Chickens and the clover patch

My small back yard lawn/pasture has taken hold. It is a mix of grass and clover, with a few various weeds. It took a while for the clover and the grass to get going and I kept the chickens out of the area until it was well enough established to bounce back from their foraging. The area is a small island of green in a mostly bare spot that used to hold a big pile of dead ivy that I'd pulled from the huge amounts of ivy growing in the back yard. Once the ivy pile was truly dead, I used it as a cover for cardboard and newspaper that I used to cover other areas of ivy. The newspaper and cardboard over ivy approached worked quite well. Cutting, pulling, and digging ivy is quite a chore. And with that area bare I decided a small, green meadow/pasture/lawn type space would be nice. And it is nice.
I moved the chicken fencing to allow them access to a portion of the clover lawn/pasture. They moved in to explore and have been eating the clover and grass. I bring them treats from the garden, fallen peaches, seed spikes from salvias - which they peck and scratch at to get to the black seeds, and sometimes a tomato hornworm or a cricket. Egg production has slowed some with the onset of hotter weather.

Rooster in the clover lawn/pasture

The clover has begun flowering and attracts bees and even hummingbirds. The clover takes well to mowing and grows very quickly after. It is fixing nitrogen in a spot that seemed depleted when we got the place, and it is serving wildlife, livestock, and the humans in this system well.

A guild of sorts

This selection of plants happened to come together in a rather unplanned way. Leeks, chard, borage, fig, parsley, clover, and alpine strawberries. I also grew daikon and fava beans as cover crops. I feel like something is missing from this guild, but I am not sure what it is. This area is located near the oaks and the plants benefit from the oak leaves. I usually don't dig the leeks when I harvest them, rather I cut the below the soil line and they do grow back from the roots. Borage is a mineral accumulator and bees love the blossoms, which are edible, as are the leaves. I think maybe it needs nasturtium or perhaps a melon for the summer. Something to cover the ground after the daikon, fava, and borage are cut. I don't want too much clover since it is known to attract gophers (they also love fig roots and alium roots too).
I loved looking at this planting progress through the fall and winter
Here is a photo of the same spot in November 2008. Note the droopy chard plant, fungi, very small borage plants, lots of blossoms on the alpine strawberries.

Warm April Day Pictures

A few 80+ degree days have finally arrived and the garden is starting to explode in growth and flowers. The bees are still loving all the borage and now they have the neighbor's mature orange tree to visit (the smell is magical) along with salvia officinalis, lots of daikon is still blooming, lots of calendula too. I've harvested some artichokes and fennel bulbs that I steamed and ate and shared with friends. Some of the leeks are starting to form flower heads, the arugula barely had a chance before it bolted, but I managed to have a few salads with it before they bloomed. Some of the red chard is starting to push up flower stalks. Apricots are filling out and I've been thinning the tiny peach fruits on the white peach tree. Strawberries are just starting to ripen, and I have been forced to share most of them with pill bugs and slugs so far. Melon seeds are germinating in the ground and in pots, as are winter pie pumpkins. Here are some photos of various things from today, which is called Earth Day. Why have a special day? Everyday should be Earth Day.

Fennel blossom (yellow) and borage (blue)

Carrot Blossom


California Poppies


Artichoke - ready to pick

Bees & Butterflies with Alliums

Ishikura scallions blooming. The scallions overwintered and grew thick, similar to leeks, but the green portion of the plant has a good onion flavor.
Bees and butterflies are always visiting these flowers.
I'll save the seed heads and disperse them with the autumn rains.
These seeds came from Turtle Tree Biodynamic seeds. They are a non-profit seed company based in NY.