Recent content by Smokerbill

  1. Smokerbill

    Fertilizer Prices Expected to Skyrocket! Use Chicken Run Compost

    I toss them into the woods, about 100 yards away from the house. There are plenty of wild critters that benefit from the meals. Would I put them in my compost pile? I don't think so, because it could limit how soon I could use the compost in my garden. I might want to use some of the pile as...
  2. Smokerbill

    Fertilizer Prices Expected to Skyrocket! Use Chicken Run Compost

    I've never composted an animal. Do they decompose at the same rate as the vegetable matter?
  3. Smokerbill

    What did you do in the garden today?

    I noticed that some of the pepper seeds I planted last Tuesday are beginning to send out roots. I could see a few of them through the thin covering of seed starting mix. I took them off the heat pad and placed them under the light with the tomatoes. So it took four days for the tomato seeds...
  4. Smokerbill

    Help! They ate LOTS of dirt!!!

    I've had a couple of chicks that ate so much dirt they were pooping mud. They lived.
  5. Smokerbill

    What did you do in the garden today?

    Tomato seeds started sprouting. I took them off the heat pad and got them under a grow light. Pepper seeds are lagging behind so I left them on the heat pad.
  6. Smokerbill

    Hatching Supermarket Eggs

    Since you're just curious as to whether they'd hatch, buy a dozen commercial eggs, break a half dozen to eat, looking for the bullseye that indicates fertility. If some seem to be fertilized try hatching the other six. If not, try another brand of eggs.
  7. Smokerbill

    Fertilizer Prices Expected to Skyrocket! Use Chicken Run Compost

    At one time or another I fertilized most everything I grew last season with weed tea, all from the single 5 gallon bucket.
  8. Smokerbill

    Fertilizer Prices Expected to Skyrocket! Use Chicken Run Compost

    Yes, it can get a little ripe at times during the process. I just finished starting my annual bucket of weed tea. I filled the bucket about 1/3 full of fleshy leaf weeds and filled the bucket about halfway with water. It's sitting under a metal roof by the chickens now. Something I failed to...
  9. Smokerbill

    Fertilizer Prices Expected to Skyrocket! Use Chicken Run Compost

    That's no reason to go without free fertilizer for your garden. You can make weed tea fertilizer. I had great luck using the bucket of weed tea fertilizer I made last year. It's really simple to make a bucket full. Fill a 5 gallon bucket with as many weeds as you can find, then cover them with...
  10. Smokerbill

    What did you do in the garden today?

    Nice setup!
  11. Smokerbill

    Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

    I hope it works out for you! I did have to water the heck out of the pile, but I might have been able to water less. I'm thinking that after watering heavily for a month or so all the woodchips would have retained a lot of moisture, similar to a hugulkultur mound.
  12. Smokerbill

    Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

    Last season I put together a simple pallet enclosure to use for composting chicken run woodchips. Once it was piled about 4 feet deep I planted a few butternut squash on top. The squash did great, and the woodchips and chicken poop composted nicely, top to bottom. There's still quite a bit of...
  13. Smokerbill

    What did you do in the garden today?

    I'm trying something different this year... starting my cold weather plant seeds outside in a raised bed. So far it's working well. Two little rows of leaf lettuce and a row each of kale and collards are growing, and the patch of yellow onion seeds are starting to sprout. I put a section of...
  14. Smokerbill

    What did you do in the garden today?

    And beginning later this month there will be an 8% surcharge added to several shipping methods. It's temporary, in effect until mid January 2027. Glad I rarely use USPS. https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2026/0325-usps-announces-transportation-related-time-limited-price-change.htm
  15. Smokerbill

    What did you do in the garden today?

    I've also read about them not liking transplantation. "My" Oregon Grapes grow wild in the woods out back, a mix of hardwood and evergreen trees, the soil beneath covered with a layer of thick organic humus. My guess is they prefer acidic soil, similar to blueberries. And yeah, they grow mainly...
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