Author Archives: james

Tasty water!

Posted on May 28, 2024 by james

I’m really not sure if they’re after this to cool the hives down inside (unlikely, surely?) or to dilute honey because forage is not coming in fast enough. Plenty being collected though.

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Box-making jig revisited

Posted on May 28, 2024 by james

I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before, but all I needed to get the frame rails at the correct height in the jig was to find two old top bars and cut off the section opposite the … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 18th July 2023: Frankenstein’s greenhouse in use!

Posted on May 28, 2024 by james

I had a few spare tomato and pepper plants in pots, so I thought I might as well put them in the greenhouse where they’d hopefully provide more fruit despite the lateness of the season. The greenhouse was otherwise empty, … Continue reading →

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A bee box-making jig

Posted on May 28, 2024 by james

As I had a number of brood boxes to make up, today I decided to make a jig that holds them square and aligns the frame rails at the correct height. Only when it came to making the parts for … Continue reading →

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Memory Lane, 23rd June 2023: Spare honey, spare apple juice; cyser!

Posted on May 28, 2024 by james

I saved the honey from the cappings when I extracted my supers last year and recently I found some forgotten bottles of apple juice in the cellar that were still perfectly drinkable having been pasteurised at the time, so making … Continue reading →

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Count the hornets: one, two, three

Posted on May 28, 2024 by james

I don’t know if it’s down to the mild winter or something else entirely, but we seem to have so many queen hornets around at the moment. Whilst I was spreading compost in Frankenstein’s greenhouse I was joined by one, … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 25th May 2024

Posted on May 28, 2024 by james

Having spent yesterday composting new beds, I decided today was the day that I should catch up with the greenhouses. There’s garlic in part of the bed in one and nothing in the other but potted strawberries, so neither was … Continue reading →

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Ok, so everything is starting to get a bit crowded now

Posted on May 28, 2024 by james

I desperately need to start planting more out, but the weather has just been so rubbish…

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Memory Lane, 20th June 2023: Extracting brood frames

Posted on May 28, 2024 by james

I’ve been wondering if I could extract honey from brood frames with my existing extractor and without buying any extra (and expensive) parts. I reckon it might be possible. Only three at a time, but then with screens I’d only … Continue reading →

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No dig diary, 24th May 2024

Posted on May 28, 2024 by james

Since I now have the concrete pad removed from the veggie plot I can at last finish the new beds that I started back in February. I extended them to line up with the rest of the beds (although they … Continue reading →

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