Down and dirty

DIRT baths when it's wet can be a challenge for chooks when it's wet and muddy.



 

Hilda and Gidget enjoying a relaxing dirt bath

 

There's an area under my back deck with gravel and limestone crush which the girls love to roll around in when it's pouring.

 

Not only do they get to keep the mites at bay, a dirt bath allows them to extend their wings, roll their feet into the air and enjoy a good stretch.

 

If your chook run is getting ab it muddy, toss down some shredded newspapers, some straw and then add a good pile of grit or fine gravel they can loll about on. Don't worry it will soon resemble a mess, chooks love a bit of chaos! 

 

This time of year you should also add some crushed fresh garlic to their water as a bit of a tonic.

 

Keep on adding as many fresh greens as you can to their food.

 

Plus a teaspoon of linseed to their pullets will give them a twinkle in their eye. As though they didn't already have one when looking at your broccoli seedlings. 



Good Garlic

PLANTING garlic is very satisfying, very easy and now is the time to get moving with this delightful aromatic bulb.

You can use good-sized corms from your last harvest or purchase organic garlic from a number of suppliers. A friend has even used shop-bought Australian-grown garlic, pulled apart the cloves and planted them with good results.

Isn't garlic gorgeous!

Plant the tops of the bulbs just below the soil surface, with the pointy end upwards and the flatter or root end should be pointing down.
I plant mine around 10 cm apart, in rows about 30 cm apart.

Simply leave them and they are ready to harvest late next spring  or early summer depending on your climate. The redoubtable Peter Cundall has some excellent tips here.


Then use them for this delicious recipe for mushrooms with lemon and garlic from the always reliable Gourmet Farmer, Mathew Evans.

It's also good to plant around roses to control aphids and other pests.

As well as being delicious (I reckon nearly everything bar porridge tastes better with garlic and I'm working on this), it's also great for your chooks.
A piece of crushed garlic in their fresh water will help them combat any intestinal parasite problems the girls may have and so far I've not noticed any taste seeping into the eggs they lay.
The dried stems and leaves of the garlic plant after harvesting can also be strewn in their coop to deter fleas and other insects.

And for us, many health benefits can be enjoyed from garlic - including lower blood pressure. Repelling vampires? The jury is still out.

Meanwhile, growing garlic is so easy everyone should have a few bulbs in their garden.

More information about this 'fragrant rose' as garlic is also known can be found at the Australian Garlic Industry Association (AGIA) website.

Grow gorgeous garlic

Harvesting your own garlic is one of the joys of gardening.

Pulling up the bulbous cloves, hanging them to dry, sharing with friends the scrumptious taste of your own garlic – well, it’s up there with growing heritage tomatoes with basil, keeping chooks and eating passionfruit straight off the vine.

St Peter of Cundall has a great article on the ‘stinking rose’ as it is sometimes known in the latest Weekly Times.

Always plant more than you think you will want - once your mates get a taste they'll be asking to swap you some of their extra pumpkins / lemons or homemade bread for it. The more garlic you plant the better it gets! I find that it’s a good plant to have around roses too.

Don’t use supermarket garlic as planting corms – unless you are sure that you are purchasing 100 per cent certified organic  they could be full of nasty chemicals. Better to get them from a reliable supplier such as your local nursery or someone like Diggers.

Start planting garlic and once you tatse it you’ll never go back to horrid, supermarket garlic again.

Autumn Joys

It’s an exciting time in the garden. Sure, the tomatoes are looking a little ragged and the corn is drooping a bit but all the rain has meant that it’s greener than normal.

Gidget is already keen to get out and turn over the summer veggie bed.

Now is the time to pull out the old veggies, replenish the soil and get in the winter and spring crops. This weekend I will pull out on bed of tomatoes – the heritage varieties which di so s well and then let the chooks go to work! By giving hem a few hours a day for a week or so in this patch I’ll meet the twin aims of turning over the soil and give the girls some bliss as they eat all the bugs and leftover fruit! Their droppings are also a bonus. Plus I will fork in some compost and then plant the brassicas - there's nothing better than fresh broccolli

The fruit trees will get a light prune, the roses will be have black-spotted leaves removed and I’ll also plant a heap of garlic. We enjoyed a bumper crop last year and I’m going to plant two beds this time as it’s such a popular item in the “local barter swap”. One lovely neighbour mows the grass walkways between my eight vegetable beds in exchange for a few bunches, another swaps me her home-baked bread while another gives me gorgeous nashi apples. Everyone wins!

Nest week I’ll go into the joys of bartering and swapping tools and skills and how it makes gardening all the more fun and productive.