Happy New Year, A Look Back and Ahead, Chickens

Happy Belated New Year!! Winter has really set in now in the garden. As I am writing this post, it is 17 degrees outside with snow flurries coming down. It has been REALLY cold here in Central Indiana since Christmas day. The 2009 gardening season was quite successful for me. I tried several new things in the garden last year. One was saving seeds from my six Sierra lettuce plants. They took a long time to send up a flower stalk, but they finally did towards the end of July. I will have to wait to see how well the seeds germinate and grow next year. Saving seeds is very rewarding and seems to complete a natural gardening cycle. Other seeds I have been saving for the last few years now is the King of the Garden Pole Lima Bean and Fennel. I have also been replanting the topsetting onions for about the last 4 years, with great success. Now is the time to beginning planning your 2010 garden and ordering any seeds and supplies you might need. My mailbox has been loaded with seed cataolgs, has yours?

Chickens were another new garden experiment for the 2009 season. The two egg laying hens have been a real treat to have around and have been a fantastic addition to the garden. You might have spotted them in the lastest garden picture on the main garden page. Chickens are super easy to take care of and happily eat all of those bad bugs in your garden. All they require is a secure and dry coop and maybe a small run. My brother commented that if he knew chickens were this easy to take care of, he would have had chickens a long time ago. Last fall, we put up a new coop for the chickens and it has really worked out well. Two more chickens are in the plans for spring 2010. Every gardener should at least consider a few egg laying chickens for their garden. One piece of advice, if you let your chickens “free range,” you will have to keep them out of your vegetable garden with a small fence if you want to have anything to eat for yourself :-) I have posted some picture below of the chickens and their new coop.