General Ramblings

This evening I took the last flat out of the chicken brooder and put under lights on my shelf. I now have 5 flats on 2 shelves. I love the chicken brooder/propagation chamber. The zucchini, squash, cantalope, and watermelon seedlings look great. Big round stems, dark green leaves. I never saw anything like that last year. I think keeping the temps 85-90 degrees have made a huge difference. I did have a problem with the orange bell peppers. Only one came up of the ones I am supposed to be selling. I need to get some more planted tomorrow evening.

Today I went to Knoxville Seed and I finally found trellis netting. Oh my, I am having such a hard time finding that stuff this year. I bought 4 packs of 5'x30' netting. I also got some more Red Pontiac potatoes. I should have enough Kennebec and Red Pontiac now. I also bought some Peaches and Cream corn, and some Rattlesnake Pole Bean seed.

I didn't get anything done in the garden this past weekend. It rained and stormed Friday and Saturday. It was beautiful yesterday, but with it being Easter we went to my wife's parents and enjoyed a wonderful Easter Sunday with family and friends. Both of our kids were able to make it home also. I was so nice to have them home for the day.

We have some cats outside. Well one of the girls had kittens yesterday. I didn't know it until this morning. I am not sure how many she had. I think between 6 and 8. The ones that I have seen are so cute. I will have chicks soon so we will have plenty of babies around here. Plus the 2 geese that show up every year (we named them Fred and Wilma) have been back for a few weeks and we are pretty sure Wilma is up by the pond in their nest sitting on eggs. They had 2 babies last year. It was fun watching them walk around with the babies and then we got to see them teach the to fly.

My garden is so wet right now from all the rain this weekend I still can't plant anything. I was gonna try and get my potatoes out. Maybe this weekend I will get them out. I need to get my potato growing beds done and in place.

Change of Plans

I am 95% sure I am going to scrap all my SWC's. I have only made maybe 8 of them. I know they can make watering easier but gosh they take a while to build and they cost quite a bit. I have a huge are for my garden. It gets sun from sun up to sun down. So here is my new plan. I have a ton of 5 gal buckets, a bunch of 10 gal and 18 gal totes. I am going to cut the bottoms out and use them as raised beds, just as most of you use the top parts of your left over totes. The 18 gal totes I get at Lowe's for $3.44. They are made from recycled plastic. They are around 15" tall, 23" long, and 17 inches wide. I can plant 1 tomato plant per 5 gal bucket, remember they have no bottoms, no holes drilled. I completely cut out the bottoms. Place them on top of my dirt, fill with compost and bam it's done, With the totes I will do the same thing. For my 10 and 18 gal totes I am gonna plant all my peppers, cantalope, watermelon, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and potatoes. This will enable to space things as far apart as much as I like to make it easier to take care of things, at least for me it will. I am going to cut out the lids and still use them for some added support. I am also think about putting PVC watering pipes in each container, with a cap on the bottom end and holes throughout the length so I can just add water into the pipe and it will in effect water from the bottom as well. I will take pictures when I get them set up and keep ya posted on how they work.

April 8, 2009 started squash, cucumbers, cantalopes, and watermelons this evening.

April 8, 2009 - I planted 63 squares in another greenhouse this evening. I planted 2 seeds in each square. Prepped the Jiffy Seed Started Mix but making it very moist, filled each square a little more than half full and then placed my seeds. Then I covered them up and placed them in the chicken brooder. Yep, chicken brooder. It came to me the other night. Right now it is around 63 to 65 degrees in my basement. Temps a little low to start seeds. I put my newly planted okra in it the other night and the temp is right around 85 degrees. So last night I planted a bunch of tomato and pepper seeds that people have pre-purchased and I put that little greenhouse in it as well. I now have 165 plants in my chicken brooder at around 85 degrees. So here is what I planted tonight.

Squash - Raven Zucchini, Eight Ball Zucchini, Horn of Plenty Squash, and Honey Bear Squash

Cucumbers - Sweet Burpless, Lemon, Chinese Yellow, and Diva

Cantalope - Sweet Passion, Hales Jumbo, Petit Gris De Rennes, and Minnesota Midget

Watermelon - Sangria, Ali Baba, Tendersweet, Gold Baby, Moon & Stars, Sugar Baby, Blacktail Mountain, Sweet Siberian, and Cream of Saskatchewan.

