Musing's of a Gardener

The weather was finally perfect to take honey, and I was at home! I wanted to take honey the week before, but lightening and rain stopped this. The two hives are doing well, however, the one I am working on below has placed brood into the middle of the 2nd supper - so I only managed to take 8 frames (the top super is new and although nearly full it has a week or so to go). The back hive is new this spring (the box was empty and a swarm took it over) - the bottom super is just being worked on, the upper is full (odd, the bees started at the top, however, the bottom has wax moth, so I am going to replace super next week. I took 2 frames from this hive - spinning 18.5 kg from the 10 frames - enough for Christmas! Taking frames for honey

It has been an incredibly long time since I have post on this website. I am a very slack blogger, but that’s the way it is for my sex and age. Last vegi garden was successful, although the cucumbers did not do so well. In winter I had broccoli and I took note of those who say asparagus require lots of organic matter. My compost bin I rarely empty – once every 2-3 years, so last autumn I emptied it, and put a large amount over the asparagus. This spring we had the best crop ever – suggesting that the experts are right – asparagus needs lots of organic matter. In winter I also planted a large number of broad beans after experimenting in 2013 – and we had a good crop, although I should have harvested a week earlier. A fortnight prior to harvesting my wife indicated they had a little to go, and then we had 2 weeks of hot weather, no rain and no time! The problem was winter was very wet then we had some extraordinary hot days in spring, with next to no rain – indeed we have had more rai...