Tilling around chickens

Due to all the mayhem lately, very little has been done in the garden.  The lasagna method of soil preparation seems to have REALLY worked well.  However, for those interested in trying it, I do have a few suggestions.

• Horse manure is great - there are far less weed seeds than cow manure.  The areas with cow manure have considerably more weeds than the areas covered with horse manure.
• The manure that you choose, try to find it "fresh."  The manure I used had been composting for a couple of years.  Although it is a great soil additive, it didn't really heat up, which is part of what you're aiming for.  
• The hay on top - use the best you can find.  Usually it will be called "Coastal Bermuda."  Buy a lot in the summer before the prices go up and quantities diminish near Halloween.
• Be sure to spray it down with water if you haven't gotten precipitation for a while.
• Use thick cardboard if you live in a very wet area.  If you live in a dry area, use thinner cardboard.  The wet soil will decompose the cardboard faster, so obviously the wetter places can get away with thicker stuff.

Now that it is nearly Spring, it's time to rototill all of this back into the ground.  Problem is, there are chickens in the garden.  They're not terribly easy to move, either.  So I'll just have to rototill around them (I'm sure they'll love that).  Actually I will probably lock them inside their coop so they aren't frightened.  With the lasagna method, I shouldn't have to till too deep - probably just around 6-8".  I had put around 6" of horse manure on the soil, then covered it with hay.  It has now settled down to about 3" high, so that will give me a good combination of original soil and manure.

Obviously the most critical areas of the garden are the areas where things need to be planted immediately.  Unfortunately, that's a TON of area.  The entire potato area needs to be tilled by next Tuesday (2/22/11) and the Strawberries will be planted two weeks after that.  The peppers, corn, and tomatoes have a while, so they aren't of immediate concern, but I think it would probably be in the best interest to go ahead and till them since I'm out there.  Since I planted the onions last night, I will have to be very careful tilling around those as well.  

Well, on to the hard work!