By Kathy Gilbert

Staff Writer

Every garden should have chickens.

That's the philosophy of two former Midwesterners, Curt and Suzanne Heibenthal, now living in Red Bank.

Two years ago, the couple built a coop and filled it with black Australorps and blue Cochins.

"My husband was raised on a farm, and I visited my grandparents' farm when I was a girl," Mrs. Heibenthal said, explaining their love of fancy fowl.

The Heibenthals have created a tidy, serene landscape around a deep-blue pool. Most of the plants were chosen to please flying and feathered friends.

"Once in awhile we buy something because it's pretty, but usually we have the birds and butterflies in mind," Mrs. Heibenthal said.

When the couple moved into their Red Bank house about three years ago, they were well supplied with mature trees, including a Japanese maple by the pool and a huge Bradford pear dominating the patio.

A storm took down the pear. A new Kwanzaan cherry rose in its place.

Meanwhile, shrubs were trimmed and flowers added to existing beds. A new flower bed was dug from lawn on the edge of the pool. After hauling 5-gallon buckets of rocks from new beds, the Heibenthals added mulch and composed leaves to the soil.

Birds are everywhere. Under a shady overhang on the porch, parakeets twitter. Button quail nest in the bottom of the parakeets' cage. Native birds dive for dried coneflower heads as butterflies flit among the goldenrod. Chickens roam the sunny lawn area on a slope below the pool.

The chickens eat bugs and grubs, lay eggs and provide quality manure for shrub and flower beds. But there are no roosters, whose cock-a-doodle-dos might waken neighbors.

"I read that chickens are the fastest-growing urban pet," Mrs. Heibenthal said. "But we won't have roosters -- not in the city."

Q&A

Q: How was gardening this year, given the drought?

A: It was a struggle just to keep things alive, let alone try something new.

Q: What plants are doing well?

A: Fireworks goldenrod, Russian sage, Little Joe joe-pye weed, artemesia, Autumn Joy sedum, coneflowers, daylilies, Knock Out roses, clematis jackmanii and Grandpa Ott morning glories.

Q: How did you build your soil?

A: It's been a nightmare. In the Midwest, we had rich, black soil. I had no clue soil could be so hard and clayey and rocky. We put leaves in bags and leave them to decompose, then open and use them in the spring. You can see the difference with these two lilacs. We planted one with amended soil, and the other, farther down the hill, didn't get the same treatment. It is easy to see which one looks healthier.

Q: Tell me about raising garden chickens.

A: We started building the coop, then ordered about a dozen day-old chicks, all purebred. But it kept raining, and the chicks almost grew faster than we could build the coop. We have several kinds -- if you have a small garden, I'd recommend the bantams. They're smaller and not quite as rough on your lawn and garden.

Q: Why do you like chickens?

A: We compost all the manure with wood shavings for about a year. It's too high in nitrogen to use right away. And we like the eggs.

They're mostly brown layers, but Lucy, our Araucana, lays a green egg every day.

E-mail Kathy Gilbert at kgilbert@timesfreepress.com

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