Dung Dilemma

My veggies are not doing as well as they have in years past. It may be due to the chicken manure. Maybe we didn’t let the kitchen garden rest enough after moving the chickens out.

The area of the garden that the chickens started on is rocking. The cabbage, broccoli and dill are ridiculously big.

I’ve actually been pulling the dill around the brassicas to make sure they get enough sunlight. It’s that overgrown. The chickens have enjoyed the treat.

I found a surprise while checking on the amaranth. There were at least 15 volunteer tomatoes hanging out. I pulled 10 and planted them out back.

They were way too close together in the kitchen garden and would suck the life out of all the plants around them.

But the peppers and tomatoes on the opposite end near the deck are not getting much bigger. This section is where the chickens most recently pooped.

We only let it rest for a few weeks whereas the brassica section rested for most of the winter and into Spring.

The plants are still green and look great for the size they are…they just don’t seem to be growing much.

At first I thought that we just had a bad batch of tomatoes and peppers. It’s possible that every single variety we planted was a dud, right?

Then I saw the amaranth.

It’s been a month and the seeds I planted closest to the deck are just now sprouting up. The sprouts look relatively healthy with beautiful red stems.

But the same type of amaranth, planted at the same time, is thriving at the opposite end.

I suppose it could be a volunteer batch from last year that just happened to grow exactly where I planted seeds this year…but I doubt it.

What am I doing to save the underdogs?

Fertilizing.

I’ve used powdered eggshell, some used coffee grounds and epsom salt as soil amendments. Now, for a little extra oomph, my assistant and I are throwing down organic tomato and vegetable fertilizer.

Take that chicken poop.

My garden’s success
Is threatened by chicken poop
Time to fertilize