Spring ( it even looks like spring today!)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Bee Hiving Moon<\/p>\n
This morning or early this afternoon I pull the grass out of the entrance reducers and the bees will be free to navigate from their new home.\u00a0 Tomorrow I’ll check on the hive to see if the bees have remained focused in the middle of the hive box.\u00a0 Otherwise the newbees have the run of the grounds and the air around here.\u00a0 From now through fall we’ll be engaged in a delicate dance, first to prevent swarming, then to encourage adequate honey supplies for winter, then, if possible, production of surplus honey for sale.<\/p>\n
One colony will receive the traditional treatment with three hive boxes, reversed and prepared for winter.\u00a0\u00a0 The other two get another hive box and after that, supers.\u00a0 I’m trying to gauge how much sense it makes to struggle with overwintering since the odds seem stacked against it.<\/p>\n
Veggies go in the ground, today, too, seeds and a few transplants–leeks, in particular.\u00a0 Yesterday I moved the tomato seedlings to larger pots.\u00a0 The seed potatoes are in a kitchen window, eyes beginning to bulge.\u00a0 On Tuesday or Wednesday, I’ll cut the potatoes into chunks, each with an eye, then wait a day or two for a callous to form.\u00a0 After that, in they go.<\/p>\n
At that point the bees will be in their first week, all the vegetables with the exception of the post-frost plantings will be in the ground and the garden will have assumed its early growing season form.\u00a0 At some point, too, I have to get out and work in the flower beds, the gardening that used to occupy all my efforts.\u00a0 Now the perennial beds are established and I understand the patterns and problems they have.\u00a0 Flowers are not as labor intensive as vegetables.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Spring ( it even looks like spring today!)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Bee Hiving Moon This morning or early this afternoon I pull the grass out of the entrance reducers and the bees will be free to navigate from their new home.\u00a0 Tomorrow I’ll check on the hive to see if the bees have remained focused in the … Continue reading The Early Growing Season<\/span>