Lazy gardeners, the easiest way to get your vegetable garden ready for
spring planting is to start your "chicken tractor".

My vegetable garden is 60'by 90'. It is kept a dog free zone by a four
foot tall fence. Each year I manage to talk my teenage son into holding
my dozen or so chickens, while I clip their wings. (Wing clipping does
not hurt them, it is like clipping your nails, they quickly grow back).
Without the wing clipping, those fat girls could easily clear a four foot
fence.

I put up a temporary shelter for them in the garden. To protect my perennial
herb garden, and multiplying onions, I make net teepee's to keep the hens
away. In a weeks time the garden space looks like it has been tilled. A lot
of weed seeds have been devoured, and the soil fertilized as a bonus.
The girls are returned back to their chicken yard, well exercised, and fatter
too. All that is left for me to do is prepare my beds for planting by adding
some compost, and a little more of the abundant fertilizer supplied by the girls.

After the garden is up and producing, the real "mechanical chicken tractor" is
employed. It is a three foot by five foot frame covered with chicken wire, with
two wheels, set low to the ground at one end. A handle at the other end is used
for gently guiding the chicken tractor into place.

This tractor is placed over an area where early veggies have already been
harvested. The chickens are placed inside the tractor frame, where they become
your engine. By moving the frame around slowly, several times daily, the girls
will follow along inside, happily digging for new munchies. This is an economical
way to garden, the only small expense being the tractor frame, which is usable for
many seasons.

As a lazy gardener, I enjoy employing the help of my chickens. They are able earn their
keep in more ways than just their great tasting eggs. In turn all of my vegetable scraps
such as corn cobs, cucumber peelings, and many other scraps are fed to the chickens.
These chemically untreated scraps are a welcome change to their diet.

Gardening is one of my great joys in life. If you are reading articles on this site,
it must be one of yours also.

Here's wishing you "Happy Gardening".

Learn more about this author, Mary Vance.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

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