The Garden Club and Chicken Manure

So at the Baker Drive Social Hour last month one of the ladies on our street informed me that there is an Islands Garden Club. I gave her my information and recieved a follow up email telling me where the meeting is. I feel like I am joining a secret organization, as you have to know someone to know that there is a club - no website, no mailing list, no facebook account. I also envision that these ladies who have lived here all their lives are going to initiate me in some way when I get there. 'Initiate Mandel! When is the proper time to prune an azalea? Fast! Fast! Name three plants that can tolerate shade and acid soils! Weed the entire bed in under six minutes using the proper tool! You're too slow!'. I am sure it wont go exactly like that, but I do think that despite my degree and experience most of these ladies know more about the native plants on our island than I do, and I hope to learn from them. I am getting picked up by my neighbor to attend the meeting 'to save on parking space' but deep down I think that this is in case I do not pass the initiation - surely she will leave me in the marsh to get ravaged by mink and vulture (two of our native species).

I have learned a lot about gardening in our specific location since we bought the house, and am experimenting lately with utilizing the natural things that I have on-site. Pine needles for mulch, food trash for compost, etc - my latest endeavor is chicken manure tea for fertilizer for the shrubs and vegetables. Basically, the chicken manure itself is too nitrogen and other nutrient rich to put directly on the plants, so you dilute the manure (one part manure to three parts water) for a week or so in the sun to dilute it, then you ladel it onto your plants. It is supposed to be some of the best stuff out there for fertilizer. Last weekend I filled up a small container with a little bit of manure and a little bit of water figuring that I'd start small and give it a shot. To my dismay, the container was dumped out the next day (presumably by the chickens). So I tried it again, and this time I set my container on the composter. The next day it was dumped out again. A little frustrated, I went ahead and started a large bucket last night since I was cleaning out the coop. I figured this time there was no way the chickens could knock it over...

This morning Dave let the chickens out, and came in exhasperated and angry. 'You left a whole bucket of chicken **** out there in that bucket and I had to turn it over'. Thanks Dave. Come to found out that my ultra-helpful spouse has been emptying my little experiments thinking that I am just being weird and dirty - which I guess I sort of am - but for good reason. When I informed him that I am making chicken manure tea, he had this weird look on his face like I was going to make him drink it. Now I have to wait another week until the chickens build up more manure.

Next weekend is the semi annual plant swap. I don't have enough plants to swap, so I am going to swap eggs. Our production is up to three a day which is more than we can eat anyways. Can't wait to see what I get!