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[Beekissed]

Can't imagine bees being thought of as "herds", but there ya go....that's what I get for thinking. Of all four sites, I'd have put the bees with the gardens.

 

[Nyboy]

My sister asked me what I wanted for Christmas I said a bee hive. She gave me a sweater.

 

[so lucky]

I've been wanting to get bee hives for a long time now. There seems to be a real shortage of honeybees around here. I know we have other pollinators, but a garden full of honeybees is so much more esthetically pleasing than a garden full of sweat bees.

 

[ninnymary]

My sister asked me what I wanted for Christmas I said a bee hive. She gave me a sweater.

Talk about a poor listener!

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Big shortage of honeybees here too...saw one bee last year scouting the log shed, looking for a place to move to I'm guessing. This year I'd like to have a place for that scout to find pleasing enough to move into. Didn't see a honeybee the rest of the season, not on clover, dandelions, orchard nor garden.

I'm thinking top bar hive~I've had one before~but modified, more like a long hive Langstroth setup. I would love to bait the hive and see if I can entice a spring swarm to move in. I'm scouting around to see if I can find someone who has old hive bodies sitting out on their land that they no longer want...would like to knock two of those together to form my long hive. Easy and cheap way to get into a formed hive that frames can fit into.

 

[Beekissed]

Got my one pound of red wigglers installed into their new home today with lots of good things to eat, hoping they will multiply well before spring. They seemed to like the food offered and should do well.

 

[Beekissed]

Was out digging around in the deep leaves and wood chip covering over the garden today, just to get a look under there. Was delighted to find worms in every move of the tool under there....more than I had been able to find earlier in the year, so am thinking the leaves added an extra dimension to this BTE wood chip covering of the garden, one that was a good move. God is so good and knows exactly what I was needing in my garden!

Did a little exploration of the potatoes I planted late in the fall...got sprouts and many fine roots growing off each one. I can't WAIT to see what the taters look like this year!

All these potatoes were from my brother's tater crop this past garden season. I chose the largest of all those he gave me and planted those...a mix of red, white and golden. I didn't cut them into pieces, but planted the whole potato.

The next string of good weather I get here I'm going to plant some garlic. Been rainy here the last few days and supposed to drop into the single digits again next week.

Compiled a list of the things I'm planting in the garden this spring, though I may find I left out a few things as I go along:

Sweet Corn~Ambrosia

Potatoes~mix of red and white

Tomatoes~one row of paste(Romas), the rest are beefsteak varieties(Brandywine, Pruden's Purple) and a few cherries~Sweet One Millions

Beans~half runners

Squash~straight neck yellow

Pumpkins~Rouge Vif Detampes

Melons~Moon and Stars, Crimson Sweets

Canteloupes

Lettuce~various romaines, one butter crunch variety

Spinach

Bell Peppers~Kaleidoscope mix

Hot banana peppers~Hungarian Wax

Jalapeno peppers

Cilantro

Celery~have never tried this before, am trying two different kinds

parsley

borage,nasturtium~both edible flowers but have never eaten them before, so would like to try...they also both serve a purpose as companion plants

radishes

Sweet Onions~Candy...lots of them!

Garlic~elephant

Asparagus~never did this before either, doing regular and purple

carrots~red, purple and orange ***have never had luck with carrots here but willing to try in the BTE

Rhubarb~red

Strawberries

Sugar snap peas

cukes~Boston Picklers

Chives

dill

Chamomile

lavender

honeysuckle

red grapes~have never done these but hope to get them started

Various flowers, including but not limited to~zinnias, marigold, blue flax, black oil sunflowers, black eyed susans, calendula, and whatever else that suits my fancy at the time.

 

[Larisa]

Beekissed If blue flax such as we have in Russia sold (Linum), it closes the flowers in the evening. I sow it in a mixture with Matthiola longipetala. Flax flowers close at night. Matthiola longipetala opens. It has a sweet aroma of the night.

 

[Beekissed]

That's good to know! I'm just planting it because it's really, really pretty and it's supposedly a perennial! The type I'm planting is Linum perenne...

(='Blau Saphir') Blue Flax is a favourite perennial, performing especially well in hot, sunny areas. This compact selection forms a bushy mound of small, ferny green leaves, bearing loads of small sky-blue flowers for weeks on end. Trim plants back in midsummer to encourage repeat blooming in the autumn. Excellent for edging, in the rock garden, or in mixed containers. Also suitable for naturalizing in a meadow situation. Short-lived but usually will self seed. Drought tolerant once established.

Perennial flax is a short-lived, tufted perennial which typically grows 1-2' tall. Features 5-petaled, sky blue flowers which open for only one day. A profuse bloomer for a period of up to 8 weeks in late spring. Flowers open early on sunny mornings, but petals usually drop by late afternoon. Thin, wiry stems with short, narrow, linear leaves (to 1" long) support profuse numbers of nodding flower buds. Fibrous stems appear delicate, but are extremely difficult to break and were once used in Europe to make linen and rope. The flax plants which are commercially grown today for making linen (from the stems) and linseed oil (from the seeds) are several varieties of annual flax, Linum usitatissimum.

It's not something one sees around here growing wild, nor do I see it often in people's gardens, so I wanted to try it and see if I could get it established or at least reseeding to come back every year. I love the ethereal looking foliage and small, delicate blossoms.

 

[Larisa]

Yes, this is it. It’s perennial plant. And it disappears over time. Every year it is necessary to add. But when the wind like little butterflies. Very beautiful!
I like your plan.
And the story of your family, too))))))))))