Some time ago decided that the weeds on the ditch adjacent to my plot were compteing with my vines. I dug my petrol strimmer out of the garage and took ten minutes to make sure it was working. The engine yielded to my tender care and started up. After a few minutes it was running properly. I picked up the trailer then went to the lottie. First job was to strim the banks of the ditch. I set off with a will but it was hard going. When the strimmer nylon came in contact with the rabbit fencing it just destroyed itself. Then it took a couple of minutes to reset the nylon. Then, of course, it ran out of petrol. Next a few minutes refilling it and trying to restart it. The strimmer does not like starting when it is hot. It gave in and started so I could finish the job. The strimmer makes a very good job of chopping up the vegetation. I just have to keep on top of it now. Chopping back the weeds showed up the holes under netting where the furry varmints were getting in. I will have to do something about that but I am not sure what.
As Sagely Steve predicted we did have a frost in the week. It put paid to most of my Marigolds and some of the spuds a got a light singeing. I replaced the dead Marigolds with Dahlia's plantlets. The onion patch in Bed1 is being buried under Chickweed. Conscience got the better of me a decide it was time to weed the Onions. It is a painful job. I managed to rake off the worst of the over burden but no matter what I tried I could not get at the weeds growing near the Onions. There was nothing for it but to get down on my hands and knees with the Swan-necked onion hoe and carefully weed round each bulb. Some people like this kind of weeding but not me. 40 minutes of toil cleared the patch without too many losses to the keen edge of the hoe. The middle portion of Bed1 is waiting for plantlets or sowing however the Chickweed is no respecter of allotmenteers plans. The weeds was more robust than in amongst the Onions. An hour of hoeing and raking cleared the area. Between the two areas I weeded I got two very full wheelbarrows of weeds. They fed the compost bin. I was wrecked so took myself home for lunch.
I had a quick bite, a brew and sit down then took the trailer back to the stables. after that I went over the apiary.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Sowing
This evening I took a few minutes to dig in the bucket of manure I bagged from the lottie at the weekend. Now I can or rather H can plant out the remaining Sweet Pea against the new fence. After that I spent an hour or so in the greenhouse filling up seed trays and sowing seeds. I sowed the last of the seeds of Marigolds. After that came Broad beans, French Climbing beans, Calebrase and Lettuce. The trouble is that there is no room in the Greenhouse to put the trays down anywhere.
As the sun went down the air was definately nippy. Will Sagely Steve's forecast of a frost tonight be right?
As the sun went down the air was definately nippy. Will Sagely Steve's forecast of a frost tonight be right?
Beds and Weeds
Sunday was a better day weather wise. I had a good breakfast and bidded farewell to she who must be obeyed and went to the lottie with a van full of seed and trays of plantlets. The first thing I spotted at the lottie was the Asparagus. It is poking through the soil about three inches. They will be ready for next week. I still have some Steve's Quial eggs so a posh plateful is in the offing. I might have a couple of shavings of air dried Ham too.
I had a to weed Bed1 and rake it back to a tilth. It is amazing how well weeds grow. Bed1 seems to be exclusively chick weed. It comes away quite easily and make good compost. That done I sowed several rows of Parsnips. In the same row I sparingly planted Beetroot. The Beet will be up quickly so marking the row for the slow germinating Parsnip. In the next row a dozen Marigolds that I had cultivated in the greenhouse. Then several rows of Chantenay Carrots. These carrot are quite short and conical. Another row of Marigolds. Several more rows of Globe Carrots. another row of Marigolds. Then a couple of rows of Beetroots. I like the Chioggia beetroot which when cut across is red an white striped and has a mild flavour. The a couple of rows of Detroit beetroot. Detroit are quite small but deep crimson but do not have a heavy beetroot punch. I watered everything and thought, what next?