I also ordered some Rattlesnake Pole Beans. I talked to 2 ladies today who told me that they are the best beans they have ever eaten, and they never have a garden without them. So I said what the heck I will try them. I am sure they will get here in time. I have about a month, and who knows really with the way the weather has been playing games with us. I think this is the end of all my indoor planting, other than helping my wife with her flowers over the weekend. I need a couple of decent days so I can borrow my neighbors rear tine tiller and finish setting up my garden. Heck I may try some corn again this year. If I do I am gonna do it the old fashioned way, in the ground amended with compost. I had no luck at all trying to grow it in raised beds last year.

Chic-Ken County Medical Center Maturnity Wing

This is what I have been spending so much time on the past three weeks. It is finally done. I still have 3 weeks to spare. This baby is 4'x4' and 2' tall. It sits 12" off the floor. I got cheap paint at walmart and the redish orange p;aint was $3.93 for the gallon. I guess someone messed it up so I took advantage. It has top doors with hardware cloth to keep the household cats from playing with the little chicks. It is built from 2x2's and 3/8" plywood. I have 20 chicks coming on April 23 or 24. I have two 125 watt brooder bulbs connected to a dimmer switch so I can control the heat from outside the brooder, and I won't have to raise the bulbs every week. I am getting it set for 95 degrees right now. Then 2 days prior to arrival I will check the temp again with the wood shavings in it. The day before I will turn it on again for good and again make sure the temp is correct. I am getting 12 egg layers and 8 meat birds. This bunch will remain in the maturnity wing for 4 to 6 weeks and then out to their permanent home. A week or two after that I am going to order 25 Colored Rangers from JM Hatchery in Pennsylvania for meat. After those are done then the maturnity wing will be moved outside and be use as a hospital for sick chicks until we get decide to get more chicks.

I have sold enough plants this week to bring in over $100. So between finishing the coop, getting the garden ready, and still panting seeds in their little greenhouses I am gonna be busy for the next few weeks.

Tomato, Pepper, and Okra Seeds Started March 22, 2009

It has been a prety hectic last 2 weeks. I have been working late every night. I took the 19th and 20th off so I could build a chicken brooder. I worked late each night and busted my butt over the weekend as well. I did get all my tomato, pepper, and okra plants started last Sunday evening 3-22-09. I used 3oz clear plastic cups, I put some Jiffy starter mix into a large bowl, wateted it very well with very warm water, I label each cup so I would know what was in each one. I filled each cup pretty much to the top. I got 36 cups in each tray. I did get 42 in one tray with all the okra and a few peppers. Well every tomato cup except both Cherokee Green, and both Black Cherry have seedlings. Almost all of the Harlow's Homestead Okra have sprouted and only 2 of the Hill Country Red Okra have sprouted. Of course none of the pepper plants have sprouted. So today is the day I take all my sprouted plants and put them on my shelf with lights. I think I can go ahead and start my watermelon, cantalope, cucumber, and squash, and zuchinni seeds this evening. I know my wife bought 2 trays with 50 peat pots in each she is going to hopefully start today. We will have growing trays all over the house.

I started painting the chicken brooder on Friday evening, didn't get anything done yesterday. I hope to at least finish the inside today. I also hvae to make some more SWC's. If I can start getting hope at a decent hour and don't feel all worn out I should be able to get a couple SWC's done each evening.

As a journal entry I started all of the following tomato seeds on 3-22-09 (2 seeds in each cup, 2 cups for each plant except the Cherokee Purple tomato plants which I did 8 cups).

1. Bloody Butcher
2. Cherokee Green
3. Spear's Tennessee Green
4. Tennessee Sweet
5. Black from Tula
6. Nyagous
7. Carbon
8. Cherokee Purple
9. Cheroke Chocolate
10. Brandywine Sudduth's Strain
11. Kellog's Breakfast
12. Aker's West Virginia
13. Todd County Amish
14. Aunt Gertie's Gold
15. Sioux
16. Paul Robeson
17. Japanese Black Trifele
18. Red Delicious
19. Sprite
20. Nebraska Wedding
21. Tennessee Surprise
22. Hillbilly

The pepper plants I planted on 3-22-09 2 cups per variety and 2 seeds per cup.

