2013 Garden

[jdmidwest]

I have to ask, how do you know they are feral?

They were coming into the outside of the hive and feeding on the outside of the feeder, then leaving out. My bees would have came out of my hive and fed, then went back in. There is a little gap between the feeder and the hive body that allows outside access to the syrup.

Robber bees have been a problem since last summer. I have my entrances choked down to about 1 or 2 bee widths to allow my bees to defend the hive. The feral bees can sense the food source and try to get at it. My bees will defend and keep them out. They will fight them outside of the hive in the air or around the opening. It one gets in the hive, you will see my bees drag it back out.

[jdmidwest]

Planted 2 beds of strawberry today. One bed of Everglow and the other Jewells.

Filled one of my raised hot beds with red potato starts today. I have not raised taters in years, thought I would try some this year for a change.

[ness]

Jd: Gotcha - essentially a cold frame. I guess I was thinking you we're talking about regular beds with glass over it. Are those permanent?

Wayne: sounds like the classic setup. I built something like that but only use it to harden off. Then I put it away.

Kinda like what you're doing jd .i'd like to get a few cold tolerant things going earlier in the cold frame or under hoops in the garden

[jdmidwest]

Right, it is a cold frame to start with. I can control moisture and heat the soil faster for germination. When stuff starts coming up, I remove the glass and let them run. If a danger of frost comes up, I put the glass back on or cover with plastic. I placed 2 of them on my lateral lines a few years back and they work great. Full sun all day, facing south. It allowed me to use some of the yard that was just dedicated to grass before. And of course, due to the laterals, I could not plow and dig.

The glass is from old screen door sections I used to make a mini greenhouse years ago. I built a frame and screwed 4 doors to it. One of the extra pieces of glass made the top. I put some shelves in it and tried to use it to start seeds and plants in it early on. It never really worked like I wanted it too, so I dismantled it. Last spring, a hail storm took out several pieces of glass on the beds. I scrounged up some glass shower doors that dad bought at an auction to replace them. The lumber was from old packing crates I collected from a jobsite.

[Njardar]

One week later and I already have one legged children to take care of. We built a greenhouse last year (unheated), so when it warms up enough to put the plants in it they should really take off.

[jdmidwest]

Yesterday, I was able to pull all of my tomato stakes out of the main garden and take up the rabbit fence that protected my beans last summer. Cleaned out the flower beds and another small garden spot by the house. Painted a nuc to use as a swarm trap for feral bees and put it out next to an open feeder. Wild bees drank up a quart of syrup next to it in about 4 hours.

Dang ole time change, rolled over this morning and looked at the clock 8:30. Clouds keep me sleeping in later than planned. About an hour later I realized it was the time change.

Tilled the main garden to cut stuff up and just lightly ruff up the surface some. Winds and sun the last few days had dried it out pretty good. Started sprinkling about the time I shut the tiller off. I spread a couple of bales of rotten straw that I had been weathering since last spring to add some organics to the soil. Gathered up a bag of lime and the hand spreader just as the sprinkle turned to drops. I managed to spread the lime before it got too heavy. Finally the rain turned to a steady shower so I gave up and got out of my wet clothes.

[Wayne SW/MO]

So do you have to supply the wild bees a queen or ?????

[jdmidwest]

So do you have to supply the wild bees a queen or ?????

When a hive of bees gets too crowded, tame or wild, they will turn out some queen cells and make a new queen. When she hatches and gets ready to fly, scouts go out in search of a new hive location. The queen and part of the worker bees leave in a swarm. They may light in a tree or bush till the scouts find a suitable home. When they do, they all move in and start a new hive.

Tame bees are managed to avoid swarming by adding more boxes for them to grow into. Wild hives in trees are limited to the size of the opening. Swarming takes place in the spring of the year for the most part. You can set out boxes in areas with wild bees and bait them with a pheremone lure. If one finds it and moves in, free bees! Install them in full size equipment and new hive of bees added to the apiary.