New to goats and SO excited!

[Baymule]

http://www.backyardherds.com/thread...heep-goats-or-chase-bears-hawk-post-26.23771/

 

[Devonviolet]

http://www.backyardherds.com/thread...heep-goats-or-chase-bears-hawk-post-26.23771/

Thanks for the link, Baymule! I just went and read the whole thread. What an awesome story! I just hope I can be as good an LGD mommy as you are!

 

[Baymule]

Here's a pic of a pile of sweet potato vines I pulled, then put in the coop. The hens ate some of the leaves and composted the rest. This is the EASY way to make compost! Also in this picture you can see the stairs that go up to the little roost (first one I built). The stair riser came off the reject rack at Lowes. I nailed the steps to the side of the coop.

 

[Devonviolet]

Here's a pic of a pile of sweet potato vines I pulled, then put in the coop. The hens ate some of the leaves and composted the rest. This is the EASY way to make compost! Also in this picture you can see the stairs that go up to the little roost (first one I built). The stair riser came off the reject rack at Lowes. I nailed the steps to the side of the coop.

View attachment 5959

Thanks for the pic, Baymule! Let's me see the inside of your coop. That was cool that you were able to get the stair stringer.

LOVE Sweet Potatoes. We grew them in PA, but couldn't have a garden this year because of the move. Next summer we are going to plant a BOAT LOAD of them!

 

[Baymule]

This year my sweet potato crop was a bust. I planted orange sweets and a purple sweet potato. I took 4 cuttings from the purple sweets the day before a killing freeze, so will have slips for spring. I will share some with you! I made a casserole for Thanksgiving, it was so pretty!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That is so cool! I didn't even know there were purple sweet potatoes...

I've only planted sweets one time - they grew beautifully! Dang near took over the whole garden and had big, beautiful tubers. But every stinking one of them had some kind of skinny, wire-y worm in 'em. Chickens ate good that year...

 

[Devonviolet]

This year my sweet potato crop was a bust. I planted orange sweets and a purple sweet potato. I took 4 cuttings from the purple sweets the day before a killing freeze, so will have slips for spring. I will share some with you! I made a casserole for Thanksgiving, it was so pretty!
View attachment 5961

Ooohhh! Your casserole does look pretty.

We just bought some purple sweet potatoes at Natural Geocer this afternoon. WooHoo! You'll really share slips with me? That's awesome. How many slips do you plan to get from four cuttings?

 

[Devonviolet]

That is so cool! I didn't even know there were purple sweet potatoes...

I've only planted sweets one time - they grew beautifully! Dang near took over the whole garden and had big, beautiful tubers. But every stinking one of them had some kind of skinny, wire-y worm in 'em. Chickens ate good that year...

We are planning to get Guineas to keep our bug population down. They eat the bugs, in the vegetable garden, without destroying the veggies, leaves and scratching up the plants. I have never had them before, but from what I read they are great at getting most, if not all the bugs that destroy vegetable gardens. I wonder if they get those wirey bugs that got your sweets? I sure hope so, 'cause I am planning on having lots of sweets!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Actually, I have guineas. And while they are great at eating lots of bugs mine didn't really do much for my biggest garden pest - the stinkin' stink bug. Not sure if they would help with the wire worms either since I never saw them above ground until I dug 'em out with the potatoes...ugh.

I may try the potatoes again in a new spot and see if I'm any luckier!

 

[Devonviolet]

Actually, I have guineas. And while they are great at eating lots of bugs mine didn't really do much for my biggest garden pest - the stinkin' stink bug. Not sure if they would help with the wire worms either since I never saw them above ground until I dug 'em out with the potatoes...ugh.

I may try the potatoes again in a new spot and see if I'm any luckier!

I have only grown sweet potatoes in Northern climates, and didn't grow them when I lived in NW Fort Worth., so don't have experience with wire worms. I looked them up and found that they are very difficult to eradicate. It seems some large scale potatoe farmers still rely on toxic chemicals to keep wire worms at bay.

I looked up natural/organic ways to eradicate wire worms and found the following comment in a gardening forum, which suggests using granulated molasses and ground coffee. I'm not sure of the cost or availability of either, but thought I would share the link in case you want to give it a try.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg021806324734.html