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75 comments on And some (natural gas) answers are expensive

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Burgundy on July 9, 2008 - 7:13am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Just curious, how do you keep the ducks off the raised beds? And what do you feed the dog with?

Damn fox got my duck. Bit through the wire to get a grip and then ripped the wire netting off the night cage. Poor duck didn't stand a chance :(

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CrystalRadio on July 9, 2008 - 10:43pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Too bad about your duck.

After my ducks went and ravaged my bed of broad beans, I got hold of some plastic fencing that one can get at hardware and agriculture stores cut it into halves about 2 feet high and that seems to have done it for my Indian runners and Khacki Campbells which don't fly even that high and are not much in the jumping department either, (I wonder how they survived long enough to become domesticated). That fencing is easy to move and set up using a stick pushed into the ground every so often to make it stand.

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Burgundy on July 10, 2008 - 2:24am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Thanks Crystal. Yes, I used something similar, but to keep the duck on the bed prior to planting. The trouble I find with some Organic/Permaculture methods is that they're difficult to scale. I'm currently looking to extend my area of cultivation to 5000 m2 (1.25 acres) per year. Fencing becomes a headache in the end and try finding enough mulch to cover an acre.

Interesting about the Khacki Campbells. One of the reasons I had to cage my duck was due to it flying over the fences. Otherwise it would have been in a different area and safe from the fox. I should have clipped her wings, but she seemed so proud of them I didn't have the heart :(

When dealing with nature (or reality) then I guess sentiment has to be replaced with pragmatism.

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CrystalRadio on July 10, 2008 - 6:56pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

5ooo m2? Well Burgandy, that's more energy than I have.

My vegetable garden is about 3500 sq feet and the rest of a quarter acre in fruit nuts and berries.

I am going to try using a mustard cover crop this fall as it is supposed to die away nicely. I plant in intensive beds (no dig) so that there is no room for mulch. If I had more land I would likely be spreading things out and undersowing as Rhisiart Gwilym (above) is doing. On mulch I think that what might be a passing thought is paper mulch, there is just do much paper about. My wife shreads just what comes through the mail and that gives bags more than enough, for the carbon layers, in the kitchen compost. Would need a pretty heavy duty industrial shredder though I guess:(

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75 comments on And some (natural gas) answers are expensive

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