Pests Plaguing Your Garden?

From the Chicago Tribune

If slugs and snails and assorted bugs are making a hash of your garden, call in some web-footed enforcers. (TMS photo / April 26, 2010)


By Sean Conway

Tribune Media Services

May 3, 2010
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When I was a kid, whenever it rained my mother would always say, "It's a good day for ducks." Nowadays, I actually own a small flock of ducks, and I can tell you it's true: They don't mind a rainy day at all.

Ducks have other singular attributes as well. Anyone who owns them will tell you that ducks are excellent to have around the garden because they eat a variety of insects and other pests, including the mortal enemies of every gardener: slugs and snails.

My property has a stream on one side and a pond on another, and consequently is a haven for slugs. The first few years after I moved there, it seemed every plant I put in the ground was shredded to bits. That all changed shortly after I got my ducks.

Ducks are easy to keep. They are quieter than chickens, and don't require a lot of space. They also won't scratch up a garden as chickens will, and they're really quite comical to watch as they roam around the yard searching for tasty slugs! Plus, their eggs are wonderful to cook with.

You don't need a pond to keep ducks, as long as you provide them with ample water. Guests to my garden always ask me where I got my ducks, and most are surprised to learn I ordered them through the mail. (For more information about mail-order ducks, visit cultivatinglife.com and learn how easy it is to raise a few ducks of your own.)

Before you commit to purchasing ducks for your property, make sure there is no ordinance where you live barring you from actually owning ducks.

Ducks come in all shapes and a range of colors. If you live near wetlands or a pond, you might try luring some of the most attractive wild ducks to your neighborhood by putting up a nesting box for wood ducks. Wood ducks' range extends up and down both coasts of the United States and throughout the South. Their nesting range extends from the east coast of Nova Scotia west to the north central United States.

Unlike most of their web-footed relatives, wood ducks prefer to nest in tree cavities and will readily accept nesting boxes. These boxes are easy to make, and they're making a difference in restoring the population of this extraordinarily beautiful duck. Mike Tucker of the Audubon Society of Rhode Island demonstrated how easy it is to make a nesting box suitable for wood ducks. (You can view the project on the Web site too.)

The best design is a long upright box fastened at the back panel to a post or tree. Use durable 1-by-12 cedar board cut to 24 inches for the front and sides. Cut the board at 32 inches for the back; cut the bottom board to fit inside the sideboards and the top board at 16 inches for a little overhang. Fasten the boards with galvanized screws, and attach the roof with hinges to the backboard. Attach a screw eye and hook to a sideboard and the roof edge to secure the roof.

The most important dimension in the nesting box is the entry hole. Using a jigsaw, cut an elliptical hole in the front board, 3 inches high and 4 inches wide. This allows the wood ducks to get in and keeps predators out. Attach quarter-inch hardware inside the box under the hole. Fill the box with wood shavings and attach 10 to 30 feet high on a tree or post.

With luck, beautiful wood ducks will pay you annual visits for years to come.

Sean Conway is host of the TV show "Cultivating Life," which airs on Saturdays on WGN-America and on CLTV at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Sundays. His Web site is cultivatinglife.com.