Monthly Archives: May 2024

Memory Lane, 26th May 2023

Posted on May 16, 2024 by james

A few views of the veggie plot as it stands today.

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Time to be a mummy chicken

Posted on May 16, 2024 by james

I’m a little late getting around to it this year because of the way everything is happening everywhere all at once, but last night we put two and a half dozen hatching eggs in the incubators. I actually only ordered … Continue reading →

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More super frames

Posted on May 16, 2024 by james

Yup, I’m still going… About eighty-five frames done now, mostly new, but also some old ones re-waxed. I’m getting towards the end of my store of wired foundation now. I think I have fifteen sheets left of all those that … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 22nd May 2023: Swarm in a bucket

Posted on May 16, 2024 by james

After three weeks and twenty-one swarms I was starting to run out of kit that I’d never thought I’d use again, let alone the “good stuff”. I ended up shaking this swarm into a bucket when it arrived on a … Continue reading →

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Nasty bees

Posted on May 16, 2024 by james

Thanks to an EFB outbreak locally I have an inspection booked with the seasonal bee inspector on Thursday, so I thought I’d take the time to have a quick check over of the hives beforehand. I opened the first hive … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 16th May 2024

Posted on May 16, 2024 by james

They’ve been in the ground a couple of days, but I didn’t have time when they were planted to net the brassicas I’ve planted to stop the butterflies and smaller pests getting at them so today I put that right, … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 21st May 2023: A pair of pairs of swarms?

Posted on May 14, 2024 by james

I visited a bait hive today and found this: As the “clump” of bees outside didn’t appear to be having anything to do with those inside, I guessed that it was perhaps two different swarms that had tried to move … Continue reading →

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Super-quick super frames

Posted on May 14, 2024 by james

Looking through my supers today I decided that I probably don’t have sufficient frames for the Summer, so used my new frame-making jig to make up another twenty (as well as the ten I made yesterday) and dug out a … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 14th May 2024: Berries behind bars

Posted on May 14, 2024 by james

Last year our currants and gooseberries produced a reasonable amount of fruit, but we got to eat almost none of it: the deer and the birds ate almost everything as soon as it approached being ripe. So, this year we … Continue reading →

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Smell that taste

Posted on May 14, 2024 by james

Back when I planted up the new strawberry beds I transferred the plants in the old bed to pots of compost and put them in Frankenstein’s greenhouse. It was quite late to transplant them, but it was potentially a better … Continue reading →

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