English country garden and allotment gardening diary blog week six february 5 to 11

GARDENING BLOG

Week twenty six June 24th - July 1st

2004
We are in a wet cold spell - great for planting out but not good for honey production. I am still digging out bind weed from my bind weed free area - it looks as though I won't be able to plant permanent plants there this autumn (like raspberries) - so it will be a lettuce and spinach bed there next year and I will keep digging the weed out until I get a weed free year. I will muck the area and water it well next year in order to give the weed every encouragement to grow fast and early so that I can find it a root it out.

Planted out more spring cauliflower.

2002

26/6/2002 Watering, weeding, feeding, picking, drying, hoeing, digging, planting, cooking and eating - not much time left for writing.

Cropped the first sown shallots. My first sown shallots were planted the day before the traditional shortest day and over 30% have bolted and thrown up flower spikes. Those sown just a little later didn't have a single flower head. So much for traditional planting times.

This year I have six beehives on two each on three separate sites.

The two on my allotment were created out of one earlier in the year when the queen escaped from the brood box and there were eggs everywhere other than where they should be. That queen was new last year so I have one 2001 queen and one 2002 queen. As a result of the hive being split neither has a very large number of bees in it.

The two hives in the apiary did both have queens until recently. Now one has a queen cell isolated three days ago and the other had a queen cell put in a couple of weeks ago. They were both sizable hives with a good number of bees in them.

Out of the two hives on Geoff's new allotment the smaller one has a queen and the cottager has yet to be checked.

All in all, although the weather is now hot and sunny, I don't see this being a great year for honey production, but it might end with six bee hives with queens in instead of four, and five out of those six will be this years queens so next year could be good.

June 26th 1999

June 30th 1999
Checked the bees. As feared the queen has swarmed and left the hive. The remaining bees have been making queen cells in her absence. I have reduced the number of queen cells to one only. I will have to check them again in a few days time as they will probably make more.

June 29th
A beautiful evening at the end of a wet day. More cabbages planted. This time in between part of the row of broad beans that have been cropping well for the last couple of weeks. I'm cutting the plants down as I crop them out, leaving a few pods on selected plants for next years seed. The dense cover of the beans has kept the weeds under control and the cabbages will enjoy the nitrogen nodules on the beans roots later on when the roots rot away. Sowed long white radish seed and Cherry Bell under the apple tree where the earlier sowing has now come into crop.

June 27th 1999
Again the weather changed and more lettuces planted out. Chinese cabbage seed sown.

Another warm day at the end of a changeable week. The bees, that were put onto the allotment some weeks ago as a small new hive, were looking a little restless. Although I had checked them a couple of weeks ago when they still had plenty of space and a marked queen in residence it seemed like a good idea to have another look. No space left. Plenty of buzzy bees and Queen cells. One queen cell was capped so I have either just caught them in time by removing the cells or they have already tried to swarm and lost a queen (I couldn't find her). There were eggs in place so she was there three days ago. I will have to check again in four days time to see if there are still eggs in place, even if I can't find a queen. At least they now have plenty of additional space to move into with a spare brood box on top. (to be replaced with a super as soon as I can get a one from the apiary)

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patrick@laslett.info



		GARDENING BLOG Week twenty six June 24th - July 1st 2004 We are in a wet cold spell - great for planting out but not good for honey production. I am still digging out bind weed from my bind weed free area - it looks as though I won't be able to plant permanent plants there this autumn (like raspberries) - so it will be a lettuce and spinach bed there next year and I will keep digging the weed out until I get a weed free year. I will muck the area and water it well next year in order to give the weed every encouragement to grow fast and early so that I can find it a root it out. Planted out more spring cauliflower. 2002 26/6/2002 Watering, weeding, feeding, picking, drying, hoeing, digging, planting, cooking and eating - not much time left for writing. Cropped the first sown shallots. My first sown shallots were planted the day before the traditional shortest day and over 30% have bolted and thrown up flower spikes. Those sown just a little later didn't have a single flower head. So much for traditional planting times. This year I have six beehives on two each on three separate sites. The two on my allotment were created out of one earlier in the year when the queen escaped from the brood box and there were eggs everywhere other than where they should be. That queen was new last year so I have one 2001 queen and one 2002 queen. As a result of the hive being split neither has a very large number of bees in it. The two hives in the apiary did both have queens until recently. Now one has a queen cell isolated three days ago and the other had a queen cell put in a couple of weeks ago. They were both sizable hives with a good number of bees in them. Out of the two hives on Geoff's new allotment the smaller one has a queen and the cottager has yet to be checked. All in all, although the weather is now hot and sunny, I don't see this being a great year for honey production, but it might end with six bee hives with queens in instead of four, and five out of those six will be this years queens so next year could be good. June 26th 1999 June 30th 1999 Checked the bees. As feared the queen has swarmed and left the hive. The remaining bees have been making queen cells in her absence. I have reduced the number of queen cells to one only. I will have to check them again in a few days time as they will probably make more. June 29th A beautiful evening at the end of a wet day. More cabbages planted. This time in between part of the row of broad beans that have been cropping well for the last couple of weeks. I'm cutting the plants down as I crop them out, leaving a few pods on selected plants for next years seed. The dense cover of the beans has kept the weeds under control and the cabbages will enjoy the nitrogen nodules on the beans roots later on when the roots rot away. Sowed long white radish seed and Cherry Bell under the apple tree where the earlier sowing has now come into crop. June 27th 1999 Again the weather changed and more lettuces planted out. Chinese cabbage seed sown. Another warm day at the end of a changeable week. The bees, that were put onto the allotment some weeks ago as a small new hive, were looking a little restless. Although I had checked them a couple of weeks ago when they still had plenty of space and a marked queen in residence it seemed like a good idea to have another look. No space left. Plenty of buzzy bees and Queen cells. One queen cell was capped so I have either just caught them in time by removing the cells or they have already tried to swarm and lost a queen (I couldn't find her). There were eggs in place so she was there three days ago. I will have to check again in four days time to see if there are still eggs in place, even if I can't find a queen. At least they now have plenty of additional space to move into with a spare brood box on top. (to be replaced with a super as soon as I can get a one from the apiary) // gardening diary // gardening links // gardening catalogues // gardening home // Thompson & Morgan - Online Catalogues and Gardening Information patrick@laslett.info	Gardening links Catalogues Photo libraries Photographers Artists Illustrators Shallots SEED SWAP Courgette Cabbages Queen bee Cauliflower