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Beekissed said:

Yeah...mulch is a good place for bugs to hide. But, beneficial predators love to hide there as well. Snakes, frogs, newts, etc. all love to live there too.

You might want to get a duck or two....they LOVE pill bugs!

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No ducks in this tiny yard, haha

Mary

Awwwww, Miss Mary, they don't need much space....and they are eating bugs constantly. Every few steps...gobble, gobble, gobble!



Their test of true worth will come much later, when the squash bugs, Jap Beetles, and horn worms arrive. Right now, I haven't seen a single slug all season, which is a triumph!!!

Beekissed said:

Awwwww, Miss Mary, they don't need much space....and they are eating bugs constantly. Every few steps...gobble, gobble, gobble!

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Their test of true worth will come much later, when the squash bugs, Jap Beetles, and horn worms arrive. Right now, I haven't seen a single slug all season, which is a triumph!!!

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and ... after all this is said and done, Orange glazed duck for Christmas dinner.

bobm said:

and ... after all this is said and done, Orange glazed duck for Christmas dinner.

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Definitely excess males will find a place on the menu. Don't know if I would glaze it with orange...fruit on meat just doesn't sound appetizing to me, for some reason. Coat it with hot pepper jam? Now, that sounds GOOD!

Bee, do ducks eat everything like chickens do?

Mary

ninnymary said:

Bee, do ducks eat everything like chickens do?

Mary

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Nope! They walk right by my tender lettuces and greens, sifting through the mulch there and eating up bugs to be found there. Their feet can trample tender seedlings, so it's best to guard those until they are big enough to take getting stepped on now and again...I've learned not to plant seedlings along the fence as they tend to pace the fence line at times.

I have seen them picking off some clover I've left in the pathways of the garden, so they do eat greens....just haven't eaten any of my plants yet. They say they will nibble squash leaves at times...but only to nibble off the squash bug eggs they find under the leaves.

Many organic growers are utilizing ducks in their farming and gardening setups now, as a natural way of removing pest bugs and slugs.






I've read articles and seen vids of folks who tried ducks and reported plant damage....but one has to remember stocking numbers and available feed when utilizing animals for such as this. Most of the folks who reported damage used too many ducks, too heavy of breeds, didn't utilize mulch cover on their soils which will create a soft cushion for all parties concerned...the plant and the duck, and likely didn't also leave feed available, so the ducks were foraging on their plants along with finding insects.

Keep stocking numbers low in a small garden...I've only got two ducks in my garden and that's aplenty for a garden my size. When the other ducklings get big enough, I'll try to rotate them through, still keeping a stocking number of 2 each time so they will have a "flock".

Or, if the rest of the flock won't integrate well with the garden ducks, then they will remain the garden ducks during gardening season and only integrate in the late fall when they will no longer be as needed in the garden.

The garden seems to be doing well, for the most part. The raspberries aren't doing as well as last year, but the strawberries seem to be producing well enough. One of the transplanted rhubarb plants is struggling to survive but the others are doing very well, so I have hope there.

No cut worms yet attacking the peppers and broccoli like they did last year. I expect that's due to the hungry predators roaming through the garden...they seem to be consuming quite a bit of bugs while they forage.

The corn's coming up, but seems to have germinated, and is growing, unevenly, though planted exactly the same in evenly fertilized soil. Can't wait until it's big enough to hill up and plant the squash within it, as well as more beans.

The spuds seem to be doing well...no excessive top growth like last year's over nourished spuds. Just normal, which is good.

The mulch is holding well and weeds are easy to spot and removed just as easily. Not much of that going on due to the mulch layer.

I still need to build tomato trellising there.

I let the garden ducks out of the garden this morning...until I get more pest bugs in there for them to forage, they will join the flock out on pasture. They had eaten all the available tender greens ~odd bits of clover and the overgrown and gone to seed lettuce~they could but since there are no weeds in this garden, they finally were forced to nibble some pepper and broccoli seedlings to get some greens.

I'll put a couple of ducks back in the garden after everything is bigger and pest bugs start to show up. For now, I've not seen a bug or slug in the garden all spring, which is pretty cool indeed. When the squash bugs and beetles show up, I'll let loose the ducks of wrath upon them.

Just ducky joy expressed by ducks finally set free on the land!!! I could just hear the hallelujahs shouted in their feathery minds!

Tied up some tomatoes today, also some sunflowers. Will remove the fencing around the corn patch and till up the lettuce bed to reseed it to bok choi, chard, turnips and green onions.

Greens are up, garden is lush and growing quickly with all this daily rain. The rhubarb is the best rhubarb I've ever grown....huge, long and juicy stalks~that I can't pick and eat this first year! Have to leave them be so the roots can develop. Hard to do. Seems like this slightly raised bed situation with some heavy feeding has done the trick. Keeps them out of the heavy clay soils in all this rain, allows drainage, but still will keep them moist enough when the weather dries out.

Maters are looking good, growing fast and thick, nice big bloom showing up on the old types and tomatoes on the hybrids. Squash starting to put out little ones, will soon be covered over with yellow squash, I imagine.

Cukes are looking good in some places, waterlogged and spindly in others. Broccoli looks lush and lovely, peppers are perking up and I had to pick some of the banana peppers off so the plants could grow bigger.

Spud vines are laid over but not yet dying off...reasonable size on the tops this year, so I have hopes for the taters below.

Asparagus is so-so....not sure what it's supposed to look like this first year, so am just waiting to see what happens there. Flowers are perking up and looking well. Volunteer cherry tomatoes are doing well...I'm allowing two of them to stick around.

So far, the rain isn't hurting us...could be due to the hay working as a sponge to keep moisture more evenly distributed and keeping the roots more dry than they normally would be in this clay based soil. Beans are spotty in their growth, not sure what that means.

Good garden thus far. I'm thanking the good Lord for it each day!

Wonderful to hear your garden is doing well. Can’t wait to hear how it compares to last year or other years at the end of the season.

Figured by now everything that you’ve been adding to the soil
has broken down and you should start seeing results?

Mary