My Grow Bed :-)

[keith_r]

your chicken need more natural food.. lots of bugs, even mice.. this will make a difference in the eggs...

[urbanfarmer]

Hm, good to know. Mice too huh? I plan to have a couple of chickens once the fencing is up.

[davidstcldfl]

This is VERY CHEAP top soil, VERY CHEAP (80 cents a bag 40#). I'm using my knowledge of soil to try to make the soil excellent (out of the bag it's crap).

The raised beds look nice...
Have you considered trying the mushroom compost from Zellwood ? It's 'really cheap' if you buy it right from the mushroom farm. Even on craigs list, it's about $20 for a cubic yard.....I've even seen ads for it to be delivered at that price.

[Eleven11]

Really nice growth rate. Looks like whatever you're doing to the soil is working great.

I've never heard of mushroom compost. I'll look into it.

[urbanfarmer]

Yea, they mentioned that a while back in a Master Gardner meeting... I actually forgot... It was a truck load delivered for $25 (not sure how big a truck, probably a yard). I can't believe I forgot that's a great idea, and it's really good stuff.

[Basil1]

Looking good UF, but one question. We live in pretty much the same zone but I have been told by all the local nursery experts that it's too hot here for clover except for maybe short growing periods during cooler months. So what's your secret?

[bsfman]

I have never bought my plants before, but I JUST GOT SOME! Oh man I feel like a cheater, but they had some really cool varieties of peppers; so, I had to pick them up!

I cheated too when I planted my new growbed yesterday. I bought 4 bell pepper plants and 5 tomato plants because I didn't want to mess with starting from seed and waiting for them to get big enough to start sucking nutrients out of the water. I did seed butternut squash and cukes though and set out some tomato plant cuttings.

One benefit to buying plants is that you can experiment easily with different cultivars and your wait time to harvest is significantly reduced!

[foodchain]

We run our rabbits on hey, and pellets. But to keep the costs down, and to make more effecient use of our weeds we feed them 3, 5 gallon buckets of weeds from the raised beds a day. Pellets can get expensive. Some people use cattle cubes as cheaper, but these have higher protein levels so be careful, also helps in keeping teeth wore down.
They consume enough weeds, fast enough that we don't have to use any preemergent on the lawn or beds. Just requires 10-15 minutes an evening pulling weeds. Nice break from being in office all day.
The amount you need will depend on the variety of rabbit you have. Stick with the Californian or new zealands and you need as much. I am am running Flemish Giants and lionheads. So...they eat everything. FG's can top out at about 52 lbs from what I have googled. Mine aren't that big, but we are trying.

[commander]

I have considered rabbits, but the only problem I anticipate is my wife. You know, the "OHHHH they are so cute, I just cant stand for you to kill them. I could never eat one after I have watched it grow up."

[foodchain]

Yup. Dealing with that now.
Even though she knew from the get go it was dinner....so...I don't know a cure for that one yet. I will let you know when I figure it out.