Chicken boarders

[Tutti Frutti]

Just wondering so I can try to put some greenery back in my garden with a hope of staying safe from the girls' attention!

 

So far, they've demolished my lavender, rosemary and... box hedging!!! aggh sob sob They're now all hospitalised on the decking in the hope that they might recover

 

But the Rhododendrons, ivy and variegated euonymus have come through pretty much unscathed - the euonymus in particular so I might buy some more to put into my decimated pots (can't remember if it's a poisonous plant - and if the sap is nasty too, IIRC?? Happy to be corrected! But maybe not one for a family garden)

 

Does anyone have any other tips please of plants to avoid and choo-proof plants to choose for my tubs please? Thanks!

Edited March 28, 2010 by Guest

[Laura & CTB]

Well chickens being the fickle creatures they are I have to say that lavander and rosemary are the only things I can grow without them being demolished

 

Oh and I have a bay tree they dont touch.

 

I'd love some other ideas too - always worth a try!!

[beulah59]

They've never touched my bay ...

 

I wonder how they'll react to the gooseberry bush that's in their garden as it comes into leaf (they didn't have that part of the garden when it had fruit on last year)?

 

I understand they don't bother with bamboo, either.

[chelsea]

We have quite a tropical garden and they don't touch any of our green plants:

 

Bamboo, tree ferns, ferns, banana tree, palms (date palm and fortunei), phormeums, cordalines, hostas, acers, ecalyptus, various grasses.

 

They will eat any tub/patio flowers though, so I usually stick to hanging baskets.

[BarbaraJ]

they don't touch laurel

[emchook]

My gooseberry bush came through unscathed last year ! But that may be due to the fact that my chooks dont look up much .. all you see is their little bottoms in the air as they FR

[mabelandflosmum]

Mine don't touch the roses or cordylines or most evergreen shrubs with waxy leaves.

I also have some lovely hydrangeas that remain unscathed!

Any pretty flowers have to be in hanging baskets!

[mabelandflosmum]

Oh just remembered I have some lilies in pots that they don't eat but the soil has to be covered with pebbles or they get up on the pot and dig it out

[Tutti Frutti]

Oh just remembered I have some lilies in pots that they don't eat but the soil has to be covered with pebbles or they get up on the pot and dig it out

 

Little beggars! Explains why I have crocus bulbs everywhere - except in the pots

[Olly]

Lavender and rosemary survive in my garden, too! the only things they eat generally are tender green stuff like tomato leaves, rhubarb, my onion sets *sniff* - they don't seem to bother with established shrubs.

 

The worst damage is the scratching, especially on my pots. I've covered all my large pots with a layer of slate chippings, which helps a bit.

[Valkyrie]

The daffs are fine - might get a little raggedy at the tips because of scratching, but the flowers come out fine. Snowdrops are fine, but can be scratched around. Buddleia, wiegela. kerria, lilac, peonies, roses, spirea - they are fine here. But I have noticed somebody munches the choisya and watch out fuchsias - they'll strip them in no time. Cyclamen is fine too.

[Janty]

Mine eat everything including the rhubarb which is supposed to be poisonous.

 

[Valkyrie]

Oh dear I seem to have got stuck in "fine" mode - apologies! I can't see any rhubarb - except for the flower stalk that I had to break off last year - either the shoots have been eaten or it just didn't survive the winter.