Ducks and strawberries

Do ducks and strawberries mix - I should say so.

I have decided that growing strawberries in the ground isn't a wise move as the ducks seem to live them so much, so I have transplanted some into a discarded wheelbarrow. Some people throw away the strangest things, but we saw its potential. What I didn't appreciate was quite how tall some of the ducks are, and they can still reach.

I think these may be what is known as a sacrificial crop!

I have a contingency and have filled the bath with a mixture of manure and soil with a layer of duck bedding at the bottom, and planted 25 strawberry plants. No, not the bath at home, the one on the allotment, although it has given me an idea for more space as Nick always has showers, I am sure he wouldn't notice.

The Gate

Having struggles for the last year with a pallet propped up against the hole in the fence into 53, Nick has made it into a gate.

It is a rather wonderful gate, of the type seen regularly in Norfolk.

The new greenhouse and update from the allotment and the kitchen

The new greenhouse is up and secured. The beds are being built on either side and the staging is in place at the end.

Not wishing to miss an opportunity to get sowing I have been filling the shelves on the staging with pots and trays with seeds. So far we have: Broccoli, Chard, Calabrese, Kale, Savoy Cabbage, Cauliflower, Leeks, Rocket, Spinach, Chives, Sweetcorn, Courgettes, Basil, Sunflowers, Lettuce and a tub of peas. This is in addition to the Peas, Salad leaves, Beetroot, Potatoes, Broad Beans, Carrotts and Artichokes that I have in the first greenhouse. The small greenhouse with the plastic cover has three Tesco canvas shopping bags planted up with potatoes, three tubs of Jerusalem artichokes, 8 tubs with Canna lillies and some sweet peas. And you thought I spent all my time at the allotment drinking tea and watching ducks.


There is not a lot happening in the ground at the moment as there is still the risk of frost but here is a long shot from the top of 52 showing the three greenhouses, the bean sticks that I have put in place and the globe artichokes. Talking of which, one has globes already which is a great surprise.






I am not sure how but I seem to have two different varieties of globe artichoke, one that is in flower and one with very silver leaves. It will be interesting to see how they develop as the months go on.








Looking back the other way, I have covered one bed to try to warm the soil. I have sown some carrots, beetroot and fennel as well as putting a row of onions in. As soon as the weather warms up I will remove the cover so that they can get the rain as it is not easy crawling in to water.






We seem to be averaging 6 or 7 eggs per day from the girls and I am just about keeping up with using them, although we have given away or sold quite a few. It is interesting how many people have never eaten duck eggs but reluctantly give them a try. They all come back with comments on how delicious they are and I think we are going to have some regular customers. One day this week we were shocked to find 10 eggs. I am inclined to belive that we may have missed a couple the day before as they have a habit of burying them in the bedding.



I am sure you have missed recipes from the allotment so here is the latest and the one that I find uses the most eggs.

Leek, brocolli and goats cheese quiche

- Line a quiche tin with pastry
- Lightly boil the leeks (having removed all mud and slugs) and brocolli (removing the wrapping as we have to buy it after the rabbits ate all ours)
- Tip them all into pastry case
- Beat four duck eggs and pour over the leeks and brocolli
- Add blobs of goats cheese
- Bake in the oven until brown and the eggs completely cooked
- Eat with home made chutney





I have decided that it is time for the bottles to come out. I have a couple of trays of little gem lettuce that need planting out so the first role of the bottles is mini-greenhouses.

Do ducks make good pets

A quote from www.duckeggs.com

Ducks make great pets. I think they're the best kept secret of the pet world. Many people call them the "dogs" of the bird world because they are smarter than many birds and are loyal. When they imprint on you, they will follow you around just like they would their mother.

And then there were 11

Last weekend was the poultry auction in Salisbury and we made the mistake of going. I have always wanted a white duck and there were listed a few runners including three white females, so we went along - we now have Jemima and Jessica.

Jessica has taken a while to settle and seemed to be pining for a couple of days as she would stand and stare into space, but has settled down now.

She is a bit of a loner still and a bit of a perfectionist in her appearance. She is careful not to get muddy and spends ages preening herself.












