Subject: Moving
Time: 20:39:50 o'clock GMT
Author: rsbrenchley
I'm moving this over to
http://thisandthat-robert.blogspot.com/ as it's more photo-friendy. Three pics all visible at once! Wonders will never cease.
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Subject: Allotment and painting
Time: 20:20:58 o'clock GMT
Author: rsbrenchley
I'm slowly recovering from a very nasty flu-like bug I've had, way behind with everything I'd planned on doing over the holiday. There's still loads of digging to be done, and I seem to have missed the good weather. I did a bit today, in a thin drizzle, sorting out one of my flowerbeds. One of the Hellebores was beginning to overwhelm a clump of Trilliums, so its not before time. I've painted the kitchen ceiling and one of the walls, but I won't get anywhere near doing the whole thing before term begins, with the amount of stuff I have to move to get at the walls.
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Subject: Bees and Allotment
Time: 23:05:37 o'clock GMT
Author: rsbrenchley
I was checking the hives quickly yesterday, since it was a bit warmer and a few bees were flying; #4 is as dead as a doornail, with just a small cluster of corpses. Sad, but these things happen. I suspect the inclux of varroa at the end of the season was probably too much for it. #1 is really strong, and #2 weaker, but still healthy as far as I could see.
I had a big bonfire, and got rid of 12 months' worth of hedge cuttings in one fell swoop.
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Subject: Allotment
Time: 17:41:02 o'clock GMT
Author: rsbrenchley
I remembered the camera today; it's inevitable looking pretty dismal down there, but the weedy areas have diminished considerably. compared with previous years. That's down to my policy of mulching everything in sight, which cuts down on so much digging and weeding it's unbelievable.
I'm currently digging over an area where I had Jerusalem artichokes, and after the way they suffered last summer, there's nothing in there at all. I'm having trouble finding a few tubers to plant elsewhere. Normally, the ground would be choc-a-bloc with them. Some of the rhubarb will be going in there, so I should be able to see the flowerbed I've been planting under the hedge. That's pretty weedy itself, but it's on the list fior the winter.
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Subject: Allotment
Time: 18:34:36 o'clock GMT
Author: rsbrenchley
I barely got to the plot last week, as Namissa's been rather unwell again (she's on long-term sick at the moment) and it was rather difficult. But I had a good stint today, and got a long way towards bringing an overgrown bed back into use. Someone asked me for back hollyhock seeds, as I brought all the seeds back with me; I badly need to sort through them, and get them into two tine (they won't all go in one) with dessicant in both so they'll last longer.
We had a power cut in the small hours; Namissa woke up, found everything was off, and panicked, since she hasn't experienced it since coming here. Result was, we got no sleep till it came back on, and we both felt terrible this morning.
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Subject: Bees and allotment
Time: 09:09:43 o'clock GMT
Author: rsbrenchley
I seem to have got to the bottom of the very high varroa numbers in my hives last autumn. I was expecting them to be fairly high, but not ridiculously so, and had intended to treat with oxalic acid in midwinter when they're broodless. Then there was that sudden outbreak of varroa-related virus, with significant numbers of bees with crumpled wings. I've never seen the like before, and when I did a treatment with Apiguard, there were very high numbers of varroa falling out. It turns out that the local Beekeepers' Association lost all its hives, and in that case it's likely that significant numbers of hives have been lost elsewhere around Birmingham. I assume that Apistan-resistant mites have arrived in Birmingham. Since there was no noticeable upsurge in striped bees in the hives, the chances are that the extra mites arrived via robbing from colapsing hives.
I didn't get a chance to do much on the allotment yesterday, thanks to having lost my mobile. It was misbehaving anyway, a couple of calls hadn't got through, and I'd probably have had to replace it in short order. But I dropped it somewhere in school on Friday. I found it outside in the road, smashed, and rescued the chip, which still works. So I had to sort that out straight off, and do a couple of other things as well. I've soread a bit more mulch, and collected some soil samples for a practical I'm organising for my Environmental Science lot.
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Time: 17:01:12 o'clock GMT
Author: rsbrenchley
I thought I'd added an entry last night, but I was feeling so dreadful I must have forgotten the save button. I've been spreading yet more mulch; there are still large areas I haven't got to, but as long as the mulched area gets bigger every year, I know I'm winning. Everything was well soaked from all the rain, and long may it last! We could do without another drought next summer.
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Subject: Allotment
Time: 18:10:04 o'clock GMT
Author: rsbrenchley
I put in a good bit of time barrowing the last of the grass cuttings and digging out ground elder over the weekend. We're into that time of year now; it's hard to find the time during the hours of daylight. and there's not a lot else to do. So I can get ahead with digging and clearing, and have a few more beds usable by next year. I'm going to need them since I ran out of space last summer and ended up with nowhere to put the brassicas. It doesn't matter too much; they didn't grow as much as they might but then we don't eat them much in any case.
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Subject: Allotment
Time: 09:08:11 o'clock GMT
Author: rsbrenchley
It's just as well we seem to be in for a wet week, as the level of water in the stream was slowly dropping. We're going to need a long, wet winter to get back to normal; let's hope we get one. I'm now pretty sure my Victoria plum is dead, just as it was looking like bearing a decent crop at last. That's what drought does; it was looking perfectly healthy at the beginning of the summer.
I'm steadily clearing beds and mulching, making ready to plant out the brassicas properly. I should have done this months ago, but we don't eat them much, and I didn't have space. Somehow, the supply of grass cuttings has kept going till now, but of course it's finally drying up, and I'm going to be down to a choice between stodge and dead leaves before long. Stodge kills the more tender plants, and leaves are rather lacking in nutrient, but either is far better than nothing.
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Subject: Allotment and bees
Time: 20:21:02 o'clock GMT
Author: rsbrenchley
The weather turned cold on Friday, and by the time I got to the allotment yesterday, it was looking pretty dismal, with collapsed vegetation all over the place. I did a good stint clearing stuff, and now have three beds clear for brassicas that really should have been planted out properly long ago.
The bees were flying strongly in mid-afternoon, bringing in pollen, despite temperatures of 47-48 F and no sun on the hives. I had a look at Hive 4; the patch of brood is still small, but now involves two frames. The original brood patch at the front of the hive has vanished altogether, and it's just one of those mysteries why the bees chose to abandon it.
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