Busy bees

The bees are getting busy. One hive is absolutely thriving. It is showing signs of swarming so I put the hive on to double brood. The box has a lot of foundation so I can only hope the bees will draw it out quickly enough. The artificial swarmed hive has had the queen emerge and she is laying. There is tons of honey on the hive but the bees are not drawing the foundation. I put another super on and hope that the bees will decide to get drawing. The Queen in the last hive has died but luckily there are a couple of sealed queen cells so I will leave them to run their course.

I set up a fourth hive and hope it will act as a bait hive for a swarm. The bees look very healthy and despite the upheaval I caused they were calm. When I finished and as I walked back to Degsy I decided I should cut the grass round the apiary. I left my bee suit on and with the shears I had in Degsy I worked round the apiary on my knees cutting the grass. I hope the bees appreciate it. I am going to have to etract some honey soon as I am running out of suppers.

Bostin

Friday evening was the first time the society had had a visiting speaker. his talk was on composting. He was very entertaining. Was was from Hales Owen so had a proper Brummy accent. H sent half the time giggling and the other scribbling down his words that were stranger to her ears, Goowin, Bostin, Wench [he was always bribing them apparently] to name but a few. He had some good ideas and reinforced a few that I had. He supplied the prizes for the raffle. H won some worm compost...black gold by all accounts. It was a good night not just for us but also for the society.

What a change day on day. Saturday, wet and miserable, Sunday scorching. I was out early on Saturday, errands for Degsy all the way to Cannock, Rolliston for allotment stuff and Newall for goodies. I needed a couple of spreaders for gate. They were only a fiver a set. I had to get some Onion fertilizers. The chap were good enough to break the bag they sold it into two smaller bags. Again another fiver. They had a bin end of four foot canes so I had a couple of those too. They will come in somewhere. I could not stay for a chat I had to drop in on the farmer and get home for some lunch before a meeting at the allotment.

The weathermen said Sunday would be mad hot. It turned out to be so. I have been collecting miss L from work and since she works in a bar it has been some very late nights. I was at the lottie for 10am. I had the place to myself. I gave bed1 a good hoeing. It was covered in a green fuzz of weed seedlings. The hoe made short work of them but the sweat was running off my nose by the end of it. I had 35+ Broad beans ready so I planted them out and watered them in. The Peas I sowed two weeks ago are through. I heo'd as close as I dared. Next up was Bed2. I had to hand weed the newly planted Leeks. The Leeks have taken well after the planting out last week. Whilst I was at it I kept on and hand weeded the onions. It was really hot by then. I was flagging. I had a brew took the hoe to Bed3. The brasiccas have taken off but they have not closed up to smoother the weeds yet.

After the lottie I went to the bees.

More peas

I have a wedding to go to at the weekend so there will be no allotmenting. However there are things that need doing. I have half a dozen Pumpkins and half a dozen Butternut Squash. I also had a dozen Sweet Corn to plant out. Several weeks ago I emptied the big compost bin on the top third of Bed1. This evening I went round weeding the area. It was not too onerous. After weeding I spread the piles of compost round the plot. It spread to about three inches deep. I went round the edge of the bed and created a trench. That gave a little more depth to the bed. I laid out the Pumpkin in their pots. When I decided the spacing was right I planted them out. The plants look a bit lonely inthe bed but pumpkins and squashes make big unruly plants. I made a shallow dish round the planting to catch any rain. I did the same with the Butternut Squash. I used the hoe to level off the area. Then I gave the plants a good soaking. I will not be seeing them again until next week.

As I was on my knees planting the Robin keep diving in to grab worms and such that I had turned up. A very big and black cloud floated across the lottie. Luckily it did not dump on me. Once it went by the sun put in an appearance. The wind dropped and gave a nice sunset under broken clouds. Since it was so nice I decided to plant a couple of rows of Peas. I dug out two shallow trenches reserving the soil. I soaked the bottom of the trench then sows the seeds. I put a whole packet of seeds in each trench. One for the mouse, one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow. I think even the mice will be feed up with the amount Peas I sowed. I covered up the Peas and watered them again.

I could not walk away without running the hoe round the rows of peas and beans. It was more of a tickle with hand weeding the weeds brave enough to stick their heads up. I tipped the weeds into one of the black compo bins. The bins are working out. The last job was to give the french beans a watering. They are safe now since they were planted out at the weekend.

Rain and lots of it

It was raining went I got up and it did not stop until tea time. I went round to Steve's in the morning to fettle his landy. We rigged up the basha over the landys to keep the rain off whilst we fettled the motor. That took me through to 1pm. I had a spot of lunch and watch the MotoGP from Silverstone. It was raining there as well.

After a sandwich I went over to Shepshed to get a new number plate but got there half an hour too late. Next a popped over to Boundary Store to pick up some posts for the lottie. When I got home I still had some of the day left. I tidied up Degsy and hung the basha up in the garage to dry. I have been putting off sorting out a few hive frames so I got the gear out to clean up and refurbish the frames. I had to build three super frames which was easy enough. I had a brood box than needed organising. The box came from the double brood hive which I broke down. Five of the eleven frames came with the first nuc. They needed changing and today was the time. I cut out the comb from the frame then cleaned off the remaining wax from the frame. Then I fitted a new piece of foundation and re-assembled the frame. Now I have a brood box ready for the next swarm.

