Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 21, 2011 at 5:44am

I have no idea whatsoever what you are trying to say here...

H3N3 said:

Guacamole?

Duppie said:

Since there appear to be numerous hosta lovers in this thread, two shots from our hostas. The first where they frame the roses, the second one a close up from the ones on the left

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 21, 2011 at 6:43am

Ah!...

It might be. Hostas are not my specialty, but it certainly looks a lot like it.

H3N3 said:

http://www.easytogrowbulbs.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&Pr...

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 21, 2011 at 6:53am

I'm glad to see that Belmont feed jumped into the urban chicken market. When we started with our chickens they were mainly focused on racing pigeons and had a limited selection of chicken related goods.

 

We now get our feed, scratch,straw, etc. from a guy that does home delivery: http://www.backyardchickenrun.com/bcr/Welcome.html

He is also the only source (that I know) of organic chicken feed at reasonable prices.

Todd Allen said:

Ginger most definitely turned out to be a rooster.  We were contemplating just such a solution and had renamed him Ginger Baker, but the store we got our chicks from, Belmont Feed & Seed, offered to exchange two 5 week old pullets, another easter egger and a golden laced wyandotte for our 4 month old rooster.

Duppie said:

If Ginger turns out to be a rooster, a live butcher (I know there is one on Lawrence near the river) will turn Ginger into a nice fryer for around 2 bucks.

Permalink Reply by Todd Allen on June 21, 2011 at 7:32am

It seems chickens have become a significant portion of Belmont Feed & Seed's business.  They carry an organic feed line, Nature's Grown.  I think the grower was $22 for 50 lbs and the layer was $23 for 50 lbs.  I don't have anything to compare it too price or quality wise, but my impression is it's only fair in quality as it contains some chaff/stem bits, etc. and the chickens don't eat it all, leaving perhaps 10% behind in the bottom of the feeder or scattered on the ground.

Duppie said:

I'm glad to see that Belmont feed jumped into the urban chicken market. When we started with our chickens they were mainly focused on racing pigeons and had a limited selection of chicken related goods.

 

We now get our feed, scratch,straw, etc. from a guy that does home delivery: http://www.backyardchickenrun.com/bcr/Welcome.html

He is also the only source (that I know) of organic chicken feed at reasonable prices.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 22, 2011 at 7:49am

By request, here are some recent pictures:

 

Hydrangea. It is supposed to be blue, but only a few flowers are blue, despite mulitple applications of sulfur to make the soil more acid. Beautiful neverthelessA closeup from a rose. Some unknown old English variety. They smell very niceRed tiger lily. Anne Alt has one of their off-shoots now

Perennial hollyhock.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 23, 2011 at 5:01am

Here's what the vegetable beds looked like this morning. They are going gangbusters

Duppie said:

Finally got around to take some pictures.

Three vegetable beds. Bottom left: Pole beans, peas, onions, and garlic. Top left: pattipan squash, lettuces (gone), radishes, spinach (gone), soon more radish, cilantro, and parsley.

 

Large bed: Tomatoes (roma, yugo, and cherry), shallots, and my personal favorite: celeriac. Can't wait to make split pea soup with it this winter.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 23, 2011 at 5:17am

Some more pictures.

 

Blazing Prairiestar (but we call it Muppet fur)

 

 

Echinacea

 

Hibiscus. Started blooming on Thursday, but got beaten up by the rain over the last 24 hours. It has tons of flowers that are up to a foot wide and last for a few days each. I will take a better picture once the plant has recovered a bit.

We bought it years ago on a whim, but it seems to survive well in Chicago winters. I am thinking of splitting it for next year, so if you are interested, let me know. It's about 6 feet tall and works best against a fence, so you can tie it together and prevent it from flopping over.

 

 

Butterfly bush

 

Daisies. They are finished for the season.

 

Spiderwort. Each flower only lasts one morning and is gone by mid-afternoon. They are finished for the season.

 

And a little bonus for the hostas aficionados ;)

 

Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 23, 2011 at 12:10pm

Nice. Later in the summer we don't have much red (besides the hibiscus). I may have to look at that for next year.

 

Is that basil in the background? The stories about your many basil plants (and subsequent pesto) made us plant a lot of basil plants this year. So far we got about a quart of pesto, plus daily use out of it.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 24, 2011 at 3:56pm

H3 thanks. Our garden is completely full for this year. But if you have a few seeds left over, I'll gladly take a few for next year.

Permalink Reply by Anne B. on July 25, 2011 at 6:18am

I'll post more pictures another day but for now gotta show off my edamame that are doing surprisingly well - pods form along the stem so they were hidden by the foliage for some time and I just noticed them yesterday- so cute and fuzzy! Plants are about 3 feet tall now and quite attractive. I don't know if they go on producing/living well after the initial harvest- anyone have info on this?

 

 

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