Bed2 is what's next. The weeds in this bed are renegade spuds from last year which have started sprouting. It took half and hour to dig them all up. I then back filled the holes and raked it out flat. Then the gardeners shuffle. Heels together, toes apart then shuffled forward a couple of inches for each "step" keeping your heels on the soil and pressing down when the heel lands on the step forward. Up and down, up and down. This way and that way. The idea is to compact the soil because Brasiccas like a firm seed bed. I pulled up the straggly cabbages that had weathered the winter and ran the hoe round the remaining plants. Bed2 , besides renegade spuds, grows Thistle rather well. I had a trayfull of Greyhound cabbage and a tray of Cauli's to plant out. This I did with the plants in staggered rows so the plants can grow into the spaces. I plant quite close together so the weeds get crowded out. I hope to eat the plants so soon as they are ripe and with luck it might act as a thinning process to let those that remain have more space to grow on.
I had a look at Bed3, the spud bed for this year. The spuds are just poking through. There is a random set of weds in this bed. I could not bring myself to hoe this bed. I will probably do that next week.
The Peas and Broad Beans have been ready to plant out for the last fortnight so have quite outgrown the seed tray. You may remember that I had dug long trenches in Bed4 and filled them with manure. Weeding was the first order. This bed seem to like to grow a different weed again. I think it is Plantain. I have left a few to grow on so I can identify them properly. DaveP gave me some chicken wire with thin posts attached. I laid the wire out flat along one of the trenches, with Pete's help I got the posts and wire into the ground which gave me a long vertical fence to grow the Peas up. I transplanted the Peas from the trays into the trench, leaning the Peas against the wire. Then I back filled the trench from the ridges on either side. Where I ran out of seedling but not wire a planted a whole packet of Pea, Greenshaft in this case. I did the same job on the second trench. Pea seedling again but a different variety. When they ended I planted a whole packet of Petit Pois peas. They are gorgeous to eat. So I am looking forward too them. Not many are likely to get home because I usually eat them straight off the plant. The third row was planted up with Aquadulce BroadBeans. Again these were a little overdue planting out but the two trays gave 48 plants. Planted them in a double row in one trench. The ridges either side of the trench provided back fill for the trench. After a day of activity the lottie looks like it is getting underway. I have a whole spare trench in Bed4 and an area reserved for squashes and Sweet Corn.
Time was ticking on so I did not plant out all I had hoped to do. Weather sage Steve, henceforth referred to Sagely Steve, said that we would have frost this weeks so I decided to keep the Dahlia's in the trays in the greenhouse for another week. I pulled a few sticks of Rhubarb and was ready to trundled home but first had to take the trailer back to the stables.
H had made a lovely tea which, by the time I had emptied Degsy, was ready for me. I was exhausted. I ran a bath, got a glass of Mum's 20 odd year old Pear wine and flopped into the hot water for an hour. I did not even have book. I just lay their thinking about the lottie and what I would do next week.
I had a to weed Bed1 and rake it back to a tilth. It is amazing how well weeds grow. Bed1 seems to be exclusively chick weed. It comes away quite easily and make good compost. That done I sowed several rows of Parsnips. In the same row I sparingly planted Beetroot. The Beet will be up quickly so marking the row for the slow germinating Parsnip. In the next row a dozen Marigolds that I had cultivated in the greenhouse. Then several rows of Chantenay Carrots. These carrot are quite short and conical. Another row of Marigolds. Several more rows of Globe Carrots. another row of Marigolds. Then a couple of rows of Beetroots. I like the Chioggia beetroot which when cut across is red an white striped and has a mild flavour. The a couple of rows of Detroit beetroot. Detroit are quite small but deep crimson but do not have a heavy beetroot punch. I watered everything and thought, what next?