1. Early Sunsation
2. Ivory
3. Tango
4. Tequila
5. Mercury Red
6. Purple Beauty
7. Orange Bell
8. Quadrato d'Asti Giallo
9. Mavras
10. Satsuma
11. Chocolate Beauty
12. Baby Belle
13. Mini Belle Mix
14. Volcano (free packet sent by totally tomatoes)

I planted Okra on 3-22-09 18 cups per variety and 1 seed per cup

1. Hill Country Red
2. Harlow's Homestead

I guess I better go get to work painting that brooder. I will post pics when I am done. I am getting 12 sex link female chicks, 6 different varieties of cornish males, and 2 delaware males on April 23 or 24. The males I will use for meat.

Building the Coop Part 1

This is all I got done today. I also went to Lowes twice for supplies. This is the first time I have ever built anything except for some raised beds last year. I have always been afraid that I would mess something up and would end up being a waste of money. The coop is 4x8 and raised 2' off the ground so when the chickens are out in the run they can use the coop itself for shade. I already have the front and rear wall frames cut. I am wanting to find some linoleum that someone is trying to get rid of so I don't have to buy any. After I get the linoleum down, I will put the walls up and then al lthat will be left is the roof. I will keep posting pics as I get more done. I have plenty of time. The chicks will have to be in the brooder for 5 or 6 weeks I guess, and I don't even get them until April 23 or 24. So probably around the first of June the chicks will be able to move into their new home. Not sure what color I am gonna paint it yet. I would also like to come up with a name for the coop.

Finally Ordered Chickens

I did it last night. Ordered 12 chicks from Ideal Poultry. I ordered 3 of each of the following, black sex-link, brown sex-link, gold sex-link, and red sex-link, I will discribe each below. I wanted to order from Ideal all along then the end of Feburary hit and all I saw was sold out. Ideal was also sold out on any of the other breeds that I wanted. With the economy in such bad shape people are ordering chicks left and right. I called other hatcheries and it was the same story. Going to be May before I could get anything and some things are sold out for the year. I started thinking as well I want chickens for eggs so why not get some prolific egg layers. I started reading about sex-links and along with having good dispositions they are great egg layers. Along with the 12 females I am getting because it isn't a full box Ideal will fill the box with packing peanuts. Usually males of any breed to help keep all the chicks warm. I am hoping I will at least be able to use the males as fryers. I am not sure I will be able to do the butchering deed myself. I want to be able do it so I can get some meat birds in the future and do everything myself. I only wanted 8 females but Ideal has a $25 limit. Most other hatcheries have a minimum 25 chick order so I ordered 12. I guess I need to start building that coop. I am gonna start tomorrow. I think I have enough 2x4's for the frame already. I will need some plywood and the dang fencing. Gosh that stuff is so expensive. Here is a picture and discription of each chick we are getting.

Black Sex-Link

Black Sex Links are a breed cross using Rhode Island Red males and Barred Plymouth Rock females. The male chicks have a white spot on the top of their heads and can be separated from the solid black female chicks when they hatch. This cross, which is used in commercial layer operations, is an efficient producer of large brown eggs. They have excellent livability, and hens from this cross weigh about 5 1/2 lbs. and can be salvaged for fowl meat when their use for laying is over.

Brown Sex-Link

Brown Sex Links are a breed cross using Rhode Island Red males and silver factor White Rock females. The chicks can be separated by sex at the time of hatching since the females are primarily red and the males are primarily white. Commercial producers of brown eggs sometimes use this cross, which has excellent livability and efficiently produces large brown eggs. Hens from this cross weigh about 5 1/2 lbs. and can be salvaged for fowl meat when their use for laying is over.

Gold Sex-Link

Gold Sex Links are a breed cross using Rhode Island Red males and Rhode Island White females. The female chicks are streaked with red or gold and can be separated from the solid white male chicks at one day old. This cross, which is one of the most popular used in commercial layer operations, is an efficient producer of large brown eggs. This outstanding cross has excellent livability, and mature hens, which weigh 5 1/2 lbs. can be salvaged for fowl meat when their use for laying is over.

Red Sex-Link

Red Sex Links are a breed cross using Rhode Island Red males and Delaware females. The females are primarily red while the males are primarily white; therefore, the sexes can be separated immediately following hatching. This layer is used in many commercial layer operations. They have excellent livability, and are very efficient producers of large brown eggs. Mature hens will weigh about 5 1/2 lbs. and can be salvaged for fowl meat when their use for laying is over.