Veggies are go

 

 

It was a cold day for the first planting out of vegetables in the chook clock. For this first mid-winter planting I have put in broccoli, cabbage, kale, various lettuces, celery, parsley, rocket, dill, silver beet and broad beans. The chooks were very interested in proceedings and happy to have the surplus seedlings thrown over the fence!

 

Chooks are in 8

Our lovely chooks settled themselves in very quickly and have taken to their task of vegetable garden preparation with relish. As soon as they arrived and we confined them to the 6 wedge of the chook clock with moveable internal fences (to the North is 12 o'clock of course), I started to toss them a daily armful of weeds/kitchen scraps/cabbage or lettuce leaves/grass clippings sourced from home/supermarket veg waste/local gardening man that they have eaten, scratched, tossed around and added their own special manure to in order to make mulch and prepare the soil for vegetables planting. A fortnight later, their job in 6 is done and they have been moved clockwise (of course) into 8 to start over. A couple of jobs later (watering dripper system and laying a path) and 6 is ready for planting. Thankyou chooks (Justine, Gandalf, Lightning, Fergie, Cadel Evans, Penny, Bluey, Valverde, Pepper & Saffron) and Linda Woodrow's book 'The Permaculture home garden'.

 

Introducing Justine...

 

 

...and Penny, Cadel Evans, Gandalf, Lightning, Pepper, Saffron, Fergus, Bluey & Usain (all female). Each of us chose 2 names.....can you guess who named which chook?

 

They seemed pretty pleased with their new digs on the whole, especially with the windows. So happy, we were rewarded with an egg, not 3 hours after they came home.