Maine

[lazy gardener]

You can always take more off, however, it's hard to put it back on!

 

[buckabucka]

It was -8 here this morning. NWS forecast -10, so they were accurate this time. It think clear nights are when they are off by 27 degrees. I'm particularly concerned about Friday night, but there is nothing I can do in the hoop coop, so those birds continue to be my cold weather test subjects. Saturday should be sunny, so they will get their well-deserved tropical vacation, provided they survive this horrible stretch.

I finally went back to work today, - hoping they don't call off school tomorrow. We're not supposed to get more than a few inches here, but Waterville/Vassalboro are at 4 - 6. That's not much, but with the wind whipping the snow around and the frigid temperatures, I'm afraid they might cancel. I suppose I could stay here and pamper the chickens with warm treats.

Lazy gardener, I do think my weed is bindweed. I don't remember a lot of flowers on it, but the leaves and roots look familiar in photos. I can't pull it all up, because it has penetrated and burrowed around the asparagus crowns. We don't use chemicals here normally, but DH thinks we should use a Q-tip to put one drop of roundup on the end of a root, and see if it travels down to kill it. We still get some asparagus in that patch, but blackberries are coming up in there too. Blackberries and bindweed are infiltrating my raspberry patch as well. And they are both coming up through old landscape fabric that is hard to dig in. It is kind of a hopeless mess.

We got rid of our wormwood, too. That was in the corner of the garden with the comfrey. It kept spreading into the lawn, and when I mowed there I would go into a coughing fit. We have tansy around.

NorthChicken, what were your temperatures and how did your birds fare? It is plenty cold here, - I can't imagine what it must be like up there!

 

[NorthChicken]

It was -33 below this AM. They were pretty fluffed up and 2 didn't want to come off the roost this morning, no signs of frost bite though. I brought them some warm water and they got some scratch and cracked corn with BOSS this morning. I let them out at noon, and they were happy to get into the covered run. I had a silver laced female polish but ended up rehoming her about a month ago as she was already having an awful time with the cold temps, shaking uncontrollably, not eating, miserable and it wasn't even that cold yet. She is now a spoiled house chicken at one of my clients houses! (I work at an animal hospital). Supposed to be another cold night of -35 with -50 below wind chills. Brrrr!! One day closer to spring, right??

 

[buckabucka]

Ugh! That is so cold! I'm glad to know the chickens survived. My rooster has some really nasty frostbite. I wonder if he will have any comb left at all!

 

[lazy gardener]

Bucka, your statement about wormwood makes me re-think my plan. If I do plant it, I think it'll go in a container. I have asthma, so does G. dtr, and hubby is getting more sensitive with age. Don't need to be mowing stuff that is hard on the lungs. I'm looking forward to kids getting back to school. They don't go back till Monday here. They've been way too lazy here, and I've not been terribly motivated to get them moving.

From my experience with round up, I think the stuff has to be used pretty liberally to affect the target plant. I wish you the best of luck with those invasives in your perennial beds. The only way I could envision doing it without chemicals is to rip out the plants you want to save, strip them down to bare root, and re-plant them in a new bed, being on high alert for re-invasion for about 5 years. The raspberries could certainly be saved that way. The asparagus... I think my first plan would be to bury it under about 8" of heavy mulch. The spears should be able to work up through that thickness. Then you could stir the top of the mulch on a weekly basis throughout at least 2 growing seasons. If you route out any invasive green matter, it will eventually starve out the roots.

North Chicken... every time the sun sets, we're one day closer.

 

[suzMEchicks]

I'm a little behind as usual but I have 2 leghorns (white). I love them! I also have 2 RIR and 2 black sexlinks. The leghorns are petite and slender compared to the others but they are clearly the leaders. They were the first to fly out of the brooder box, they are always first to explore anything new. They are the only ones I have seen put any of the others in their place(hen peck? Or pecking order or both?) on the other hand they are the ones that run up to me first ( RIR second, sexlinks last) and always let me pick them up. Lots of personality. Well, I think they all do. I'm still surprised how much.

 

[suzMEchicks]

Dumb question: what is BOSS?

 

[lazy gardener]

BOSS = black oil sun flower seeds. Lots of energy for these cold temps. Thanks for the encouragement re: leg horns.

 

[lazy gardener]

There are no dumb questions! Except perhaps for the ones that you don't ask.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hi Kim. I finally started working a bit.