A Cheap Fall Garden -- Advice Needed

[LetsBeSelfSufficient]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to start a cheap fall garden. Does anyone have any advice on how to go about this? I live in zone 8, and I have backyard chickens that gobble up whatever they can.

Since I have chickens, do I need to build a raised bed and put some chicken wire around it? I'm trying to use as little as possible, since I don't have a lot of money.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[Wifezilla]

Since I have chickens, do I need to build a raised bed and put some chicken wire around it?

You are going to need to use something to keep them out of your crops. It doesn't have to be chicken wire. I use deer netting to keep the hawks from eating my ducks, but it also works to keep them out of the tomatoes.

As for raising the bed, if you don't have materials, just worry about keeping the chickens out for now.

You may be able to scrounge some useful materials off of the free section of craigslist of a freecycle posting.

Some of my duck pen was built with freecycle stuff.

 

[hwillm1977]

I use the deer netting too to keep the chickens (and deer) out of the garden. It was only about $20 for 100 feet X 7 feet of it.

The most expensive part for me getting started was filling the beds with nice soil (our soil sucks), so I've been building a few beds every year and gradually building up a half decent sized garden. (I'm up to 8 large beds now). If your native soil is okay there's no need to build raised beds.

I can't help out with the zone stuff, I'm in zone 4 so I'm guessing we'd be growing very different things in our fall gardens Mine will probably be buried under snow by October... lol

 

[Wifezilla]

We can count on a freak snow storm around Halloween and then it is mild and nice for quite some time. If you can cover your stuff during the freak storm, you can keep growing for quite a while around here. Colorado is so weird! LOL

Do you have room for a clothes line? Run a line and drape deer netting over it then secure the bottom with rocks. Instant chicken resistant garden

 

[LetsBeSelfSufficient]

Thanks, guys! I love the deer netting idea. Chicken wire is really expensive at our local hardware store, so this seems like a way better option!

 

[TanksHill]

If you live in an area where people keep horses and cows look for free manure/compost adds. This spring I have brought in 4 pickup truck loads. In some areas I just piled it up and put in seeds. Fill any kind of tub/ container with manure you can get your hands on. Then add seeds.

I am not to good with zones either. The only time my chickens get in the garden is when there is fresh turned soil. They are notorious for scrambling freshly planted seeds. I use bird netting to cover the containers until the plants grow.

Good luck,

gina

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

yep Craigslist is great for free or cheap compost. lots of folks even have skid loaders and will dump it in the truck for you. one of the guys charges a little for gas and such but he really loads us up. he said someone came in a car once with a bunch of 5 gallon buckets and a shovel. he loaded as much as he could fill in the buckets and drove away happy.

at first i laughed at what a goof but you have to admire that "can do" spirit! no truck, no problem!

also, Ed Hume has a great line of "short season" seeds.. he's from the northwest but i've ordered his seeds trying to get the last few plants in before the frost.

also if you can find free windows and such you can make little lean to green houses to extend the season. if you scroll down to the bottom of this post you can see how i hillbillied a couple up - it totally worked and saved those little plants from the frost. on a cold nite i would lay a blanket
over the whole shootin' match for extra protection:
http://adventuresinthegoodland.blogspot.com/2010/04/farm-notes-and-return-of-king-i-mean.html

good luck!

 

[Farmfresh]

Since I have chickens, do I need to build a raised bed and put some chicken wire around it? I'm trying to use as little as possible, since I don't have a lot of money.

Or maybe keep the chickens IN the garden!!

I actually fence my hens INTO my small backyard garden space in the winter months after my crops are done. I don't even bother to clean out the old plants. I just pull my coop up to the garden spot. Throw in a bale or two of straw (we get a lot of snow around here) and let the hens go to work.

By planting time next spring when I move them out the whole garden looks like it has been tilled! All of the straw and plant matter are finely chopped and composted with the hen poo, weed seeds are eaten, bugs are destroyed and I am ready to just dig holes and plant. I usually don't even till!

 

[Farmfresh]

double tap

 

[Homemaker]

Since I have chickens, do I need to build a raised bed and put some chicken wire around it? I'm trying to use as little as possible, since I don't have a lot of money.

Or maybe keep the chickens IN the garden!!

I actually fence my hens INTO my small backyard garden space in the winter months after my crops are done. I don't even bother to clean out the old plants. I just pull my coop up to the garden spot. Throw in a bale or two of straw (we get a lot of snow around here) and let the hens go to work.

By planting time next spring when I move them out the whole garden looks like it has been tilled! All of the straw and plant matter are finely chopped and composted with the hen poo, weed seeds are eaten, bugs are destroyed and I am ready to just dig holes and plant. I usually don't even till!

Oh, I love this idea. Now I just need some hens.