Hanging with the Chickens

So, here is a quick “Chicken Garden” update. I have been checking on the garden about once a week now and bringing the chickens some scrap food as good-will offerings. As the summer melds into fall, the plants show signs of winding down too.

First of all, I would like to note the invasion of a- what? A regular cucumber variety?!

Yes – I must admit that I grew the regular Marketmore 76 cucumber variety to see what it tastes like. It’s quite good and grows very straight. I find the taste to be much better than today’s supermarket varieties. Now that I have taken a sidetrack, let me return to the most important topic at hand.

The spotted Carosello I mentioned earlier is in fact the Carosello Scopatizzo Barese.

It is a very nice green color that is somewhere between the light and the dark green Carosello varieties.

Along with this variety, I am also growing the Carosello Spuredda Tarantino. This variety is doing alright, through the plant is starting to wear down.

Finally, my dark Carosello Spuredda Leccese that I mentioned in my last post is fattening up while the Spuredda Leccese from my friend Angelo turned out to have some light splotching which I have never seen on a Spuredda Leccese. I would like to see if I can keep seeds of the regular Spuredda Leccese for next year. As mentioned in my second Chicken garden post, all three varieties that I put in this garden were all supposed to be the regular dark Spuredda Leccese. Unfortunately, either because of crossing between plants or a careless mixing of multiple varieties, what I grew in this garden turned out to be quite different from just a dark Leccese carosello.

As one final note, I thought that for those of you carosello fans, you might want to check out my latest post about the chicken garden – kind of a summary of what I just talked about, plus a look at a leftover Meloncella Fasciata and at the chickens themselves.