kalegrower

Art & Bryn behind the queenless hive

Early this morning Art and Bryn from 3B honeybees dropped by for a hive checkup. After their last visit two weeks ago, Bryn reported that the hive seemed to be doing poorly, with few larvae in the cells. Sometimes as the weather gets warmer, the hives really come to life, so they decided to wait to weeks to see if things improved. Unfortunately, this morning there were fewer bees and again no queen, so they’ve concluded that the queen is dead. There are still lots of bees in the hive who are gathering pollen and storing honey, but without a queen, their numbers won’t grow (which is the whole point of hosting a hive during the summer months). Although one of the workers has started to lay larvae, these will be drones.

Art checking one of the frames. Very few bees…..

Since the pollination period for blueberries is almost over, we will likely end up with a hive relocated from the Fraser Valley. Art explained that when they replace a hive, they shake out the frames from the old hive a distance from the new hive. Some of the bees will then go to the new hive and others will just get disoriented and die. This apparently eliminates the workers who have been laying eggs. I am not entirely sure about this concept so hope one of the bee guys will explain it to me again.

This is a picture of my fig tree from above. The tree is located at the very centre of the bare spot, with a white tag.

I’ve been planning to buy a fig tree since the fall and several months ago I ordered an Italian honey fig through David Hunter. When I went to pick up my fig tree in March, I was expecting the tree to be similar to the apple and pear trees that I bought last year, which were about four feet tall and had lots of branches, so was disappointed to get a one foot tall chopstick. You can see from the birds eye view, that I have big expectations for the chopstick.

Here is a picture of me standing next to the tree which I took to send to one of my  super-gardening girlfriends who sent me a picture of herself next to her new fig tree. Her tree is also an Italian honey fig species, but is the same height as she is (5 foot 3) and has leaves and baby figs. Already. No, it isn’t like I am totally jealous or anything. She also bought an olive tree, which I am tempted to do myself, but am going to see how hers does this year first as I am still scarred by the death of my carefully nurtured Mayer Lemon Tree two years ago.

And speaking of gardening failures….95% of the seeds I planted in late March were eaten. There are a few surviving sprouts in each row of swiss chard (2 sprout), parsnip (5 sprouts) and kale (1 sprout). Yesterday I reseeded each of the rows with the hope that the warmer weather will give the seedlings an advantage over the slugs. I also purchased some kale and lettuce seedlings to keep things going while I wait for the new seedling to sprout. It feels a bit like cheating since those are the easiest things to grow from seed, but since the point of this all is to eat, I am good with it.

At this point in the year, the over-wintered kale has bolted and is now flowering. Even though the leaves that are left on each plant are small, there are a lot of them so I have been pulling up a few plants each day and harvesting the leaves for dinner before throwing the plants into the compost. Although the overwintered beets didn’t do well and the beets are stunted and growing above ground (explain that one to me), they are producing lots and lots of perfect leaves so I have been adding those in with the kale.

This week my big garden activity is to get some support for my favas, which are now a foot tall. Although the seed packet says that favas don’t need to be supported, I disagree with that completely. Once the seed pods form and get heavy, the plants all fall over and take out everything  around them. Each gets it’s own personal stake.

Okay, with that, I am heading back outside. Happy gardening!

Hive 49 arrived in my garden three weeks ago and was placed on the stump facing the sun. Last weekend Bryn and Art were here for a check-up and reported that the queen hasn’t been laying and they will replace her with another. So the short answer to the question above is: NOT MUCH! Not much is happening with hive 49….yet.

Not much has been happening with me for most of this week, as I have been recovering in bed after surgery, binge-watching Downton Abbey and following computer click-bait (“SINGLE MOM IS MAKING DOCTORS ANGRY WITH HER ANTI-AGING FORMULA” and “YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS WOMAN AFTER SHE STOPPED EATING BANANAS” etc.). As a refreshing change, yesterday I was finally able to shuffle outside and harvest kale for a side and arugula for a salad. My key insight this week is that despite what some people told me (“You’ll be up and back to work by Wednesday! Thursday at the latest”) a laparoscopic cholecystectomy can knock you right down and I will be out of circulation for at least another week.

I made another trip outside just now to pick kale and spinach for dinner and noticed that the honeysuckle and viburnum bushes near the hive were buzzing….good sign. This year has turned out to be the best year ever for the Lady Slipper. These were planted and carefully nurtured by my late father-in-law, and they have managed to persist despite us. He would be so happy. On that note, I am feeling woozy and going back to bed.

