Pics in spoilers Spoiler This year, a couple weeks ago- I put the soaker hose on top, I know not the right way to do it- but I added it after everything was planted, will bury it next year
Stupid work computer won't let me open the link, but I'm guessing it's something from the local extension office. The extension office wherever you are is a highly under utilized service. Everyone could benefit from checking out their website.
It is. It's like the Clemson site I've linked but for Kentucky. For some locations extensions will come out and give advice at your house.
so raised beds, some sort of winter cover for the first season, built in hydration, and some sweet, sweet composting check and check
So I'm thinking of doing raised beds since it is very rocky where I'm wanting to place them. Any advice for someone who has never done raised beds before? I know blueberries don't go very deep, but their roots go wide, so I'll give those plenty of space.
If you do drip irrigation (which you really should if you can), I highly recommend running PVC underground and up to a ball valve at each bed. This allows you two points of flow control, at the valve and each drip nozzle. Also, make sure to add extra 3 and 4-way connectors (capped) because after the first season you will likely be putting in more beds.
As above, I highly recommend setting up a drip system. Underground PVC with valves is my preferred method but you could also fit a garden hose to the drip hoses. For the frame, you should first decide how many rows you want. I planned for 3 rows in each bed for which 4ft wide beds work nicely. I space the outer two rows six inches from the edges which puts the middle row right at 18 inches from the other rows. You rarely need more than 18 inch spacing and, if you do, you just stagger them to double the space. For depth, 6inches is the minimum but you don't retain much moisture if its hot where you live (although you could mulch to help with this). I had done 6in the previous two years and switched to 12in this year and have already noticed the difference in water retention. The increased depth also helps root development . After you have your depth and width, pick whatever length you want. Keep in mind that the larger and deeper you make them, the more the dirt is going to cost. You should check with your local extension office to ask about bulk soil/compost in the area to save a boatload of money. Around me I can get free topsoil and 10cents per cubic ft mushroom compost. If you mix this with some good store bought compost you will have a really good, and less expensive, start.
Got my next set of bees, this one came as a nuc, which as 5 frames of bees with a queen already laying brood. It's raining so I can't put them in the hive yet, but they're out flying around.
You won't need these for a while, but you can bookmark these for future referencing. They are good sources for information that I've found online: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/beekeeping-lessons/ http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/index.html www.beesource.com - the largest message board that I know about http://honeybeenet.gsfc.nasa.gov/Honeybees.htm http://honeybeenet.gsfc.nasa.gov/Honeybees/Forage.htm - This is really good to give you an idea of what the bees forage for different times of the year, and if you have the room, what you may want to plant. Just click your location for the list.
Can we talk about lawn care too itt? Great. Just kopped som Jonathan Grass seed Black Beauty. And Milorgranite fertilizer. :swag: I'll take some before and after pics.
Put the nuc of bees in today between the rain. Looks good, wasn't sure what to expect since it was my first one. Again, the white on the comb is capped honey, the yellow is baby bees. See if you can spot the queen below. Zoomed in at the lower middle of the picture below. Upper middle of the picture above.
Prepare to be entertained. Spoiler Death Every bee colony needs a queen bee. Out of all of the thousands of bees that inhabit a typical colony, only the queen can reproduce. Consequently, her death is a major event. To ensure the colony's survival, the worker bees will work to have a replacement ready for the queen if she is old or is not producing an adequate amount of eggs. This process is called supercedure. Although queen bees can live for 5 to 7 years, younger queens lay more eggs. So, in bee colonies managed by a human beekeeper, the supercedure process may be induced by deliberately injuring the queen. If the queen dies unexpectedly, the workers will raise emergency queens by switching worker bee larvae to a diet of royal jelly, a special food that turns female bee larvae into queen bees. In managed hives, the beekeeper will often provide a new queen instead of allowing emergency queens to claim the throne, as they are often smaller and not as productive. Queen bee. (Alexey Buhantsov/Hemera/Getty Images) Sponsored Links Obama Refi Program 2015 Verify Your HARP Eligibility Status HARP 2015 Verification Takes 1 Min! harp.mortgagerefinancerates.org Succession During the supercedure process, worker bees build cells called "queen cups" to house their replacement queen bee larvae. In an emergency, regular worker bee breeding cells are expanded. In both supercedure and emergency situations, workers usually raise several replacement queens. Only one of these queens will survive. The honor of survival goes to the first queen to emerge from her queen cup. She will sting the