Cherry Tomato Plant
So far my garden isn’t looking too bad this year for someone who knows nothing and I’m fighting the spraying, which seems to be going on constantly. I’ve got three large tomatoes about 20 cherry tomatoes and the promise of more.
Either the deer or the chickens are eating the tops off my pepper plants again this year. That’s what happened last year. I never been able to grow any peppers, heck, I never even had one baby pepper grow last year. I’ve keep them close to the house.
I just have to be smarter than a chicken, right? I am guarding that little pepper with my life. I am determined to get at least one.
Tiny baby Pepper!
Because of the drought, and the aluminum, I have been adding a little Lugol’s Iodine Solution in the rain water I catch. I believe it will help clear toxins out of the soil.
Lugol’s Iodine: An Important Detoxification Tool
I’ve also been using baking soda, Epson salts, peroxide, and organic sea kelp on my soil, it seems to help. If I have plants that aren’t doing well because of the intense sun, I put them in the green house. It’s just a tiny little thing but it gives the plants time to heal. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
I’ve been keeping them close to the house and I feed the chicken behind the house. Most of the chickens have gotten the hint and they really don’t bother the plants at all. We do have a couple that insist on digging in my Aronia shrub, an excellent source of antioxidants.
Wildlife: Plants are browsed by white-tailed deer and rabbits. The fruit are eaten by ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chickens.
For pest control I’m growing spearmint, peppermint, oregano, rosemary. One of my rosemary plants just withered up and died. It’s a pathetic looking thing. I haven’t brought myself to toss it out yet. I feel so bad when one of my plants die. When they grow and flourish like this spearmint plant, it makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something.
Spearmint
Even my Crooked Neck Squash seems to be doing well. Last year they were overran with aphids. I didn’t get to them quick enough and by the time I got rid of them, the squash had stopped growing. I got frustrated and ripped it up. No sense wasting water on it.
Crooked Neck Squash
With the water restrictions, the chemical spraying, and the animals — wild and domestic — it’s amazing I have anything growing at all. Only time will tell, but I have a good feeling this year that my garden will persevere.
My raspberry plants came back up from last year, with volunteers. I may actually get some if the deer or chicken don’t get them first. I’m still training my chickens to stay out. Are chickens even trainable?
