The Life of a Beekeeper - The Big Day Arrives

20 May 2012  The 'Big Day' has arrived. All the preparation done: hives bought in kit form and built, lessons attended, books and websites read.

Practical workshop today at Thornes near Lincoln and they very kindly let us pick our bees up at the same time. Felt slightly nervy on the drive back, with a few thousand bees strapped into the back seat but thankfully only one was loose. Only one, she says, which unfortunately we had to let out of the window after about 40 miles as it became too interested in me, the driver!

We placed the nuc on the hive stand and left it until evening. We then transferred the 6 frame nucleus which was very full of bees, into the hive. Our smoker went out almost immediately but because of the practical we had had earlier, when we had the same problem, having inspected so many hives, we were confident enough to go ahead. The bees seemed very calm which added to our confidence. We thought we spotted the queen, unmarked, but couldn't be absolutely certain and we couldn't hang around as the priority was to get them into the hive. Five new frames of foundation were added and a gallon of syrup in a contact feeder.

When making the feeder up it would have been useful to know that when you turn it over the syrup pours out. We thought the feeder was leaking but it actually stops very quickly and some of the syrup running into the hive doesn't do it any harm, as it tells the bees that there is food for them.

Oh what Folly!

OK, we dug a pond, a few years ago.  It was a big pond and as we had very few beds at that time, there was nowhere to put the soil, so we made a 'mound'.  Well, we figured as we live in a flat area it would, and it does, give us a view over the surrounding farmland.  We sowed some grass seed and a couple of pounds of wildflower seeds and it looked fantastic the first year.  After that, it wasn't so good, mainly as the poppies didn't appear again and the more invasive wildflowers took over, something we have now seen repeated at a garden and nursery we like to visit, Breezy Knees, outside York.

We stripped it off earlier this year and sowed some Medallion lawn seed, available from Rolawn Ltd.  It looked very nice but needed something on top.  I favoured a hololith but they're expensive.  So being the recyclers that we are, we decided to build a folly from a pollarded willow.  We'd already created a new willow tree and a willow arch from it, so why not a folly?  After a very hot morning digging deep holes to bury the willow in and tying it together, we were pleased with the result.  It will take several months to know if it has worked but should be worth the wait and will be a lovely picnic spot. Or it may be complete and utter folly! What's gardening without experimentation.

It's Red, Wooden and Californian

Having been blown away by the Californian Redwoods on the Rhinefield Ornamental Drive in the New Forest and in the Peebles area of Scotland, as soon as we had a garden large enough we purchased two redwoods and planted them in the middle of the garden.  This was in 2008 and we then proceeded to build the rest of the garden round them.  We planted them to what I am assured allows for the width they will eventually become, although I suspect we will have to cut an archway through them, if we want to be able to continue to access the orchard through the existing arch!

We positioned the summerhouse so that they will provide some shade on the hottest days.  If I'm honest, we didn't really think this one through but there are plenty of other areas we can sunbathe in, in 10 years time, when there probably won't be much sun at the summerhouse at all.  South is the direction behind us, so the only thing they will provide shade for is the summerhouse which give us plenty of apples and pears for the scrumpy as the orchard develops.

The Redwoods are growing at a rate of knots and each year we take a photograph to map their growth.  Our little cat, Missi, usually joins in as she doesn't like to be left out and loves a walk round the garden.

I have now dug a decent border for them and underplanted them with dwarf echium raised from seed and forget-me-nots transplanted from self-seedlings, for the bees to enjoy.  We have honey bees for the first time this year and a bumblebee nest under the summerhouse decking so a few more bee friendly plants won't go amiss.

Dandelion Wine

Dandelions are out in force at the moment, so why not benefit from them and make yourself some wine. There are so many of them that there will still be plenty of little rays of sunshine left to brighten your day, or not, depending on where they are growing!

Best picked in the morning, in sunshine. It will take you about half an hour but all that bending will be good for the waistline.