So despite the rain I got a bunch of stuff including a rummage in the loft. I found what I was looking for and other treasure.

Looking Good

I have given up wrestling with my conscience about using bamboo canes. I dropped in at the garden centre at Newton Regis on my way back from Cannock and bought a couple bags of canes. When I got back home I loaded up Degsy with Bee keepery stuff.

The job today was to find out how the bees have responded to the artificial swarming last week. At first glance bees are coming and going from all three hives so that was encouraging. I smoked the hive and popped the roof off. This the hive that has the queen cell. It was nice and busy but there were few foragers which is what is expected. The queen cell has been torn down. That makes me think the new queen has emerged. It will be another week until she is mated and starts laying. In the mean time the bees are emerging leaving empty cells for the queen to use. A few drones have been trapped above the excluder. They made a right noise when they were released by me breaking the hive down. I put another super on the hive seeing as how the bees had been drawing comb.

The middle hive, the one showing no signs of swarming last week, is still the same. Lots of bees and lots of new comb. I put a fresh super on the hive and poured some syrup onto the candy that they have not yet finished off. The bees are mad for the candy. There is lots of new comb, bees and new honey. I put a fresh super on just in case.

The end hive that had the old queen was my main concern. There are plenty of bees. The queen has laid all the free cells but the bees have not been able to make new comb fast enough so it was no surprise that there are new queen cells. I have a few day to puzzle out what I am to do. I think I will use the new queen cells to make a nuc [nucleus]. I dribbled syrup on the candy to loosen it up. Again the bees were all over it. The bees are drawing wax be not in the right place or fast enough. I reassemble each hive as I was done with them. It was a bit breezy today but the hedges went the worst of the wind off the open hives. The clouds were gathering over Clifton Campville. There were a few showers about and even whilst I had the bees open I could feel spots of rain but the shower passed by. I packed up and made my way back to Degsy. Degsy was looking good sitting in the meadow which is covered in grass eighteen inches high.

Back at home I swapped out the bee gear for allotment gear. I took the seedlings and canes up to the lottie. A prolonged shower wafed over the village. I made a brew whilst I waited for the rain to pass. As the sky brightened up I went over to the lottie but it was late afternoon so time was short for what I wanted to do. I hoed and raked the area that was to have the climbing french beans. I dug two parallel trenches and tossed in some of the compost I had dropped on the plot a few weeks ago. I also turfed in a half wheelbarrow of manure. I back filled the trenches and ran th erake over the area to tidy it up. Next up was to set up the canes for the french bean. I selected the strongest ten canes and set them out along the trench in pairs. I fixed the tops together then fixed diagonal canes to brace the frame. After that I planted out the seedlngs and just for good measure I sowed two french beans seeds beside each cane. To finish with I gave the rows a good soaking. My time was up so a I packed up, cut a few stalks of Asparagus and went home.

I got a lot of items ticked off my things to do list and with luck more of the same tomorrow.

Elderflower must

This evening it was time to move the Elderflower must from the mash tun to the fermentation vessel. That sounds fancy but it just a case of straining the must [Elderflower flowers, lemon, sugar and water] through a sieve into a big bowl then pouring the liquid into a demi-john. I took the specific gravity and recorded it in my little book. Then I put some water in the air lock and fitted the air-lock to the demi-john. I put the demi-johns aside whilst I cleaned up. When I can back to the DJs the air-locks had started to bubble.

Starting SG :
DJ A 1.092
DJ B 1.088

Monster dibber

I did not have lot of time today for the lottie but I had to plant out my Leeks that I started in the greenhouse. The leek-lets are overdue being planted out. They are quite sturdy but a little small but the roots run is healthy. I had manured the area in Bed2 for the leeks sometime ago. I did the usual process of spot weeding and hoeing I then raked the surface level.

I used to have an old spade, one with a wooden handle. Somewhere along the way I broke the handle off the spade. The business end of the spade has been sent for recycling ages ago but the handle has had several jobs. Recently the handle has been a perch for the Robin or a row marker. Today it got a new job. I used it as a monster digger for the leeks. I put my plank down to mark the line of the row would take. I then jabbed the dibber [spade handle] into the ground at regular intervals. I got 25 plants per row. Into each hole a dropped a leek seedling. I planted six rows so that is 150 leeks. That should hold us. It was hard work in the hot sun. To finish up with gave the leeks a good soaking.

I had prepared a larger area of the bed than I needed for the leeks. I drew out two drills and watered them. Next was to sow a whole packet of Silver skin onions. They will be my pickled onions at Christmas. I then covered the drills up and soaked the area. I will not get back to the lottie this week so I can only hope it will rain or not be too hot during the week so the seeds have a chance to germinate.

