Today is the 21st of March and we had a light frost last night. The temp was 34 when I got up this morning but must have dipped lower at some point last night. The Irish potatoes at the far western end of the row show some slight damage but not enough to outright kill them. I hope. The ones at the beginning of the row show no damage at all. It's a good thing that I closed the lid on the cold frame yesterday evening or all of the tomato and bell peppers that have come up from last years seed would have surely not made it. Last Friday brother and I made a trip to Mansura to pick up his car from the mechanics shop and on the way home I picked up some transplants from the local nursery. I got 6 Cherokee purple, 6 Creole, and 6 cherry tomatoes. As well as 6 egg plant and 6 bell peppers. The ones in the cold frame are not quite ready to be put out. Funny how I always end up with too many plants and not enough space in the garden.
The corn is up and shows no damage from the frost and really is probably ready for a side dressing of fertilizer. I'll probably hit the beets and carrots with some at the same time. Ineed to hill up the potatoes also. I am going to try using the mulch that I got from the molding shop for this an see how it work out. Some of the potatoes that I planted late summer last year were planted in this mulch an did pretty good. I had several folks tell me that it wouldn't work but the potatoes didn't seem to know that. They didn't get real big, about the size of a tennis ball, but tasted just fine.
Monday, March 21, 2016
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Bees Swarm
Well I've put off posting this as long as I can. Earlier this week maybe Wednesday the Easter hive swarmed on me. It's not like they didn't give any advance warning or anything like that. We had a really wet week the previous week and there were actually bees bearded on the outside of the hive during the 4.5" that we got last Friday. I know I know what's the matter with you fat boy can't you see and understand if all the bees can't fit in the hive during a storm then they are bound to swarm.
It all started while I was putting a few bulbs in the bed next to the hydrangeas and I heard this buzzing sound. I stopped and listened for a few seconds and knew it sounded like bees. Looking over at the bee yard and there is a cloud of bees that looks like it's 15 feet in diameter floating up from the Easter hive. They didn't stop till well ensconced on a pine tree limb about 30 feet in the air. There was nothing I could do... except put the trap hive I'd been working on last week on top of a 24 foot ladder tieing another ladder to it making an a-frame monstrosity that didn't fool them for a minute.
After my wife and I got this thing up we sat down and waited. Within 30 minutes while we were watching a softball sized clump of bees fell from the swarm and exploded in flight within 10 minutes the whole swarm was 60 feet off the ground headed southeast. I tried to follow behind them with a big cardboard box in hand. Half an hour later my wife found me about half a mile from the house in the middle of the tree farm next to our place. The bees... nowhere in site.
All I can say is I'm trying to do better. I've built new boxes and installed them on the hives that John and I transferred the week before. See this link for one such transfer, five frame nuc to full sized box
Now I need to get 5 other hives down the road home and worked also.
It all started while I was putting a few bulbs in the bed next to the hydrangeas and I heard this buzzing sound. I stopped and listened for a few seconds and knew it sounded like bees. Looking over at the bee yard and there is a cloud of bees that looks like it's 15 feet in diameter floating up from the Easter hive. They didn't stop till well ensconced on a pine tree limb about 30 feet in the air. There was nothing I could do... except put the trap hive I'd been working on last week on top of a 24 foot ladder tieing another ladder to it making an a-frame monstrosity that didn't fool them for a minute.
After my wife and I got this thing up we sat down and waited. Within 30 minutes while we were watching a softball sized clump of bees fell from the swarm and exploded in flight within 10 minutes the whole swarm was 60 feet off the ground headed southeast. I tried to follow behind them with a big cardboard box in hand. Half an hour later my wife found me about half a mile from the house in the middle of the tree farm next to our place. The bees... nowhere in site.
All I can say is I'm trying to do better. I've built new boxes and installed them on the hives that John and I transferred the week before. See this link for one such transfer, five frame nuc to full sized box
Now I need to get 5 other hives down the road home and worked also.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Nuc to full size box
Nuc to full sized box
This past weekend John and I finally moved the last of the three Nuc hives that we have to a full sized 10 frame box.
Click the link for a video.
https://youtu.be/2mfby_wr8fw
We both know now that he should hold the camera sideways to get a full frame shot. Hopefully we can post more a little later.
Beets are up.
The beets that were planted mid February are growing wide open. It took a full two weeks for them to germinate.They are an experimental planting. Just to see how late in spring beets could be planted and still make something before bolting into seed. We'll see if the planting dates that LSU suggested will actually work. The latest date they gave was the 28th of February. With our early spring, thanks Phil, I am wondering if they will make it.
I have a good collection of used bricks and several old wood framed windows. So I put together as a cold frame in the garden to get a start of tomatoes, bell peppers, and egg plants. So far only some of the tomatoes are coming up. I think that the soil isn't quite warm enough for the others.
Hope to get around to canning some pork meat today, that should be the next post.
This past weekend John and I finally moved the last of the three Nuc hives that we have to a full sized 10 frame box.
Click the link for a video.
https://youtu.be/2mfby_wr8fw
We both know now that he should hold the camera sideways to get a full frame shot. Hopefully we can post more a little later.
Beets are up.
The beets that were planted mid February are growing wide open. It took a full two weeks for them to germinate.They are an experimental planting. Just to see how late in spring beets could be planted and still make something before bolting into seed. We'll see if the planting dates that LSU suggested will actually work. The latest date they gave was the 28th of February. With our early spring, thanks Phil, I am wondering if they will make it.
I have a good collection of used bricks and several old wood framed windows. So I put together as a cold frame in the garden to get a start of tomatoes, bell peppers, and egg plants. So far only some of the tomatoes are coming up. I think that the soil isn't quite warm enough for the others.
Hope to get around to canning some pork meat today, that should be the next post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)