Ghetto Incubator take 2

Well, as mentioned, my initial design put the heat store near the heat source.
I soon discovered its better to leave the heating bulb without the heat store, and move the heat store to under the eggs and add a small fan to circulate the air,

Now I have 2 bricks on the one side, with a glass dish sitting on top of this heat store. In the dish I have some shavings and eggs. On the other side  the light bulb, fan and container of water to keep up the humidity. The fan blowing on the bulb and distributing the heat. Once the bricks heated up, this became far more stable temperature zone, and varies no more than .2 degrees Celsius of the 37-38 degrees zone. Mostly sticking right in the 1 degree range.

The Ghetto 2 - Eggs are in a glass dish with some padding, on top of 2 bricks. Left bottom is the PC fan, some water to keep the humidity up, and the light bulb connected to the temperature controller set to switch on at 37 and off at 38 degrees celcius.

I am looking forward to some grandchildren. It should be the first week of May. I will then have news on the effectiveness of the new design.

Ramping Ramps

Looks like my Ramps survived the transplant.  A 2or3" up already and looking really healthy in the front yard. I hope the ones in the back under the oaks establish themselves as well, but there is more shade there. Like asparagus, I am sure I am a few years from harvesting my first.

Planting time!

Well yesterday I planted out some onions and leeks. Yes I know I am a week ahead of my calendar, but we just had 2 days that were in the double digits, the birds were out and weather great. There was nothing colder than -2 Celsius  in the forecast, and lots of rain. The onions looked a little crowded, and so I broke the clump in half and planted half out in the garden.

With my neighbour cutting down the huge spruce trees, my garden looks sparse.  I am also expecting that this was done in prelude to them adding a second story, which will then grant then a superb view of my garden. I planted some new asparagus roots, and moved a few things to along the fence were the large trees were. How many years will it take for the yews to be tall enough to block their view and I now have to work something in to block the noise from the park.

Surprise!

This year, I went out and picked up 2 cubic yards of Mushroom Compost. I have no proof that’s its organic, but this early, in the season, its last years and well aged. That does not mean it does not still smell like horse manure. The straw from the ducks house is in the beds now, with a layer of mushroom compost covering it. I am hoping it will compost quiet rapidly.

I pruned the grapes and did my best on the fruit trees. (This is something I think requires some more practice on my part). Then with aching body, went to bed quiet early.

This is what I woke to this morning.....

Up and Comming

The seasons in full swing. Peppers mostly up, brassicas up and some eggplant and tomatoes in. I started a week later this year after my triple light bank I put in last year made everything grow much faster. Maybe a few too many cabbages. But the ducks cleaned me out last year :-) The break in the weather this week just makes it all the more exhilarating, but the snow has not yet melted.

2014 Review

2014 garden got planted and then I changed jobs. The commute took up much of the time I would have used to posted here. The few hours of light left, was spent nurturing and eating my crop. As usual at this time of year, (about when that groundhog signals its mid winter), I start getting garden antsy.

So today I spent a number of hours researching and buying seeds. I tend to go way overboard, but then it would not be mid winter if I did not. I tried two new seed sources this year, Hawthorn Farm and Solana Seeds. They seemed to offer some nice open pollinated and less often found variety. For my more common open pollinated seeds I bought from Weston Seeds. They have a lot of Italian (and other) heirlooms and I have had great success with their more than generous packets of seed. I am sure I will do a few more still. I love going to William dam seeds and would love to make a purchase from kitazawa seed co, but the shipping seems a extreme to Canada.

So what did I really love last year, well Japanese turnips must be high on my list of discoveries. The  Hakurei Turnip I are raw it tasted so good. Second great discovery that made its way into my every year plan is Aji Lemon hot peppers. I ate those every day. Kale and Rappini got used a lot along with pretty much all my tomatoes. (ducks ate much of my cabbage and pack choy)

What did not work was my mushroom logs. Not a single mushroom from them. Too hot, too dry? also did not not have much luck with winter squash, but that may be the year. It was not that hot and lots of rain later.

So this year, my focus landed on cabbage and squash although I really am looking for fresh eating non-cooked veggies. These I found I took for lunch or snacks and ate everywhere. But my attempts last year to make sauerkraut and Kimchi, keeps jumping to mind. Here is my 2015 seeds I added

Its time to set up my indoor lights again, find the timer and start growing. feeling that sense of indoor gardening in expectation of summer. another year, another promise. My Zero food mile pledge. With ducks laying, I may have a crop abundance this year.

Duck Endevours

Yolk

Well, yes, I know, I did a very poor job of keeping the blog up to date this season. A good part of this blog is to for my own reference on what I found successful and what I learnt, hard way or easily.


So one of my grand plans this year, was to add a few ducks and birds to my garden to try close that permaculture like circle of sustainability further. Ducks would control insects, while offering manure and eggs. I chose the Indian Runner ducks as they are predominately land ducks, smaller, good for eggs, and were bred for insect eating. Oh yes and they hilarious to watch.  They very excitable ducks, squawking and going nuts running around and chasing each-other at the smallest thing. That said they skittish as well, and not overly friendly. That said, Omlette, Duck Down (DD) and Yolk have worked their way into children and adult alike in the the neighbourhood.

Worms, lettuce and peas in a silver platter

Now my duck mistakes are in the dozens. Were do I start?