I started some Californian Poppies in trays ages ago. They too need planting out and today it was their turn. It and easy enough job if hard on the knees. As I watered in the Poppies I gave the flower seed bed another soaking. I had a walk round the plot and pulled up grass. The grass is types of cereals so the plants are quite big. I just had the grab them at the ground level and "lean" on the plants. The plants just eased out of the ground. The paths look a lot cleaner for the effort. The weeds went in the black compost bins. I had a look in each one. The bins are only half full now as the high heat in the black bins have accelerated the composting process.

In other news, the Parsnips that I planted out are looking well as are the Sweet Peas. The brasiccas have got established and are starting to grow. I dug a little hole on the brasicca bed to find out where the soil was moist. I was not expecting the soil to damp so close to the surface. The plants have got their feet in cool damp soil. The top inch of the soil is dust dry. That has helped keep the weeds down but I still ran the hoe round the plants to see off the last of the weeds.

Back to work net week so no further workon the lottie until next weekend.

Good ideas

After a rushed breakfast I did the poo trailer run. Whilst at the lottie I had a job to do on the new allotments and met a chap interested in Rat eradication by the fishing ponds. All that took up time.On

As promised I went to the bees today with the two jobs in mind:
A.Artificial swarm the big box
B. Mow the grass

I have been reading a couple of books on managing swarms. As you may recall I have a new regime this year. I have not fed the bees any syrup this year. The big box is expected to swarm but I think it for brood box congestion rather than over stimulation. Mr Internet supplied some insights, Ted Hooper's book "A guide to bees and honey" written in 1976 and C de Ribeaucourt's "A manual of rational beekeeping" written in 1876 provided a more considered guidance. It was only when I checked the publishing dates for the blog did I discover that the two book were written a century apart. When I turned up at the apiary at 11am the sun was shining and a gentle breeze wafting across the site. I did as a combined wisdom suggested; I split the hive in two, the frame with the queen cell and all the brood and the bees on the frames were put in a new hive and moved to a new position in the apiary. The "old" queen was left in much depleted hive with any many drawn brood frames as I had available. The remainder of the brood chamber was filled frames of foundation. I put a super back on to provide food. The other super went on the new hive. The books say leave the hives alone for a week. OK then. The old queen's hive will be reinforced during the day and tonight by the returning foragers and those foragers that are currently in the new hive. Once they go out to forage they will return to their old hive not the new one.

The grass is getting very long at the apiary so I took the scythe with me and gave the grass a haircut. Well it was more of a beating. I scythe could do with sharpening.

After a spot of lunch we decided to drive over to Woodhouse Eaves. The village was having an open gardens event. There were 22 homes that opened their garden for charity, the local church I think. The allotments, in the middle of the village, were parts of the open day. They were opened in 1913. I picked up an idea for our lottie. We saw some very nice gardens. Folks really went to town on them. I might have persuaded H to have a summer house or rather a "garden room". The other good thing I saw was angle brackets on the roof of a greenhouse to which a bamboo cane was attached. To the cane was top fixing for the canes supporting the Tomatoes. I smart idea. Pity I did not think of it.

Screening

I had a short visit the lottie today. I cut down the big roll of chicken wire to make of fence across bed2. I planted out the 18 pots of sweet peas to grow up chicken wire. The sweet pea, when they grow, will form a screen. Behind the fence I have placed a paving stone as a base for the bee hive. The base is placed towards the edge of the bed. I drew several drills in the remaining bed and sowed them with flowers.

During the week I went over to Rugby to a small beekeepers suppliers. They do not have a wide ranging or large stock. I bought a proper hive stand and flight board. It is really nicely finished. The chap gets the stuff from Poland. The prices are interesting too.

It was really hot today and it promises to remain so for a few days so I decided to give bed1 & 3 and the top end of beds 2 a good hoeing. My preferred hoe does a great job both when pushed and pulled. I had a bit of a faff round the broad beans of bed 2 and the brassicas of bed3 but it flew through the the open areas. The hot weather should cook the hoed off weeds.Something has eaten a few of my brassicas. Luckily I had some Calebrase seedling that I could use to fill the gaps.

I also drew out a couple of drills and sowed Beetroot. I had a look through seed box and decided that what else I should sow but I was running short of time. I resolved to sow lots of seeds on my next visit.

Stung for my troubles

I dropped into the lottie and fixed the leak on the new trough. The new chap was tending his plot. I said hello. He wanted to talk but I had yet to visit the bees.

I trundled over to the bees via the petrol station for this months quota of fuel. The weather was perfect, sunny yet not blisteringly so with a gentle breeze. I am happy to report that both hives are doing very well. The bees are drawing wax and making honey. The smaller colony is filling out nicely. The larger colony is showing signs of swarming. I must go again on Saturday and sort them out. In the week since I put the fresh super the bees have drawn out most of the frames and filling them with honey. There is a very well placed queen cell which will form the basis of the new colony.

After the bees I went on the search for Elderflowers in bloom. I found a green lane which I trundled down and was rewarded with a massive hedge studded with elderflower. I got a big basket of flowers in a short forage. As I collected the flowers I was showered with pollen. Luckily I am not sensitive to pollen. But I am sensitive to nettles and got stung royally for my troubles. When I got home a set about making Elderflower and wine and champagne. H had got some elderflower too but made elderflower cordial.