Favas

The first spring favas are now growing strong (above). They will need supports eventually; although they stay upright while they grow, the weight of the beans causes the stalks to collapse. All of the peas are growing, including the sweet peas.

The pear tree is now in bloom although the different branches – each grafted with a different species – are out of synch. I have seen a few bees in the garden, but might try to pollinate using a paint brush. The apple trees are budding and the first of the peonies are also starting, which seems too early.

The cyclamens are blooming. These are very different the ones that bloom in the fall, as they are larger and are two-toned.

The best thing about spring are the anemones – white, pink and purple (blue). The large patch under the dogwood has spread under the hazelnut tree, through the rock garden and are now taking over big patches of lawn. Other things that are starting to bloom: daffodils, lily of the valley, trilliums, serpent head lilies, tulips and grape hyacinths.

Thanks to inspiration from one of my fellow bloggers, I have planted a few of the warm summer seeds indoors. Two rows of florence fennel, two rows of tomatoes, two rows of basil, two rows of cucumbers, a row each of yellow and green zucchini, one row of parsley and a row of super catnip. Check out Pat’s blog for how to harden off seeds before planting outdoors: http://growsoeasyorganic.com/2015/03/24/growing-season-begins-tips-for-getting-ready/

Happy planting everyone!

Here are two of the different types of snowdrops blooming now. The ones above, with round blossoms and wide leaves, are the first to bloom each spring. The ones below are slimmer and seem to be huddling together under the shrubs. Lots of very tiny snowdrops are starting to sprout in the back, but haven’t started to bloom yet. My favourites are the tall ones with green-tipped leaves, but they bloom later in the spring, after the crocus.

Now for the boring stuff: moved the plum tree; ordered a fig tree; planted primulas and white begonia thingys in the green planter; cut forsythia for my neighbour across the street; did some weeding; dug up some of the icelandic poppies that are popping up in the front; looked at my slimy green front steps with despair; planted strawberries in the new strawberry pot; threw out the mouldy poinsettia; put the rest of the birthday flowers in the compost; realized that I need to top up the gravel around the house this year;  pulled out big wads of moss out of the driveway.

Over Christmas I read Gretchen Rubin’s “The Happiness Project”. The book was well-researched and easy to read, and I was entertained by her method of giving herself a gold star every day that she managed to stick to her Happiness Project resolutions. Although the gold star method wouldn’t work for me, I really liked the”Secrets to Adulthood” that she developed during the course of the project. Some of these include “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in awhile“,  “it’s okay to ask for help” and “what’s fun for other people may not be fun for you – and vice versa“.  In my opinion, these apply just as well to gardening as well as to adulthood.

Here are a few other “secrets to gardening” that I am going to try to keep in mind this year:

• Wear sunscreen even when it is not sunny.
• Remove weeds when they are small. 
• If you don’t make a decision, nature sometimes makes a decision for you and it isn’t always what you would have wanted.
• Don’t plant things too close together. 
• Leave “underplanting” and “overplanting” for the experts. 
• Try not to move plants that are thriving where they are. 
• Problem trees only get larger. 

After a long break from the garden, I’ve finally started to do a little bit of weeding and clean-up. The snowdrops have started to bloom as well as the miniature iris, cyclamen and and daphne. Crocus and tulips are starting to sprout all over the garden.

The vegetable garden is a mess and I am pulling up the plants that froze/rotted over the winter. While the old kale survived, there are only a few leaves left at the top of each plant, so I am going to let them grow a little longer to see if they get any larger before I pull them up.  They are currently located in the bed that will be planted with potatoes this spring.

Now is the time to plan (not plant) the spring and summer garden and to order seeds. In February, fava beans, peas and poppy seeds can be planted so I want to get ready for that. I still haven’t moved the plum tree and part of me is very reluctant to do so, in case I damage the roots.

Okay, must go cook dinner…

Here in the Northern hemisphere, yesterday was winter solstice. So, like everything this year, my Winter Solstice Greeting is a little late. Now that the shortest day of the year has passed, we can all hopefully notice and appreciate those increasing minutes of day light.

Spring is still a long way off, but we’re already turning our brains towards the garden  (perhaps as a wet coast rain coping strategy). The 2015 West Coast Seeds catalog arrived a few days ago and I will soon start to begin to decide what to plant this year. The Man has just announced his plans to xeriscape the back lawn areas, which I strongly support. I have plans to clear out a few planted areas to create more light and to and make some big changes to parts of the back garden

First though…Wishing you and all yours  a fabulous Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Solstice/Festivus.