Bed2 is what's next. The weeds in this bed are renegade spuds from last year which have started sprouting. It took half and hour to dig them all up. I then back filled the holes and raked it out flat. Then the gardeners shuffle. Heels together, toes apart then shuffled forward a couple of inches for each "step" keeping your heels on the soil and pressing down when the heel lands on the step forward. Up and down, up and down. This way and that way. The idea is to compact the soil because Brasiccas like a firm seed bed. I pulled up the straggly cabbages that had weathered the winter and ran the hoe round the remaining plants. Bed2 , besides renegade spuds, grows Thistle rather well. I had a trayfull of Greyhound cabbage and a tray of Cauli's to plant out. This I did with the plants in staggered rows so the plants can grow into the spaces. I plant quite close together so the weeds get crowded out. I hope to eat the plants so soon as they are ripe and with luck it might act as a thinning process to let those that remain have more space to grow on.
I had a look at Bed3, the spud bed for this year. The spuds are just poking through. There is a random set of weds in this bed. I could not bring myself to hoe this bed. I will probably do that next week.
The Peas and Broad Beans have been ready to plant out for the last fortnight so have quite outgrown the seed tray. You may remember that I had dug long trenches in Bed4 and filled them with manure. Weeding was the first order. This bed seem to like to grow a different weed again. I think it is Plantain. I have left a few to grow on so I can identify them properly. DaveP gave me some chicken wire with thin posts attached. I laid the wire out flat along one of the trenches, with Pete's help I got the posts and wire into the ground which gave me a long vertical fence to grow the Peas up. I transplanted the Peas from the trays into the trench, leaning the Peas against the wire. Then I back filled the trench from the ridges on either side. Where I ran out of seedling but not wire a planted a whole packet of Pea, Greenshaft in this case. I did the same job on the second trench. Pea seedling again but a different variety. When they ended I planted a whole packet of Petit Pois peas. They are gorgeous to eat. So I am looking forward too them. Not many are likely to get home because I usually eat them straight off the plant. The third row was planted up with Aquadulce BroadBeans. Again these were a little overdue planting out but the two trays gave 48 plants. Planted them in a double row in one trench. The ridges either side of the trench provided back fill for the trench. After a day of activity the lottie looks like it is getting underway. I have a whole spare trench in Bed4 and an area reserved for squashes and Sweet Corn.
Time was ticking on so I did not plant out all I had hoped to do. Weather sage Steve, henceforth referred to Sagely Steve, said that we would have frost this weeks so I decided to keep the Dahlia's in the trays in the greenhouse for another week. I pulled a few sticks of Rhubarb and was ready to trundled home but first had to take the trailer back to the stables.
H had made a lovely tea which, by the time I had emptied Degsy, was ready for me. I was exhausted. I ran a bath, got a glass of Mum's 20 odd year old Pear wine and flopped into the hot water for an hour. I did not even have book. I just lay their thinking about the lottie and what I would do next week.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Flight Boarding
Saturday was supposed to be catch up at the lottie day and empty the Greenhouse. I woke up to a grey day and a strong chance of rain. The rain came on whilst I had breakfast. No lottie today. Again it was showers but prolonged ones. I decide that I should build the flight boards for the new hives. It 's a job that needs doing but to do it I had to clear the shed out then tidy it up. Whilst I was at it I did an inventory of the wine stock. A bit thin. I will have to do something about that. With the shed tidied up I had a bit of room to work. I got the necessary tools from the garage and set up the work bench outside.
The flight boards sit under the floor of the hive and protrudes in front of the entrance to the hive. They are called flight boards but they are more like crash landing boards. When the bees come back from foraging they can be heavy with nectar and pollen and/or be tired, they can also be a bit cold in both cases their flight control can be a bit off. The flight board gives them a place to alight or crash land, as the case maybe, and walk into the the hive entrance. Some beekeepers have large entrances to their hive so there is a bigger gap for the bees to go for. A small entrance is easier for the bees to defence against their arch enemy, Wasps. My hives were badly attacked by wasps until I closed the entrance down. I put down the loss of one hive to raiding by wasps. They robbed the honey stores and weakened the colony by killing many Bees outright but also [in my opinion] the by diversion of energy from being a hive and doing Bee like things to one of constant defence. The entrance is now one Bee high [10mm - 3/8"] and 50mm [2"] long instead of 15x450mm [1/2x18"].