1. Ducks Eat Greens - I came home one day to find my entire Pac Choy crop eaten to the ground. Rabbit? The next day I came home to find 8 young Chinese cabbage missing. There went my plans for Kimchi. Now I was on to the ducks as culprits as I caught them standing in the garden. Day 3 I lost most of my speckled lettuce. The result was I had to hastily put up a 2 foot fence around my main flower beds. I have still not really made this permanent, but suspect I will do that now.
2.  Ducks Need Constant Water - Regardless of if the supply is 1 litre or 50 litres, they use all that is available. Hence I quickly learnt that smaller amounts more frequently was far better than larger amounts less frequently. I ended up using a smaller plastic tub on the lawn than the bath tub pond,  which could be emptied and filled every day. Forget large bowels or extended supply systems, I resorted to a pump that pumps a 1 litre ever 3 hours from a large reservoir to a smaller bowel for them to drink from. I currently trying ideas on how to prevent this watering system from freezing in winter that wont take a ton of electricity to keep heated. 
3. Ducks have Enemies - I lost one duck just at dusk right at the start of summer. I had gone out and tried to get them to go into their house at dusk, but they were not interested, and so had gone into the house to do something and came out 30 minutes later to find the remaining 3 hiding in hostas. When its dark, they just seem to lay down. I guess it must have being a raccoon, but my neighbours have also all seen skunks and opossums and even a fox. This means they need to be safely locked up before sunset. I have also seen to hawks watching them, but so far, they just sit in the tree and watch. I just bought a solar electric pet fence from an amazing couple, Miranda and Chris for bargain of the century.  They showed me their  incredible Japanese garden they had built, which they have another fence to keep he raccoons out of. I currently trying to design a system now that hopefully work should I not be able to be home at dusk.
4. Duck Houses - Since I wanted the ducks to range freely, I originally built and elaborate, cedar, insulated, duck-house - much like a large kennel with a door. This was large enough for them to spend the night, but not large enough to stay in. This worked well for summer months, but now that winter approaches, I realized that something nearer the house, that could leverage some of the house heat and larger to enable them to stay in doors would be better. The result was a I built a second 4 x 10 foot lean two against the side of the house. This I left with some venting higher, but well protected from wind and with a large clear poly "window" for light and heat. I laid down 4-6 inches of pea gravel for drainage and bought some straw bails to keep the floor covered. The straw can be raked up and put in the garden during winter. A full size door allow me to go in to collect eggs and top up feed and water. I am now wondering if I need to pump water from inside the house or if a reservoir in the shed would work.

I am certain I will learn a dozen things more before my next post. But keeping ducks has being both educational and rewarding. Not if you looking for a pet that you can stroke and play fetch with, but totally fitting to the outdoors and somehow make the escape to the back garden so much more of a escape. A little like teens, you never know what you see them up to when you spy them out of the window. How do the eggs taste? Well more like eggs. They have a bigger, brighter yolk - although how much of this is because they free range I have no idea. 

From left, Omelette Yolk (male), and DD

8th June Growing

Well, I broke my promise. I simply did not have veggies to eat on May 21st, so started 1 June with eat only what I grow. This years late spring really slowed things down and I have just got my first first peas. I collected and old Iron tub on the side of the road and expanded my pond. The birds really love it and the bird life has increased 10 fold with that and a feeder. This year, 2 of my vines grape vines did not make it again. They spouting from the ground, but not from last years growth. The other two have though, and so I should at least have some grapes. If you noticed I moved the evergreens up against the fence to my neighbours yard. I hope they survive as they were well over 8 feet. At the back now I have nut, mulberry and persimmon (that has not leafed out this season and I am concerned the move and winter did it in). This allowed me to add a new Anjou pear and 2 plums.

My romance series cherry bushes are really growing, but I only got a few flowers, so I may not have cherries this year again. The currents are very happy this year and so are the gooseberries. On the other hand my Haskaps are tiny, although this is only the second year and so perhaps as they mature more they will grow bigger. They are quiet tasty.

The French Grey Shallots seem happy, well mostly, and the garlic behind looks good. I have a number of tomato flowers already, and expect in 3 weeks to have my first first. I have a few small peppers already. Mostly though my mustards, pak choy and lettuce. (left) with green onions. Another great success for this season has being my Rapini. In particular the 45 Day Zamboni is great even on the BBQ with a little olive oil. As mentioned, I am only starting to get peas now, and it does not look like a great season for them. In the back I added a white privacy fence as a new climbing trellis. I have cucumbers and beans on it.

My beans are growing really well, framed by chives I use around some of the beds. The chives in bloom attract a lot of insects. I am hoping for a good year for climbing beans. There are French purple pod, but even my runner beans seem to be doing well.

Well my ducks decided my Chinese cabbage was a rare delicacy and ate 6 to the ground. I have 2 still growing in the cold frame, but so much for large amounts of Kimchi. on the other hand, the diakons look pretty good. They flowering though and I don't know why. Any ideas? Another discovery has being my Japanese Hakurei turnips. Butter smooth and taste great in a salad. I cant bring myself to cook one. The komatsuna although vigorous, is not as tasty as I had hoped. Well at least raw. I have not really tried cooking it yet. My squash is still tiny, so I am not yet at the squash eating stage, the same with eggplant. but potatoes are doing well and I considering adding a box layer to them.

Its mostly greens still, but its tasty greens after a winter of tasteless food, its amazing. I be sick of salad soon and onto squash. Fruit and Veggies in their season!

Then it happens

Better get to building my duck house fast!