Growing Greens for your Birds

(originally published in FinchFriends News)

 

Growing your own greens for your birds can be as easy as starting a few seedlings of Lettuce. Meslcun or Mustard Greens in ceramic pots on a sunny porch or take a look at this new EarthBox.

This last year, we started growing our own greens for our birds in pots on our sunny porch. We use 8" ceramic pots with saucers (they retain soil moisture a bit better) available from Plant and Pottery Outlet but any garden center that carries ceramic pots and saucers will work fine. The terra cotta pots dry the soil out a little too quickly for a good crop of greens. 

This is how we do it - we do not have a lot of birds, so it works for us this way. If you keep a lot of birds, you will have to adjust a bit thru trial and error. 

The idea is to plant and grow them in rotation, assuring you a fresh supply all the time. We use 7 pots, and plant each pot a few days after the last one until you have 7 sets of greens growing at one time - all of various ages.  

Then you can "cut 'n come" again (as our seed packets suggest) each day - cut pot#1 today,  and leave it to grow back for another week. Tomorrow take your cuttings from pot#2. The following day, cut from pot#3 and so on....  

We do not use chemical or fertilizers other than well aged organic compost from our compost bin and water as needed. 

Growing your own greens can save you a lot of money, ensure you freshness and takes very little work once you spend the time to set the process in motion. 

We use Renee's Garden seed varieties: The Heirloom Cutting Mix, and Baby Mesclun, "Cut and Come Again" at 2.69/pack. You can order these seed varieties online direct from Renee's via the link above. Each ceramic pot was about $5.00 check your local garden center for availability.

Get growing today! Your birds will thank you!