Want to be an advanced vegetable gardener?

You will be when you know

which vegetables are in which families.
This is crucial info for healthy crop rotation in your garden (and youll be able to
astonish your friends with new vocabulary like cucurbits).
You can memorize all the vegetable familiesor just bookmark this article and
check on it before you plant each season.
Crop rotation sounds like one of those headachey projects involving
graph paper and Number 2 pencils.
Its not so bad.
You dont need graph paper, but you should make a map of your vegetable
garden.
Or pull out a piece of paper, sketch your plantings, and write the year on the
map. Keep the maps where you can find them (inside your Sunset Western
Garden Book?) because youll need 4 to 5 years of records.
The basic rule: Wait 3 years until you replant families in the same
place.
Why? Soil borne diseases build up when similar plants grow in the same
space for more than a year. You dont want to deal with club root, fusarium wilt,
or vertciliium wilt, do you? If you keep moving the plants youll help thwart the
diseases.
Just like any family, not all members of plant families look alike. See which
relatives surprise you the most!

NIGHTSHADES Solanaceous
Tomatoes
Tomatillos
Eggplants
Peppers
Okra (one of those shirt-tail cousins that gets argued aboutsome say its a

Mallow)
Potatoes
MORNING GLORY
Sweet potato

MELONS, SQUASH & CUCUMBERS Cucurbits

Cucumbers
Zucchini & Summer Squash
Watermelon
Musk Melon
Pumpkin
Gourd

GOOSEFOOT Amaranthaceae
Beet
Spinach
Chard
Quinoa
Orach

SUNFLOWER Asteraceae
Sunflower
Jerusalem artichoke
Lettuce (surprised?)

Endive
Artichoke

COLE Brassicas
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Kale
Collards
Radishes
Kohlrabi
Rutabaga
Turnip
Mustard

ONIONS (this ones easy)

Onion
Leeks
Chives
Garlic

PEAS Legumes
Peas

Runner beans
Bush beans
Fava beans
Garbanzo beans
Peanuts

GRASSES
Corn
Millet
Rice
Barley
Wheat
Rye

PARSLEY
Parsley
Carrots
Parsnips (another surprise?)
Celery
Fennel
Cilantro/Coriander
Tricia gives you the big picture on crop rotation and garden planning in our latest
video.
http://www.groworganic.com/organic-gardening/posts/

Getting the Most Out of Your Hen-vestment

The first step in preparing for chicks is deciding what you will be buying. How
many chickens is right for your family is usually based on how many eggs per
week you would like your flock to produce. At the peak of their production, a
healthy hen will lay between 3 and 7 eggs per week. Some breeds lay better
than others, and some individuals are egg producing super stars. The amount of
eggs will increase in the spring and early summer with the increasing daylight,
and decline in autumn and winter.
Next you will need to decide if you will also be raising your chickens for meat. If
so, youll want to be sure to select dual-purpose breeds, which produce large,
meaty birds as well as plenty of eggs. Some favorites are Rhode Island Reds
and Buff Orpingtons.
Finally, youll need to select what egg colors you want to eat. Green eggs are
fun (and dont even need dyed when your hens are producing next Easter!);
come from Easter Eggers or Ameraucanas. Blue Andalusians and Leghorns are
good choices for white eggs. Marans and Welsummers lay chocolate-brown
eggs. Salmon Faverolles lay pink eggs. Barred Rocks and Dominiques are
popular brown egg layers.

Home Sweet Home

Before your chicks arrive, its a good idea to have their new home set up. For
chicks less than 6 weeks old, this means a brooder.
It is easy to set up a brooder for your chicks. You will need to give them 1
square foot each in order to prevent crowding (which can lead to illness and
injuries among the chicks). Your brooder can be anything from a large
cardboard box to a hamster cage or pet kennel to a livestock water trough (a
clean and dry one, of course!). It needs to be situated in a warm and draft-free
location that is safe from predators, including your pet cat.
Inside the brooder, the floor should be lined with wood shavings or similar
materials. Do not use slippery surfaces like newspapers, as this leads to leg
injuries. Your chicks should have regular access to water from a fount
designed for chicks, and 2 of space per chick at the feeder. You can also
provide them a practice perch just above their head level, which most chicks
like to play on and will eventually sleep on.
Perhaps the most important part of the brooder is the heat lamp. You will need
to provide enough heat to keep the area directly under the light 90 to 95F when
measured 2 above the floor. For every week of age, decrease the temperature
by 5 degrees, until you get to 70 to 75 degrees. This is not the same as ambient
temperature, and in fact you should not keep the whole brooder at this
temperature. A range of lower temperatures is important so the chicks can
move to whatever spot is most comfortable for them.
Once your chicks have grown their adult feathers, around 6 weeks of age, they
can move to a coop. If it nighttime temperatures are still falling below 50F, it is
best to provide additional heat until they are a little older but be extremely
careful if using any heat source in a coop! The exact timing for discontinuing
supplemental heat depends on your climate and the size of your chickens. Adult
chickens dont need additional heat, even in very cold climates.
Balanced Nutrition for Healthy Hens
All chicken food is not created equal, and its important to pick the best one for
your flock in order to keep them healthy.
Chicks from 0 to 18 or 20 weeks old should be fed starter/grower crumbles.
These have the correct balance of protein and other nutrients for growing
chickens.

Once your chickens reach 18 to 20 weeks of age, they should be fed layer
pellets. These have somewhat lower protein, and higher calcium to help the hen
make strong eggshells. You can expect your hens to eat about 2lbs of feed per
week during peak laying season.
Grit should be available to chickens of all ages. Birds need this in their diet to
help them digest their food properly. It acts like teeth in their digestive tract, to
grind down their food since they cant chew it themselves.
Oyster shell should also be provided free-choice to laying hens. Make sure you
are using layer-grade oyster shell which is suitable for hens to eat, and not
oyster shell powder for fertilizer.
Chickens love treats (who doesnt?) and chicken scratch is just the thing. Kitchen
scraps are often excellent choices. It is best to avoid feeding them raw eggs or
eggshells, as this can lead to your hens eating the eggs being laid as well. Also
avoid very salty foods, green potatoes, undercooked beans, avocado, chocolate,
cat food, and spoiled foods. Chickens are not fond of citrus, and there is some
debate about whether it is safe for them to eat.
For the happiest hens (and best tasting eggs!), provide your hens some pasture
to forage in. They love eating their greens, and the occasional bug when they
can catch one. If you dont have an area that they can graze, you can bring the
pasture to them by growing Omega 3 Chicken Forage Mix in a seed flat and
giving it to them in their coop yard.
With a little planning, you can raise a healthy, happy backyard flock
this year!