The Modern Victory Garden

A dense mixed species forest surrounds my garden.   The perimeter of the garden is a transition zone that has many large rhododendrons, ferns, and a constant encroachment of blackberries and other brambles.   Periodically I have to use a machete and brush loppers to cut back the encroaching brambles and exuberant growing rhodies because if I did not push back the jungle of growth it would eventually reclaim the garden area.   Today I did a major brush cutting and trimming effort on the back perimeter of the garden, which was earlier than I normally do this task but necessary as I am prepping the area for installation of some cross fencing.   The end result was a good pushing back of the jungle and I placed some stakes to show the general line of the fence to be installed.        

The fence will separate the garden from the rest of the back fenced area that will be the continued free-range area for our flock of hens.   This gives the hens a large area to range on daily but allows me to protect the garden beds during the main growing season.   They will be allowed into the garden area to graze during the summer season but only with supervision.   During the winter months they will be given full access to the main garden area again (winter crops are protected with grow tunnel covers) so they can work down the bug and weed population.   There will be two gates in the cross fencing section.   The main one up by the house and coop area and another one that opens up into the dense woodlot that will be part of the chickens range area.   Here’s where the gate into the woods will be located.               

I hope to get the fencing installed fairly soon.   Mid-March is when a lot of the early crops need to start going in and I want to have this small construction project completed well ahead of that time.                  

The hens love it when I turn over soil or otherwise disturb vegetation as it opens up access to bugs and worms and/or supplies some fresh vegetation to nibble on.   They followed me around all afternoon as I was working, enjoying the benefits of my labor.                     

This is a rare picture as it has all six of the hens in it!   Usually they are busy in different groupings and it is difficult to catch them foraging all together.   They seem to really like hanging out with us when we are outside doing things and frequently ask to be picked up and held – particularly the littlest all black hen pictured on the left and in front.   She is absolutely the sweetest creature and has turned into my buddy.                                       

Started another big round of seeds on Saturday including the regularly timed tomatoes (which I expect to largely give away unless I need them to replace plant losses from the early start tomatoes), peppers, celery, and some swiss chard.   I moved the onion seedlings out to the unheated greenhouse to make room for all the new seed trays under the lights.                   

Next big project is getting the cross fencing installed.   Hopefully that will be soon!                       

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener