No room! and a duck truce

So much to do at the end of April.  My sowing window is almost closed for summer plants.  But next up are autumn and winter plants, some of which are already going (leeks, cabbage and Brussels sprouts).   And as usual, I'm running out of space to plant everything out.  I want to grow it all!  But where do I put it?  

I had earmarked a bed at the allotment for my squash but now that push comes to shove, my cabbages are ready to plant whereas my squash aren't even sprouting yet.  I desperately need kimchi so I can't neglect my cabbages, right?  It's ok, I have a backup plan:  when I harvest my garlic I'll put the squash there, despite it growing in that same bed last year.  It won't mind, so long as I put another generous helping of well-composted horse manure on the bed first.  

I also wanted to grow my tomatoes directly in the ground but it looks like that's not going to happen either;  they'll have to grow in containers again.  About half of my containers are already full of overwintered onions however--I'm not certain when these will be ready for harvest, but I can tell it's not imminent.  Luckily I've acquired a large wooden shipping box and have filled it with some of that horse manure, ready for at least four plants.  I already had another one, just need to fill it.  They are more like raised beds really, not like the individual plastic planters I already have.

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I finally got those lethally prickly rose branches sent off in the gardening waste collection but even after two pick-ups, I haven't cleared all the bamboo roots!  That was a big plant.  There's still a mighty clump waiting for the next collection in two weeks' time.  I'm kind of wondering if I should have saved some more of it to grow as screening, for instance in the small front garden (recall I did save one small piece, replanted in a container sunk in the ground out back).  I guess it's not too late to break up that big chunk--I'm sure it'd still grow even three weeks after uprooting.  In containers, of course.

I think the Snowflake ducks are settling into the flock, a few weeks on from their forced integration with our two old ducks.  Initially I was letting them free range with Boy Duck and Girl Duck but locking them up in two separate yards overnight (Snowflakes in one, Boy and Girl in the other);  however Boy Duck--and as my sister once remarked, "that duck is a jerk"--had nightly been breaking out of his yard and into theirs.  So after a bit too much of that malarkey, we decided they might as well be locked up together.  And after a few weeks things have somewhat calmed down--at least we're not hearing panicked quacking at all hours. 

Peas and beans, and warm weather seeds

Seeds sown, seedlings pricked out, transplants into the ground.  I'll be repeating this cycle for the rest of the growing season.  Unlike in recent years, I'm not sowing everything individually in pots--though I am doing many seeds this way--the beans and peas have been pre-sprouted and sown in situ, a big savings on potting compost.  Also a big savings in extra table space on my patio, and on pots and trays which can be used for different, less numerous plants.

Snap peas and broad beans are small but growing well at the allotment.  I put down a short row of dwarf French beans at home too, not shooting up yet.  I tried to pre-sprout some climbing French beans at the same time which did not sprout;  I guess the seed was too old.  I'm trying again with some two year old seed, which also might prove to be too old;  both batches were seed I'd saved myself, but ended up not growing last year as I ran out of space--instead I grew some runner beans which ended up rather disappointing.

And of those runner beans, I tried to regrow some roots/tubers that overwintered, but they don't look like they're going anywhere either.  I'm not planning on sowing new seed in any case;  the harvest was too small to justify wasting precious space on them.  I'd much rather have French beans which have been far more prolific for me over the years.  While I prefer the climbing beans to the dwarf, I could only buy the dwarf beans in the seed sale last year;  therefore I'm hoping my saved seed will pull through (and I'll save some more if it does).

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Although I was hoping to keep my tomatoes outdoors now that the days are warmer, we're forecast a week or two of near-frost temps overnight.  I can't risk it, even though my sheltered patio microclimate ought to be safe enough.  These have spent some nights outdoors this past week, but I'll have to shuttle them in and out again until it's more like 6C or warmer overnight.  As a precaution, the son and I also mulched over our newly sprouting potatoes at the allotment too:  a couple inches of stable bedding (mostly straw).  The allotment is much more exposed and will probably frost.

Regardless, I've started my next wave of summer crop seeds:  salad cuc, pickling cuc, and zuc.  These have to start indoors, hence the need to move tomatoes outdoors, but until they sprout they can at least stay stacked on each other in one place.  I need to remember to start a second batch of both cucs in mid-May too, as my pickling cucs in particular seemed to run out of steam before the end of summer.  Need more pickles!  

The last summer crop seed yet to sow are my squashes.  I try to start them about six weeks before planting out, generally at the beginning of May.  Last year I could have planted them out earlier had I sown them earlier (it was a very warm, dry year) but in general they get planted in early June.  As I don't have the room for them just now, I'll stick to my usual timing.

Picking up the pace

Quite a lot of gardening has happened over the past week, mainly in the Perennials section at home, but a bit of action at the allotment too;  it's the end of our spring break off work/school.  The son and I finished working on the bamboo at last and also drastically cut back the overgrown laurels at the very back of the property.  The laurels were planted by a previous owner, presumably as a hedge;  now they are part of my regular coppice rotation and I cut them back every five years or so for firewood.  

On a sunny, dry day I managed to dig out some of the excellent compost from the bottom of the chicken yard and spread it on part of my veg beds, both around my strawberry plants and onto a weedy bed destined for onion seedlings.  I have a tray of onions, rather small, which I will transplant in a few days after the compost has settled/been rained on.

In addition, I finally sowed a packet of parsnip seed in another bed I'd cleared earlier (with the help of my free ranging poultry).  There's a space below this bed which is earmarked for carrot seed:  very soon!  I also transplanted some lettuce seedlings in between the parsnip rows, and put a short row of dwarf beans at the back (I'd soaked them first);  then I covered the whole bed with insect mesh, mainly as a pigeon deterrent.  

Speaking of pigeons, it looks like they haven't stripped all my plum flower buds off this year--maybe we'll get some fruit at last?  We were wondering if the old pair of wood pigeons moved on/died--we have still seen a pair of them in the garden, just not eating buds off trees:  this might be a new pair who don't know the delicious taste of flowers yet.  Perhaps the Kordia cherry will have fruit too!  I'm keeping an eye on things, but there's not much I can do to prevent them if they decide to attack.

I'm starting seeds and pricking out seedlings regularly;  most of my seeds are started outdoors, broadcast into small pots on my patio table and then pricked out into trays--only roots like parsnips/carrots/beets get sown directly into their beds.  My tomato seedlings are spending nights indoors but having day trips to the patio for sunbathing--only a couple days have been too cold/windy for them;  hopefully in a week or two they'll be acclimatized enough to move out and I can start my next batch of indoor seeds:  cucumber, zuc, squash.  I don't have enough room on my sunny kitchen windowsill for everything at once.

At the allotment my snap peas and beets are just emerging under their sheet of insect mesh.  I prepared another row nearby and put down my kohlrabi seedlings, also under some mesh.  I took the mesh off the broad bean bed at last (mesh goes on most of my newly planted/sown beds to keep birds, mice and cats off) and put it over the kohlrabi instead.  As a brassica, it's in most need of the mesh to keep the cabbage white butterflies off when they start to lay eggs next month.

I'm still harvesting Musselbrugh leeks, but getting very near the end now.  Maybe a dozen left?  I'm also picking purple sprouting broccoli once a week, hopefully till May at least.  And rhubarb once a week too, though it's prolific enough for a much more generous harvest;  maybe I should make a batch of wine this year, something I haven't done for a while.  I rarely drink alcohol but it makes a unique gift.

Duck discord, and Perennials renovation

The son has been practicing his photography, April 2026

Our three new Snowflake ducks have been free ranging with Girl Duck and Boy Duck;  they are still very nervous and Boy Duck has been terrorizing them regularly.  Drakes are real jerks!  The Snowflakes haven't gone around the garden much as Boy Duck keeps chasing them into a corner and not letting them out (while eating their food and splashing their water).  The daughter keeps asking if she can whack him (the duck whacking stick is a light, whippy bamboo cane--it gets his attention but doesn't really hurt him) but I've told her no:  they have to sort it out themselves.  Hopefully it doesn't last for much longer, though I'm thinking of locking Boy and Girl in their yard for a few days again, to let the Snowflakes have a break (although Girl Duck hasn't been aggressive to them, it would be unfair to separate them as they are a bonded pair).

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In other garden news, the son and I have been gradually reducing our bamboo stand out in the back corner of the Perennials section.  We're using a shovel, a hand saw and a lot of brute force.  It's a clumping bamboo but has outgrown its space;  I'm actually going to get the whole plant out, discard most of it, and replant one piece into a large plastic planter.  This can be sunk back into the ground where we dug it up, and hopefully will keep it contained;  the plant has been there maybe 15 years, and I don't think I'll be able do this job again in another 15 years.

For several years the Perennials section was also the large duck yard, and as such it has been a bit neglected.  I've just cut down a large feral rose back there, right on the fence line.  The growth was spectacular;  it was at least 3 m tall, maybe more.  Normally I keep all my green waste on site for composting, or for kindling/firewood, but these trimmings are outrageously thorny:  dangerously so!  Instead I'm putting them in the garden waste bin to be collected next week (the bamboo roots will go in too).  

I have a vision for that back corner of the Perennials section.  I imagine it a little hideaway:  shady, screened in on all sides by greenery, with a little patio just big enough for one or two chairs.  A secret place, good for kids and grown ups too.  The greenery is there--it just needs a little taming.