm (mid 80's)
-chance of rain Tuesday-Thursday
-10 day forecast

Chickens and Eggs

For us the chickens came before the eggs (lots and lots of eggs!).  In June 2009, we got an early morning phone call from our post office that a box of very noisy chicks was waiting on us and could we please come pick them up?  Twenty-five 1 day old female Black Australorp chicks from the Murray McMurray Hatchery had arrived.

June 2009

In August, we processed 19 hens into the freezer.  The largest, healthiest 6 hens were kept for egg production.  We got our first eggs 5 months after the chicks arrived.


November 2009

Our 6 birds give us about 3 1/2 dozen eggs and eat an average of $1.50 worth of feed a week.  This gives our family a nice surplus beyond what we can eat to give away, sell, or trade.  Organic eggs go for $3 a dozen, so selling only two dozen a month pays the feed bill and gives twelve dozen eggs a month profit.  Feed costs go down to almost nothing in the summer and up in the winter due to changing levels of wild forage.  They will eat almost any kitchen and table scraps.  The only things we've found they won't eat are citrus and onions.

A daily occurrence

The hens are very low maintenance.  In the mornings they let themselves out of the hen house and spend the day eating insects, seeds, and grass.  They are a joy to watch scratching and pecking around the yard.  In the evening they put themselves up and roost on their roosting bars.  The house gets cleaned out twice a year.  This job takes about 15 minutes.  Our hen house is much larger and more complicated than turned out to be necessary.  In a future post we will tour the hen house and discuss what we think is the ideal small hen house for a backyard flock.  We have been very pleased with our return on investment with our backyard flock.  

Hen house