04-04-12 Survival

Empty cells on the right, brood in the middle (the little "C" shaped larvae) and capped cells on the left. Larvae are capped in with enough food to grow into an adult, at which state they emerge

In the honeybees' world, the last few months have been rough.

   Last summer the "honey run" ended up earlier than normal leaving hive with less food than needed for winter. In my case, one of my two hives lost its queen (the only bee laying all the eggs) around that time. The hive did raise another one but, due to timing and circumstances, they never recovered and the hive shrunk to nothing before winter.

The other one went into winter with sufficient numbers and food supply(I do not collect any honey, I leave it for those that produced the hard work: the bees themselves. I keep bees for the pleasure of watching them and to pollinate my and my neighbors' gardens, not to exploit them. I started when I heard about the high death rates caused by Colony Collapse Disorder just to see if being more isolated in the suburbs would give bees a better chance to survive this horrible epidemic. How I fit the philosophy of non-exploitation into a Capitalistic society requires some serious gymnastics and some below the radar flying. I expect Homeland security to show up any time and arrest me for being a socialist,: I mean I also eat broccoli after all! Double whammer!)

Uncapped honey and, the darker/dryer looking ones: pollen. When the cell is full of honey, bees will vent it with their wings to remove excess moisture and then seal it with wax for future use.

What pleased all of us this winter: the amazingly warm weather cost my last hive. In winter, bees stay inside to keep warm and survive. They live on the stored honey and survive on communal heat, staying balled up together around the queen for warmth. This winter being warmer, they did like us, they flew out every time the air felt a little warmer, putting out a lot of wear and tear on their little bodies, some getting caught in cold air pockets and not making it back at a time when the queen does not lay eggs and, therefore, does not replace the missing.
The hive did survive but with between 1/4 and 1/3 of its normal population. The bee world is like the old agrarian society, it depends on high numbers for survival.

Capping honey cells.

So, what now? I opened it for a thorough inspection last Thursday and found the following: very few bees but the workers are storing new honey and pollen and the queen is laying eggs.

What it means: with a little luck, if nothing else impacts this colony in a negative fashion, it should make it.

Reality? We'll know in the next few weeks if enough adults are left in working state to nurture the new baby boom. If not...

3-31-12 Transformation

After my posting on garden in art, last week, I found this old picture to contrast with the painting and the new reality.

This picture, taken by our sales agent before digital advertising and, quite obviously, sophistication in Real Estate marketing was, for obvious reasons , given to us after the sale was concluded.

Twenty six years ago, I was waylaid by a slipped disk wrought upon me when I bent down to pick up my younger son's fallen bicycle.

My instructions/recommendations to my wife were to look for a ranch and make sure the house would be slightly higher than the street, (I had seen way too many spring thaw-caused floods to appreciate that muddy mess ever again in my life) As far as the ranch style goes, I wanted a house where we could grow old together without worrying about stairs. From the picture you can conclude that my wife had other plans and, as we say in French:"Ce que femme veut Dieu le veut" something like "don't bother arguing with a woman." Before you point your finger at my wife, I want you to know that the house has turned out having great Karma, either innate or brought in by us; I am not sure which. I believe that calls for another French saying:"Trust the woman!"

On the plus side, it was located on the corner of a cul-de-sac full of children playing in the street. Remember those days before obesity and the sounds of kids playing outside, exercising more than their thumbs? And it was located in a slightly older, quiet neighborhood, in close proximity to a number of conveniences.

The landscaping was of the minimalist type: half a dozen mature pine trees around the house,(we got rid of them after hurricane Fran when too many large branches crashes destructively and when I realized the largest pine was leaning toward my neighbor's house)  a scrawny southern magnolia you can see on the left and a lawn made up of wire grass on top of baked brick clay. The canvas was far from clean but it sure was empty, ready for me.

What kind of garden? Around me were only American style yards: either natural or requiring a mowing every few days. You could see a few azaleas here and there for a few days in spring but absolutely nothing like herbs, flowers or veggies. I decide to go boldly where no one had gone yet and started a European style garden: flowers, herbs, vegetables and small fruit. I would, through the years, add some exoticism with bamboo, bananas, water gardens and, in the last five years, honeybees. Each one of those will be subject to its own post in due time. After all, if I write it all now, what will be left for future sharing?

