Of Eggs and Gardens

Okay, I'll start off with the egg story.  I know everyone is getting sick of them, but this one is interesting. 

Yesterday morning, I only got three duck eggs.  I did not get a "guck" egg, which is what Keith calls the huge goose-like eggs I've been getting this week. 

I told Keith someone was holding out on me. 

So, this morning I went out to open up the henspa.  I always check on the ducks first, because I leave feed out for them at night, and I like to get them some clean water in the fortex right off in the morning. 

Imagine my surprise when I found three eggs, right in the middle of the yard, in a nest made in the deep straw.  One was a "guck" egg. 

And then, I looked  over at the little dog house we moved in there and there 

WERE TWO MORE EGGS IN THERE!  

In other words... I got five eggs from the four ducks! 

So imagine my greater surprise when I went out there at 4 PM, and found this: 

Duck eggs are always very dirty. 

So, I present to you the SIX EGGS FROM FOUR DUCKS DAY: 

The guck egg is in the upper left. 

My guess is, this egg was stuck last night, and when the duck was able to pass it, the next egg that had formed came out, too.  Just a guess. 

Sandy commented last night that the Pekin girl looks like the Aflac duck... so... that's her name! 

Miss Aflac. 

Marlin Bates, Horticulture Specialist from Missouri State Extension wrote an article in The Kansas City Star yesterday morning (garden section) in which he opined that cool season crops are not developing at a rate that will bring them to harvest in time to plant the warm season crops that should follow them. 

He probably looked at my pictures from last night. 

He does think that gardeners will need to make a choice by mid-May on whether to try to harvest the cool season greens (mostly greens) and then give up that space to the warm season crops... or keep trying to harvest them.  

I have decided that the peas will be out of there... they are not going to set fruit, I can tell from looking at them, they are not growing as they should.  I mark it up to the ground still being so cold. 

He is estimating mid to late May for planting of warm season crops in our area. 

Having said all that, we have some seventy degree days predicted, and tomorrow morning, my seedlings, except for the perennial flowers, are going out to the side of the house to start being hardened off, with a prospective planting date in about ten days.  I'll bring them in at night for the first week, until we see how the weather is going. 

Abby was fascinated by the fact that Nugget and the chicks were in the outdoor pen. 

I have it heavily tarped, because it was cool today.  However, I'll remove the tarp tomorrow with the advent of our sunny weather, and the chicks and Nugget can soak it up in their bigger pen.  

And finally, our dear old boy was waiting for me as I did chores... he had worn himself out walking out in the pasture.  It's such an effort for him, but he loves to go down there and sniff around.  When he comes back up, he's worn out.  How we love our old Ranger! 

And that's it for a very soggy night at Calamity Acres!