Harvesting Broccoli...

Garden Fresh Broccoli... YUM!

I started harvesting my broccoli this week.  It tastes SO good!  It's so much better than grocery store broccoli!

Woohoo... I finally get to participate in Daphne's Monday Harvest Reports!

Our "free range" Muscovy Ducklings are almost 6 weeks old!  Here's a photo that I just snapped... they're hiding under my truck in the shade. 

It's Raining...

Wow did we just get one heck of a rain storm!  Oh and now... the sun is out!  Well, the garden really needed a good watering after the intense heat of the past couple days!

A view of the garden during the rain storm.

The Ducklings are not sure what to make of all this rain!

Growing Kale for the very first time!

Garden update...

For the very first time... I am growing Kale!  Russian Red Kale is the seed type.  I've come to really enjoy Kale in my green smoothies... and in soups too.

I had to reseed some of my Kale squares as the duckies go to them before I put up my garden fence.

Muscovy Ducklings 5 weeks old

Russian Red Kale sprout

My tomato plants survived the mighty winds of late May and early June and are flowering.  They look really healthy!  Bring on the tomatoes... I want lots of canned sauce!

I have a whole 4x8 bed of various types of pepper plants... from hot to sweet.  They're about 5" tall so far.

And my strawberry plants are producing nicely!  I have 3 boxes of strawberry plants this year.  My bigger box contains plants that are about 3 years old.  My two smaller boxes were planted this year with plants generously provided to me by a neighbor.

And here's my bench that I purchased way back in 2004.  It was looking a little shabby, so I painted it.  Some of the wood will need to be replaced... maybe next year.  I painted it Pacific Pine... the same color as my front door.

Now to get my boys to help me put it in the fenced in garden!

My garden has a fence!

Well, it took most of the day and 150 feet of garden fencing... but we got 'er done!


FENCE!

Garden all fenced in!  Safe from duckies!

My cute ducklings were eating up my tender shoots of corn, broccoli, cucumbers, peas, and lettuce.  And my cats and possibly Missy the duck sitter... were digging in my beds!  So my 13 year old son, Aaron, and I installed this fence today!  YAY!

Question for those of you who have experience with poultry...
Is there such a bird that I could let loose "in" my garden and have it eat bugs but not my plants?

Ducklings... now 4 weeks old
My ducklings put themselves to bed tonight!  It was the funniest thing!  They just marched themselves right into their ducky house... all on their own!  But... they hadn't done their nightly "grasshopper buffet" walk with me yet!

Every night we walk around the property.  I stir up the hoppers... and they gobble them up!

Missy the Duck Sitter and Aaron (13 years old)

Broccoli... Ducklings... and Deer... oh ya..

The Garden....
The garden is starting to take off!  Warmer temperatures have set in... yup... it's finally summer here in northern Wyoming!  Yay!

My tomato plants are getting blossoms... even some little tomatoes!  The broccoli is forming heads... the green beans are coming up...

The Ducklings...
I've been so enjoying my ducklings!  Yes, we have a routine now.  In the morning I lead them (yup, just like mother duck!) over to the little pasture on the north side of our property where they gobble up baby grasshoppers by the dozens.

Then in the evening after supper, I take them on another grasshopper adventure to the south side of the property.

This one was gobbling up a long dandelion stem!  I couldn't believe it!

Ducklings 4 weeks old

They follow me around like mother duck!  It's so fun!

Tonight they even helped me do some weeding in the iris bed against the house.  I pulled weeds and they gobbled up bugs all around me!

The Deer...
Oh ya... and deer!  The other morning there were 2 deer that came out of our woods right out back!  Luckily I had my camera handy and snapped these photos.

Luckily they were at the back of the house far away from the garden!    I was surprised that the dog didn't go crazy... but she was at the front of the house... maybe busy watching the ducklings.

Our duck watching dog...

Grasshoppers, weeds... WAIT... not my broccoli and...

My 4 week old duckies are growing so fast!  They are about a foot long now and getting their feathers.  They are beautiful creatures!

But then they got into my garden!  And started nibbling on my tender shoots of corn, and budding broccoli heads, and chinese cabbage, and  all my lettuce... !WAIT!... where are my pea greens?

Duck nibbled Chinese Cabbage

Duck nibbled Chinese Cabbage

And this is what my broccoli SHOULD look like...

And so...
I went to Lowes and bought 2 big rolls of green Garden Fencing, 50 feet each and strung it along the long sides of my garden beds.  I need one more roll to finish it.

Now my tender plants can grow!  Oh... and I forgot to mention that the dog and cats are also digging in my garden beds!  My poor tender cucumber shoots!!!!

Now, all critters can stay OUT OF MY GARDEN!  Well... at least they will after I get that last roll of fencing.....

Ducky things... a new house

Hi Gardening Friends!

standing up tall!

Muscovy Ducklings 3 weeks old.

Muscovy Ducklings playing in the mud puddle!  They love puddles!

The Ducklings spent their first night outside in their duck house.  As I peered in this morning, they seemed very comfortable.

My older son designed and built it for me out of scrap lumber and repurposed plywood.

Duck House.  Needs to be painted!