Gardening with ducks

[Wulfandwyn]

the ducks are a bigger problem with lettuce than the slugs

unless you have something they can't reach through to get the veggies and then they can't get to the slugs. I grew an artichoke plant, a mix of cooking herbs, and sun flowers. Everything else I planted was devoured or trampled to death. The plants in the very center of the raised bed did ok once I put up a decorative wire border but next time I would go with something with less of a gap between the wires. The sunflowers I just planted in the ground and they did fairly well. I also planted stinging nettle (makes a great pesto) in the ground and it has survived against the ducks

 

[70%cocoa]

LOL, I have the same problem. The ducks put their heads through the mesh and eat everything around the perimeter. I have started switching to mesh with smaller holes and that's got 'em licked

I do grow some beds that are just for the ducks - two beds of lucerne.

 

[newbyduckmom]

70%cocoa :

Is the fence kind of floppy (that is, does it bend if you push it?) or rigid? I have seen my drake more or less climb a floppy-ish mesh fence - it kind of bent away from him as he started up it and that allowed him to walk up it, gripping onto the mesh with his toes bent. But it was only about 1.5 feet tall.

Your ducks are obviously very motivated!!!

Yeah, we have one 3 ft fenced pen that one of the drakes regularly "walks" into and out of. Have seen the hens try it, but never succeed. The drake is normally motivated by the choice between going in the pen under his own power or being picked up my human hands. (Shudder the thought!) But the fence around the garden beds is rigid. Have never seen them try to "walk" those, but it is possible. Anything is possible with these ducks, I find, all they have to do is want it bad enough!

I finally covered the crowns of rhubarb with large pots and just gave them access to the rest of the beds. Hopefully, the rhubarb will be okay, the pests will be gone, and the ducks won't hurt themselves try to get over/under/around/in between the silly little fence that isn't keeping them out anyway. Had the persistent hen get in between two layers of fencing and get stuck yesterday. Better to sacrifice the bed than hurt the duck until we get a more workable solution to keep them out.

Hadn't considered them putting there heads through. I suppose that's a possibility I hadn't considered as well. The fencing we have is welded wire rabbit fencing, so would think they would not be able to get their heads through the lower part of it.

Would have been easier to locate the ducks elsewhere! But I didn't get a vote!​

 

[FarmrGirl]

I gardened with ducks this year. Over all, I found them to be excellent for de-bugging and I learned some valuable lessons about what to cover (ANYTHING low growing) and who to hire for the job (the pair who won't eat my harvest - LOL!)

You can read about it on my blog here: Ducks In The Garden

 

[newbyduckmom]

Thanks, Farmrgirl! Have found a lot of ducky garden blogs, but hadn't found yours yet!