Author Archives: james

No dig diary, 8th May 2024: Weeding — the gift that keeps on giving

Posted on May 8, 2024 by james

I’m still at it. Another bed in the main veggie plot done today, plus most of the strawberry bed, one of the raspberry beds and the flower beds. It’s really getting a bit tedious now, but at least I’m over … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 3rd May 2023: That is quite disgusting

Posted on May 7, 2024 by james

Our digger started running oddly, dying when the throttle was opened, but idling quite happily. At first I couldn’t work it out, but decided that perhaps an air and fuel filter replacement might be a good start. The air filter … Continue reading →

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First swarm of the season

Posted on May 7, 2024 by james

Kind of… I received a message this afternoon saying that there was a large swarm by the road in our nearest town. I didn’t see the message immediately (I was fighting weeds at the time), but when I asked about … Continue reading →

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More bait hive painting

Posted on May 7, 2024 by james

I’ve almost completed painting my bait hive brood boxes now. At least, I thought I had: six of them. I was sorting through them in the apiary after the bees had gone to bed this evening and found at least … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 7th May 2024: More weeding

Posted on May 7, 2024 by james

I swear I don’t know how they grow so fast. This is the third time I’ve had to week the plot this year! It was slow progress, but I got another bed done today, including removing leeks and volunteer potatoes. … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 29th April 2023: Sycamore in flower

Posted on May 6, 2024 by james

When this happens I have to fight the need to go and check all the hives in my apiary to make sure they’re not swarming. Once the sycamore starts flowering they go crazy for it and the volume of their … Continue reading →

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A change of boxes for bait hives

Posted on May 6, 2024 by james

I’ve decided that I’m going to use only boxes that aren’t in quite good enough repair for permanent hives as bait hives now. Ones that aren’t perfect, but can be repaired to be reasonably close. Or in some cases, home-made … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 6th May 2024: At last I can return to the veg plot

Posted on May 6, 2024 by james

Finally it appears that the weather is picking up a bit here and I was able to spend all of this afternoon weeding the veggie beds. It’s crazy how the weeds are growing. I managed to get two and a … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 10th April 2023: The veggie plot clearout commences

Posted on May 5, 2024 by james

It’s time for all the “old stuff” to come out of the veggie plot now and make way for this year’s plants. Onto the compost heap it all went. Up and up went the compost heap, up and up went … Continue reading →

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Fat dummies completed

Posted on May 5, 2024 by james

I was hoping to spend today in the veg plot, but the weather was back to its usual appalling self again today. I hid in the workshop and finished off my current set of fat dummies. First up was to … Continue reading →

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