While I was eager to get back to a large garden similar to the one we just had left at the old house, behind the Fairgrounds, I followed the advise I always give beginners: start small. I built four raised beds, filled them with a pick-up truck load of compost I had made at the old place and planted vegetables and herbs.

For the next few years, I collected horse manure at Meredith College and J&H Stables--both sources have now tarried with Meredith concentrating on education rather than equitation and J&H having been laid waste by a developer still trying to develop so many years later. In fall, I'd get truckloads of leaves from the city and lay my hands on any amount of wood chips tree surgeons would part with.
By now, the whole yard is covered with several inches of black dirt and so many plants and trees that the young ones in the hood would nickname it :"The jungle" a term I am very proud of.

By now, no neighbor is mad at me me anymore for ruining "a perfectly good lawn"; several have started their own garden and my yard has become a selling point with buyers who want something pretty to look at, across the street or next door. A long way away from the lonely house on the hill and the amateurish snap shot! The garden has now become a must see for some including what my older son coined "drive-by viewers".

What it looked like yesterday:

I had to take the picture now before it disappears behind a green curtain for the summer duration and turn into the "jungle" for another few months.

3-28-12 The end of the kale

While spring has brought its crop of new blooms, the higher than normal temperatures have brought an end to the last winter crops.

Kale: after an abundant winter production is finally giving in and going to seeds. I picked the last of it today, cooked it and will send the stems to the compost pile.

Some spring sights:

3-24-12 Garden in Art

   Being big fans of Monet, his garden and his paintings, a few years ago we decided to have our own humble garden immortalized by a local artist: Kyle Highsmith. He chose to paint it in spring so as to be able to see the house (Summer's growth does hide most of it) This canevas was painted in May so that some of the blooms and the foliage are different from the picure taken this morning:

What's in bloom this week:

Dutch Iris

Dutch Iris

Columbines

Epimedium

Wild Strawberries

Chinese Wisteria

And, in the nursery, tomatoes are waiting for their turn to be planted, in a few days:

3-23-12 Carol Stein's article

Found this old News & Observer's article from July 2010:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/07/24/593411/jungle-love-spreads-joy.html#storylink=misearch

Unfortunately, the picture gallery has not been saved by the N&O.


Here are some I did save:

3-19-12 New blooms

We start with good news: close to 1 1/2 inch of rain this weekend. This means my lettuce have doubled in size and pollen has been under control.

Artistically washed-out pollen, better than in the lungs or eyes.













 


Tulips are in full bloom despite an attempt by
Bamby and his buddies a couple of nights ago
to turn my garden into a salad bar

Asian pears are in bloom:

Fig futures, you will notice that the tiny figs appear at the same time as the leaves. There is a good reason for this; the fig we eat is not really a fruit, it is an inversed flower. If you rip it open, you'll see hundreds of little flowers inside. I'll show you more on this in a few weeks when the "fruit/flower" matures. I'll show you the inside. Nature never seizes to amaze!









Other new blooms and fresh growth:

And while the water garden may not be in bloom yet, the lily pad has grown like crazy just in the last couple of days.

 

3-17-12 The bird saga continues

Last week I told you about the hard to satisfy female blue bird and the enterprising chickadees. Well, this week the story took a new turn with two brown headed nuthatches taking over the nesting box.

The box being too deep for their needs, they have worked very diligently at filling the bottom with large amounts of dry matters, flying in and out every few seconds.

It all worked very nicely until Thursday when a chickadee showed up, a day late and a dollar short, to claim the same shelter. The way I found out was the unusual raucus emanating from the nesting area and, for the next two days, one of the nuthatches had to stand guard while the other gathered building material.

It put a serious cramp into their progress until two days later, when the would be squatter finally gave in and started researching other nesting possibilities around the garden.

You'll be happy to know that the nuthatches completed construction within schedule and under cost. Something for us to learn!

 Those guys being so fast, I have not been able to catch a good picture so I borrowed from the net again.