Since I started keeping Bees again Vorroa has become an issue. My hives are free of the pest I am glad to say but a tactic to combat the mite is to have hive floors made out of mesh. The mites piggyback the bees but do get brushed off against other Bees in the colony as a natural occurrence. The mesh keeps the undesirables out but lets the mites fall thought onto the ground outside the hive. My hives are 18" off the ground so that is a long walk back when you are only 2mm long. Hives need ventilation which used to mean a big entrance because the floor were solid. I have decided that the mesh floor is adequate ventilation so a small entrance can be used. The hive with small entrance kept the wasps out, The mesh floor gave good ventilation throughout the summer. I even left the mesh floor open throughout the winter. The colony came through the winter unscathed. I have a theory that I might explain at another time. But back to the flight board.
When finished the flight board is about 4" deep and the width of the hive. I have mine sloping away from the entrance, partly to throw the rain away from the hive but also bees, like sheep, prefer to walk up hill to the entrance. For the flight board you need; two side pieces, a back piece to join the ends of the side pieces and a board to join the side pieces at the front. You cut the side pieces long enough to give you an over hang at the front then make a bird bill cut to give you a slope. I used 2x1" PAR for the side and back piece and a 18x4" piece of marine ply for the flight board. Glue and nail the the four pieces together and set a side for the glue to dry. I had three to make. I cut all the bit to size first then assemble them in one go. Whilst the glue dried I had a brew. Brew done, glue dry and it had stopped raining I got the waterproof paint out and slopped on a few coats to give the timber a bit a weather protection. My trousers are waterproof too. I was a bit liberal with the paint! I set the flight boards aside to dry in the shed.
One of the hive roofs I bought came without the rim that spaces the roof off the top of the crown board. I bought a piece of 3/4x 1/2" edging from Wickes, cut to size and fixed it in position with glue and nails. I was a bit more careful with the paint this time which gave it a nice-ish finish.
Now I am completely ready for the season. I have four complete hives each with three supers. One hive is occupied and my Nuc of bees arrives in two weeks time for which a hive will be required. That leaves me with two spare hives. I suspect they too will be occupied by the end of the season but that's another story.
The flight boards sit under the floor of the hive and protrudes in front of the entrance to the hive. They are called flight boards but they are more like crash landing boards. When the bees come back from foraging they can be heavy with nectar and pollen and/or be tired, they can also be a bit cold in both cases their flight control can be a bit off. The flight board gives them a place to alight or crash land, as the case maybe, and walk into the the hive entrance. Some beekeepers have large entrances to their hive so there is a bigger gap for the bees to go for. A small entrance is easier for the bees to defence against their arch enemy, Wasps. My hives were badly attacked by wasps until I closed the entrance down. I put down the loss of one hive to raiding by wasps. They robbed the honey stores and weakened the colony by killing many Bees outright but also [in my opinion] the by diversion of energy from being a hive and doing Bee like things to one of constant defence. The entrance is now one Bee high [10mm - 3/8"] and 50mm [2"] long instead of 15x450mm [1/2x18"].
Since I started keeping Bees again Vorroa has become an issue. My hives are free of the pest I am glad to say but a tactic to combat the mite is to have hive floors made out of mesh. The mites piggyback the bees but do get brushed off against other Bees in the colony as a natural occurrence. The mesh keeps the undesirables out but lets the mites fall thought onto the ground outside the hive. My hives are 18" off the ground so that is a long walk back when you are only 2mm long. Hives need ventilation which used to mean a big entrance because the floor were solid. I have decided that the mesh floor is adequate ventilation so a small entrance can be used. The hive with small entrance kept the wasps out, The mesh floor gave good ventilation throughout the summer. I even left the mesh floor open throughout the winter. The colony came through the winter unscathed. I have a theory that I might explain at another time. But back to the flight board.
