This week's sowings

Inside:

Leek - King Richard

Lettuce - Red Fire, Cos

French Bean - Blauhilde

Broccoli - Rudolph

Sweetcorn - Sundance F1

More Aubergines, as a couple of plants were eaten by mollusc life in the greenhouse!

This week's sowings

Outside

Parsnips Tender and True and Avonresister. I'll make later sowings of the same varieties to see if this makes any difference to carrot root fly attack.

Beetroot Boro to replace earlier row of Boltardy that failed due to drought.

Inside

Squashes Marina di Chioggia, Avalon and Jack be Little.

Lidl's brand Pumpkin and courgette.

Various lettuce 

Leek Caretan

Various saved bean seed that got accidentally soaked. 

More Runner Duck FAQs

My oldest runner ducks turned seven on Saturday, which is quite a good age for them (their father died earlier this year at 8). Amazingly they are still fertile and laying eggs reasonably regularly, if not prolifically, at this age. Which brings me to one of the questions that cropped up in my keyword searches.

How long will an Indian Runner lay eggs?

Well the usual answer is for the first three years, after which there is usually a fairly dramatic fall off in production, but this post has rather disproved this as an absolute rule.

One thing that improved egg production, and probably helps with a laying later in life and overall longevity is good genetic diversity; my birds are a cross between completely unrelated strains. 

Can I mix domestic duck breeds?

Yes, but remember that smaller breeds may be vulnerable to being attacked by larger ones during the breeding season, and can suffer eye injuries as the larger drakes often grip the feathers around the eye area when wrestling. Breeding birds should be segregated for at least a week before collecting hatching eggs to avoid cross-bred young (unless you particularly want them).

Wintering Indian Runners

Actually this is an issue even in the UK, as our older birds really suffered in the unusually cold temperatures of last winter. I think they found the long spell of frozen ground very uncomfortable on their feet and it was very difficult to keep their water from freezing completely, so their feather condition ended up quite poor and their eyes appeared a little sore at times. It didn't help that I was very ill myself at the time. In hindsight I wish I'd put much more straw down in their yard. The only solution for the water was taking a kettle of boiling water down to thaw out a puddle for them.

Keeping Indian Runner pairs

Keeping Indian Runner pairs is fine, although a trio will always be better; should you lose one then the other will still have a companion. 

Ducks discarding eggs in water

Ducks don't necessarily have the same discipline as hens when it comes to laying in nest boxes or inside their house at all. Quite often they can be discarded almost anywhere in the excitement of morning bathing. However, ducks always lay their eggs by about 10 am in the morning, so keeping them in their house until this time will force them to lay inside, ensuring that eggs aren't spoiled by being laid in water or stolen by predators such as crows. Duck houses need to be cleaned out regularly, as it's usually impossible to keep a nest box area/eggs clean of faeces otherwise.

More Indian Runner FAQs

Spuds in by Good Friday!

I managed to plant all the potatoes by Easter. Usually I like to plant a little earlier if possible (to get as much growth in before blight strikes, which seems to happen earlier each year) but the ground was simply too cold. Quite honestly I don't think it's quite warm enough yet, but growth will be rapid once we have a little more sun.

Garlic - Cledor

I don't usually bother planting spring garlic, as I find overwintered varieties get away to a better start in spring and bulk up more. However, someone gave me an unwanted pack of Cledor, and it will be interesting to compare the yields with the strongly-growing bed of Germidor  planted last Autumn.

No more parsnips!

I decided to dig up the remaining row of parsnips today, as they are beginning to come into growth, and I had a large stew in mind। I was shocked to find them all about an inch in diameter, and riddled with canker। The other rows of Gladiator F1 were also badly affected, but were so large that a normal amount of parsnip was still present in usable amounts.

I really don't know why they have been so badly affected, Gladiator is supposed to be very resistant, they weren't sown particularly early and historically we हवे ओनली हद मिनोर problems with canker. I haven't had a problem with carrot root fly on parsnips before, but wonder if this might account for the degree of damage. I will try a new site this year and see if this makes a difference.

despite what I said earlier...

... on impulse I bought some partridge silkie hatching eggs. Surprisingly all 12 were fertile and 10 hatched (using an Brinsea Octagon 10 incubator). One has curled toes, and had to wear sellotape and cardboard bootees for a couple of days, but is now walking fairly well, with just a little tape to hold the toes in place.