Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Dcoda" <dcoda@volcommunity.org>]

Harvey wrote:
> There are a couple of domestic fowl that are compatible with a garden.
> Geese have been used as weeders for certain crops, and guineas are
> excellent for insect control. Emphasis on "for certain crops"--there are
> crops either species wouldn't work well with.
>
> I use guineas to control squash bug in my winter squash patch. Works
great.
>
D'Coda here, with a few words about guineas. First, I adore them. Second,
predators have thinned a flock of 30 birds down to just two males. Third, I
won't be replacing them. Yes, they are great with insects and they help a
LOT with snakes. However, they do a lot of damage in the garden. They eat
tomatoes, strawberries, spinach, kale, sometimes young onions, comfrey,
alfalfa, red clover (I grow it for medicinal use), they will sometimes dig
into melons. If you have seed beds that are (temporarily) free of mulch,
they'll use them for dust baths. They also eat the lizards I depend on for
insect control in the garden.

My birds would watch me in the garden and if they saw me handle a plant,
they figured it must be food and would sample it...unfortunately, most of
the garden plants were delicious to them.

D'Coda
www.ozarkseedexchange.com
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