When finished the flight board is about 4" deep and the width of the hive. I have mine sloping away from the entrance, partly to throw the rain away from the hive but also bees, like sheep, prefer to walk up hill to the entrance. For the flight board you need; two side pieces, a back piece to join the ends of the side pieces and a board to join the side pieces at the front. You cut the side pieces long enough to give you an over hang at the front then make a bird bill cut to give you a slope. I used 2x1" PAR for the side and back piece and a 18x4" piece of marine ply for the flight board. Glue and nail the the four pieces together and set a side for the glue to dry. I had three to make. I cut all the bit to size first then assemble them in one go. Whilst the glue dried I had a brew. Brew done, glue dry and it had stopped raining I got the waterproof paint out and slopped on a few coats to give the timber a bit a weather protection. My trousers are waterproof too. I was a bit liberal with the paint! I set the flight boards aside to dry in the shed.
One of the hive roofs I bought came without the rim that spaces the roof off the top of the crown board. I bought a piece of 3/4x 1/2" edging from Wickes, cut to size and fixed it in position with glue and nails. I was a bit more careful with the paint this time which gave it a nice-ish finish.
Now I am completely ready for the season. I have four complete hives each with three supers. One hive is occupied and my Nuc of bees arrives in two weeks time for which a hive will be required. That leaves me with two spare hives. I suspect they too will be occupied by the end of the season but that's another story.
Shell shocked
The other evening H and I were having a chat over a glass of a nice Argentinian Malbec we had a sudden and horrific realisation.
It was May Day Bank holiday, which fell on the 5th May that year, that we first met...............30 YEARS AGO.
That cannot be right can it?
It was May Day Bank holiday, which fell on the 5th May that year, that we first met...............30 YEARS AGO.
That cannot be right can it?
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Pottering
After Tea I went out into the garden. There is a big Sorrel that is in the wrong place. I set about it and managed to get it out in less than ten minutes. H now has another couple of feet of Sweet Peas to plant out against the new trellis. Since it took me less time than I had thought I decided to do some pottering in the greenhouse. I had picked up some potting compost on Monday. I used it to fill up the big blue crates then planted up the Tomato plantlets. Whilst I was about it and the light remained I sowed Cauli's, Sweet Corn, Gherkins and Courgettes. The light was starting to fade so I finished off by organising a hose to the greenhouse and watering everything. Since I had the hose in my hand I gave the trees in the garden a dousing. Jobs done I came in for a brew.
Good intentions
I had good intentions for the weekend it being a Bank Holiday. Saturday I went with H to Wales. We went to Conway and had a look round the castle. I have been to Conway dozens of times. When I used to sail the yacht we used was moored at Conway marina but I don't think I have every toured round one of Edward I's "Iron ring" of castles. Click HERE for a website. We also took a walk round the city walls and treated ourselves to an ice cream.
I had to do the trailer run on Sunday morning. I also said I would give Steve a hand wrangling some big paving stones from his trailer to his plot. Steve made a brew so we repaired to the bench on the plot and had a chat. We sat for ages just chewing the fat and watching the birds flitting about.
H has been going on about outdoor rooms. In a weak moment I agreed to build a "wall" for the room. H also has this thing about doors into gardens. I went off to B&Q and bought some posts, meta-posts and panels. I used four post to make a gateway of the decking into the garden. Between the pair of posts on either side of the "gate" I fixed a trellis. I dug in a scaffold board to form an edge to the lawn and the flower bed. I then planted four vertical posts along the scaffold boards and screwed them to it. To the posts I screwed more trellis. I made it all vertical, level and square. The edge of the trellis finishes a foot from the boundary fence. There is a really nice Rose that grows in the hedge. I wrestled the straggly Rose branches down to the trellis and tied it in. At the bottom the trellis I dug a trench, filled it with manure from the lottie and back filled it. I also added some mesh along the bottom of the trellis to help the Sweet Pea that H is to plant later in the week.