Jemima on the other hand is a real mud-bunny. If there is any mud she will be digging in it so here is a picture of her at the auction before we brought her home.

The only difference between them is that Jemima has a black line on her beak and Jesica has slightly more orange feet.



Now, I hear you say, seven ducks plus Jessica and Jemima only makes none. Well, a slight problem at the auction was that we couldn't agree on which white ducks to get as I loved the Indian Runners but we had discussed having a couple of Campbell's as a contingency for the winter as they generally lay all year round. There were three lots of two female White Campbell's so.......






Daisy and Maisy

Maisy is in the front with the pinker beak. They look down their beaks a bit at the Runners and can't understand why they are so scatty and have to run everywhere, but they soon learned that they know the best spots to forage and where to lay your eggs.


One of the problems we have now is that we are averaging between 5 and 8 eggs a day but they look so lovely as there are so many shades of duck egg blue and white. The Campbell's lay slightly smaller eggs as are very white compared to the others.




Now for the allotment. Everything is slowing down with the cold weather. The greenhouse if full to bursting with seeds started off, including some carrots in pots, a couple of tubs of early potatoes and salad leaves. So, when we were helping at the allotment shop at Old Basing last week, and I spotted a sign saying greenhouse available, there was no alternative but to ring.

We are putting it on the area still covered with black plastic on 51 so the two greenhouses will face each other.

We have got the frame up and hope to have the glass in by the end of the week.

We have spent the last two days helping Matthew and Rebecca move from Wimbledon to Tonbridge (including a lorry load of plants) and it was lovely to see them in their new home, but back to the reality of greenhouse building tomorrow.

A nice warm bath for Apple

We have been worried about Apple over the weekend as she is very heavy looking and lying down a lot which is a sign of discomfort.

I was so worried yesterday that I decided that she was egg bound and action was needed. So as I am sure you will know, the best cure for most things is a nice warm bath. We brought her home in her box and ran her a nice warm bath. We gave her a rubber duck to play with but, after a couple of poos in the bath she didn't seem too keen on playing. We dried her off, oiled her vent and settled her down in her box for the night.

This morning, there was a lovely blue egg in the box and she looked so much happier.


She was a bit frightened of the flash so here is another one in subdued lighting.

Who's for a nice tasty worm

Since we took over 53 we have had a tarpaulin over an area of the ground and this is where we have stored our wood and wire, but this weekend I decided it was time to see what was going on underneath. All the weeds and grass had disappeared and there was lovely dry soil which dug beautifully. This is going to be a potatoe bed.

What I didn't realise was that as I was digging I was bringing the worms to the surface. It was like kids in a sweet shop for the ducks and the robin. All dived in and anything that moved was eaten. They don't seem to understand that worms are beneficial to the ground, all they know is how tasty they are.





Florence and the robin come face to face for a showdown over a particularly juicy worm.

Blue bins and wooden boxes

I should have shown you the blue bins just in case your don't know what I am talking about. As the weeks go on they will positioned at strategic points around the allotment. A prize will be awarded to the person who can spot them all once they are in position.



As well as the haul from Malcolm, Ted appeared with some wooden boxes that his daughter had given him. He wanted to know if I could make use of them. This is like asking a Chinaman if he eats rice. Well here they are outside the greenhouse. I am going to half fill with well rotted manure, top up with general purpose compost and sow some early mixed salad leaves. In the greenhouse they should crop within 4-6 weeks.

A lucky find

Last weekend Ted came over and told us that Malcolm was giving up his allotment as he was moving away and had said that we could have the blue water bins that he had on his allotment. I trotted along behind him to Malcolm's plot to find that there was also al area at the back where he had stored various pots, pieces of wook etc, to find that anying in that area he was leaving behind so we could help ourselves. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I ran back to tell Nick the good news. As always the sceptic he expected a load of rubbish but it was like finding hidden treasure. As well as a load of blue bins (valuable in times of hot weather when you don't want to walk far with a watering can) there was a hidden hoard of wood and metal strips.

This was the find of the year so far. After standing them to dry we stored them in the roof of the shed until we can plan projects for them. They should be ideal for raised beds or new compost bins (you can never have enough compost bin)


Picture to follow