Upgraded and ready for a new year!
OK. All my blogging software is up to date, I have nice weather ahead to work, and there is no excuse to not write about my fun in the yard…
The bees have done well this winter. There are, of course, only two hives that survived the winter (the smaller one died off last fall), plus Matt and Kristin’s hive next door. Today I was in there checking on them, and decided to make up some invert sugar solution for the back hive, to ensure that they have enough food to get a good strong start to the year. The 1:1 invert sugar was made according to a recipe I found on-line, although I only made about 2.5 quarts, which is enough for the one hive. The other hive looks to be going strong and doesn’t seem to need any help right now. With luck, I’ll be able to split both into new hives (I’m taking a second-year beekeeping class with Glen Andresen in April) and end up with four nice, strong hives. We shall see…
Oh, also… I found this neat little on-line applet that shows about how far bees will travel to forage. Most impressive.
The grapes that I transplanted are coming along nicely, and the remaining ones that haven’t already been pulled will likely end up in a new home, alive, with a friend-of-a-friend. Not sure when the trees are going to come, but I intend to start prepping the ground and laying out the nano-orchard today or tomorrow. The ground tends to be dense with clay, so I will be mixing in lots of organic material and breaking it up so that the roots can go down deep enough to not be shocked by a few hot days (which, as it turns out, is what happened with the grapes).
Lots to do, and it’s only February! My neighbor pointed out that we made it through January without a single night going below freezing. What that means for the growing season is anyone’s guess, but it’s here and ready for action! I suppose I should go start my tomatoes…
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...