In the few minutes before Tea I knocked together a frame that was going to be part of the support for the new bee hives. I painted it with waterproofer and left it overnight. I loaded Degsy up with the tools for building the hive stand tomorrow. H made a smashing dinner of Steak accompanied by a nice bottle of wine from the shed.
Monday was a Bank Holiday. I had a lie in for a change. The first one for ages. I had to see the bees but the heavy showers made it hot and miss affair. In the end I just went even though it was raining. By the time I got to the apiary the shower had passed. It took a few minutes to decide where to put the new stand. Having made the decision I banged in four meta-post as legs. I was about to screw the deck to the legs when a shower blew. I sat in Degsy and read a few pages of my book. When the rain passed I screwed the deck to the legs, checked the level and tidied up. I judged that no showers would be on me anytime soon. I got dressed for bee fettling then set about opening hive. The ladies are taking in a good amount of honey. The brood chamber is getting full. That means the queen is working well. There is quite a bit of brace comb so the bees want to build wax comb. I took a spare brood chamber with me and decided to put it on the hive. I hope it might stop the hive swarming. As the bees are building comb and there will be lots of young bees soon and they to will want to build comb the brood box of foundation should give them something to do. I reassembled the hive and topped up the feeder. As I was leaving I bumped into the farmer in whose meadow the hives live. We had a chat for ten minutes or so until a shower had us running for cover. I trundled home and parked Degsy up for another week.
I did a few things this weekend but got nothing done at the lottie despite my good intentions.
I had to do the trailer run on Sunday morning. I also said I would give Steve a hand wrangling some big paving stones from his trailer to his plot. Steve made a brew so we repaired to the bench on the plot and had a chat. We sat for ages just chewing the fat and watching the birds flitting about.
H has been going on about outdoor rooms. In a weak moment I agreed to build a "wall" for the room. H also has this thing about doors into gardens. I went off to B&Q and bought some posts, meta-posts and panels. I used four post to make a gateway of the decking into the garden. Between the pair of posts on either side of the "gate" I fixed a trellis. I dug in a scaffold board to form an edge to the lawn and the flower bed. I then planted four vertical posts along the scaffold boards and screwed them to it. To the posts I screwed more trellis. I made it all vertical, level and square. The edge of the trellis finishes a foot from the boundary fence. There is a really nice Rose that grows in the hedge. I wrestled the straggly Rose branches down to the trellis and tied it in. At the bottom the trellis I dug a trench, filled it with manure from the lottie and back filled it. I also added some mesh along the bottom of the trellis to help the Sweet Pea that H is to plant later in the week.
In the few minutes before Tea I knocked together a frame that was going to be part of the support for the new bee hives. I painted it with waterproofer and left it overnight. I loaded Degsy up with the tools for building the hive stand tomorrow. H made a smashing dinner of Steak accompanied by a nice bottle of wine from the shed.
Monday was a Bank Holiday. I had a lie in for a change. The first one for ages. I had to see the bees but the heavy showers made it hot and miss affair. In the end I just went even though it was raining. By the time I got to the apiary the shower had passed. It took a few minutes to decide where to put the new stand. Having made the decision I banged in four meta-post as legs. I was about to screw the deck to the legs when a shower blew. I sat in Degsy and read a few pages of my book. When the rain passed I screwed the deck to the legs, checked the level and tidied up. I judged that no showers would be on me anytime soon. I got dressed for bee fettling then set about opening hive. The ladies are taking in a good amount of honey. The brood chamber is getting full. That means the queen is working well. There is quite a bit of brace comb so the bees want to build wax comb. I took a spare brood chamber with me and decided to put it on the hive. I hope it might stop the hive swarming. As the bees are building comb and there will be lots of young bees soon and they to will want to build comb the brood box of foundation should give them something to do. I reassembled the hive and topped up the feeder. As I was leaving I bumped into the farmer in whose meadow the hives live. We had a chat for ten minutes or so until a shower had us running for cover. I trundled home and parked Degsy up for another week.
I did a few things this weekend but got nothing done at the lottie despite my good intentions.
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