Peas and Bees

Slow start this weekend, needed to visit B&Q to get some wood for the pea supports. Sunk them quite deep with the aid of our trusty and ancient sledgehammer and added a cross beam to give more stability. Stapled some chicken wire across the supports and they were ready. Freezing cold by this point so sowing had to wait.

Sowed peas Sunday morning - used up all my saved stock so there are plenty of extras for the mice to pinch. I dry some pods each year to keep the cost down. One more set of supports to put some wire on but I'll sow that one in a few weeks time or we won't keep up with picking and processing.

Beehives in position but the base needs enlarging as they feel too close together which means they probably are. Managed to get some of the edible hedge weeded. Second year of planting and looking good. We bought larger plants than normal as this is an extension of a hedge planted 4 years ago and we didn't want them to take too long to catch up. The edible hedge surrounds the orchard, also planted up last year. The echium sown at the base of some of the fruit trees is coming up, so the bees should be fairly happy when they arrive.