Ingredients

Pick enough heads so that the petals loosely fill a gallon container

4.5 litres of water
1.5kg sugar
Zest and juice of 4 lemons
500g raisins, chopped or squashed by putting in a carrier bag and pounding, or 200ml can of white grape juice concentrate
1 sachet of white wine yeast
Yeast nutrient


Hold the base of the head of the flower and snip the petals off. You will get sticky fingers!
Boil the water and pour over the petals, cover and leave for a couple of days, giving the mixture an occasional stir.
Pour the mixture into a large saucepan and add the lemon zest (try not to include pith as that can make it bitter).  Bring to the boil then stir in the sugar until dissolved. Continue to boil for five minutes. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and the crushed raisins or grape juice concentrate.
Pour the mix into a clean fermenting bucket and cover until cool, then add the yeast and yeast nutrient and cover once again. If your fermentation bucket has a lid, still cover it with a cloth to make sure fruit flies can't enter it. 
Ferment for three or four days then transfer into a demijohn using a sterilised sieve and funnel. Fit a bubble trap and allow to ferment for a couple of months. Rack off into a fresh demijohn, leave it until clear then bottle. Enjoy.

Compost Awareness Week 6-12 May

It's International Compost Awareness Week from 6-12 May 2012, so a compost blog seemed apt.

Instead of filling up the bins for the council and increasing what goes to landfill why not have a go at making your own compost. You can compost most things – green waste includes

uncooked kitchen waste, i.e. vegetable and fruit peelings, teabags, eggshells, grass clippings (don’t add too many) and brown waste is low density cardboard such as toilet roll tubes and cereal boxes, old bedding plants and shredded paper. Some scrunched up paper can also be added. Whatever you do, make sure you have a good mixture of contents, including green and brown waste. Twiggy material is best chopped up as you’re adding it, or it will take longer to break down. Nettles soaked in water and added to the bin act as a good, natural activator and will help to break down the contents.

Compost bins are readily available at garden centres, DIY stores and online. Your local council will also have reasonably priced bins on their website. Alternatively, you can make your own bin from wood. We have created three large bins in a screened area of our garden. The front of the bins have removable planks to enable easy

emptying of the bins. When we decide a bin is full, we cover it with some old carpet or cardboard which helps to keep the heat in and break down the contents into lovely, friable, compost. You do have to wait though but it’s definitely worth it. It should be ready after 6-12 months but may need longer if the mixture is not quite right. If your bins are too dry add some more green waste or add some water.

Leaves can be added to your bin in small quantities but are better dealt with separately. You can fill old compost bags (well, you’ll probably still have to buy some) with leaves. Make sure the bags have plenty of holes in them and leave in a corner until they’ve broken down.  A small amount of grass clippings can also be added, making sure you mix it well. After a year you have your own soil conditioner.

We also have a wormery which we put uncooked food waste in, but don't add anything from the onion family as they think they're icky. Wormeries produce compost but also a liquid feed which should be watered down by half before using.

If you’re making new beds and taking grass up to do so, create a loam pile. Add the sods face down. The outside of the loam pile may look a bit hairy (unless you cover it) but when you dig into it, the resulting loam can be put back onto your borders.

Weeds are slightly more difficult to deal with. Annuals can be added straight to the bin, if they haven’t already seeded. These include my pet hate, chickweed. For perennial weeds such as dandelions, couch grass, mare’s tail and bindweed, chop these up into an old compost bag or bin liner, again making sure they have plenty of holes in. Leave in the sun and once broken down in a messy sludge, add to the compost bin. To be honest you’re probably best dealing with all the weeds in this way as it is extremely difficult when weeding to separate them, well it certainly is in my garden! And yes, you can add rhubarb leaves to the compost.

Make your own seed compost by mixing one part sharp sand, one part compost and one part well rotted leaf mould. This will give you an ideal blend to plant your seeds and young plants in.

Drought proofing or art installation?

I'm sure most of us tend to have good intentions to install water butts but if you're anything like us, there is always something better to do in the garden and something a bit more exciting to spend your money on. But there's no point in pretending to be green and recycling as much as you can if you don't save some rainwater as well.

The current drought and hosepipe bans further south gave us the impetus and we duly ordered six water butts from Yorkshire Water, not expecting to receive them very quickly as sales soar in a ban. The guttering was installed on the summerhouse roof and we awaited their arrival. Not surprisingly it took almost four weeks. They arrived on Thursday and the sun shone on Friday, for the first time in a long time. Installed on Saturday we now have a water butt farm which will hold 1200 litres. It's rained incessantly today and two of the butts were a quarter full at lunchtime.

We had one water butt by the house but nothing further down the garden and wanted to ensure that the fruit trees planted last year, the grapevines and the newly planted border didn't run short of water. I'm pleased with how they look and if we find them intrusive, we'll just plant another hedge.

Of course, you don't have to buy water butts - ask around and you may be able to pick up some plastic drums. These work just as well, you will have to purchase connectors and diverters but at a fraction of the cost.

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.