The rain continues

Chickens clearing the gone to seed lettuce

    Sometimes they are a help, other times a menace! I allowed my chickens to clear the "gone to seed" lettuce and as usual they did a good job.
  In desperation more than anything I transplanted my water melons and five dessert melons to the melon bed. I do not  think we will be getting any melons this year. The plants do not look happy. Too wet, too cool. More lettuce picked. It is being a good year for lettuce and I am not starting to pull my own home grown lettuce
rather than plants that were bought from 

Violet garlic crop

local market. The weather is still mild and damp. I have been able to do some weeding and I have got the next patch of ground ready to sow more carrots. I noticed that the peas are ready to pick. I have three lettuce leaf basil plants that I have now transplanted out in the poly tunnel. More Jack Ice lettuce transplanted in the poly tunnel. The Colorado beetle menace is still present in the new potato crop but I am hoping to get them dug before it gets too bad. In the mean time its hunt and squash! Of course grass cutting continues and rain has interrupted the latest round.

   On the animal front we have finally managed to start to shear our eight ewes this last week with four having been done. We caught and examined the female runner duck. She has a swollen ankle and has done for a while. No infection or indication of a break so the guess is she has pulled or twisted something. Need to try to keep her in the coop for a few days. We have two more Ixworth chicks from the last batch of twelve we incubated. The two from the first batch continue to thrive and are growing quickly.