other queens to death before they leave their cells. Then, if the old queen is still alive, she may kill her as well. Or, the workers may kill the old queen through what is known as the "cuddle death," surrounding her and pressing on her until she gets too hot and dies. After the old queen is dead, the new queen will seek out male bees from other hives to mate with to ensure that the colony does not become inbred. Once she has mated, the new queen will spend the rest of her life laying eggs, being fed and groomed by a retinue of worker bees. Worker bees may kill the old queen when a new one is ready. (Davidenko Andrey/iStock/Getty Images) A Queenless Hive If a queen dies unexpectedly and the workers are unable to raise an emergency queen to replace her, the colony will fail. Stimulated by the absence of a queen and the pheromones she secretes as well as the absence of new larvae, worker bees will sometimes begin laying eggs. However, only the queen bee has the instinct and ability to mate. Eggs laid by workers will still hatch, but because they are not fertilized, they will all be drones, or male bees. Drones do not collect any food or do any work, so the number of productive bees will dwindle until the colony disappears. The only hope for a queenless hive is for a new queen to be introduced from outside the hive by a beekeeper. Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5159216_happens-queen-bee-dies.html
It wouldn't be good, but you can get replacement queens from different places around. A Congressman's post shows other results. Since this hive is newer, it probably wouldn't be able to do a very good emergency queen and the hive would suffer and possibly die out/leave. I've had to get a replacement before when the queen got old and stopped laying as well. Here in the future, I'm going to try raising my own queens for situations like that and for building new hives. The bees will also murk their own queen if she's sucking it up.
I thought that maybe all the bees just turned on the animal that killed it and stung it like ten thousands times. Like how all the males are just fat and lazy and only good for breeding while the women are out busting their ass doing all the chores.
The way bees reproduce is when the hive gets too big, they start growing new queens and force the old queen out. Half of the hive leaves with her and them looking for a new home is what is known as a swarm. The new queen they grow then takes over the old hive.
I'm so jealous reading this thread this year. I didn't plant my garden yet this year since I'm closing on my house at the end of the month. Going with two 4x8 boxes with room for 2 more. Got a great spot for my new blue berry bushes too. Had a small set back in that my friends dump bed got stolen out of his yard last week. I was going to take a nice load of dirt from next to our cow feed troughs to start me out. Now I've figure out how to get that dirt 20 miles down the road now without having to pay.
Probably a stupid question, but can you mow grass around your hives? I see a lot of people put them up on cinder blocks so I assume you have to get in there with a weed eater also...
I know billdozer has mentioned it a few times, but your ag extension is a great resource that people fail to use. If you are having yard issues, bugs/fungus/mold/dead spots/ect... they will come out and take a look. I used to call/email them with pictures of bugs on my plants and they would tell you what it was and how to get rid of it. It's their job and they've always been more than happy to help. The Clemson extension does a show called Making it Grow on PBS that's great as well. They have a good bit of content online.
Yeah, I usually just wait until dusk to cut around the hives when they're mostly in the hive. I'm probably going to try and just put plasting and mulch around them in the future just so I don't have to bother with it. I've yet to be stung when cutting the grass, at most they just happen to bounce off of me as I drive by in their flight path.
what does rosemary need to be successful? wifey has planted some in a pot two or three times and kills it every time not sure if she is watering too much or not enough, or not putting it in the ground soon enough/too soon or what
I just threw a seed in some dirt and let nature take its course. I haven't watered my garden much at all. I will cut it back in a couple of weeks but that's about it
Don't know if anyone needs ground cover anywhere- but I've planted some chocolate mint- that stuff takes over quick, and you can't kill it. It smells great, every time I'm working in the yard I cut some with the weed eater and it smells great for a while
Funny you mention that because my mother in law was just saying how hers has really taken off. A pot is about the only thing that can contain it.
I made the mistake of putting it in my raised bed with my peppers 3 years ago- I have to pull chuncks of it out every couple of weeks. I had an area that I just couldn't keep plants in, it doesn't get much sun, holds a lot of water when it rains, etc- well threw some chocolate mint on it and so far it's working great
Well just got my first poison ivy of the season. Probably should have assumed that even though leaves aren't present yet on plants that the vines I was pulling up were probably something to stay away from.
Yea I should have realized that. I though, oh this might be poison ivy, let me get it out of here before it gets leaves. Got a couple small spots, but I'm positive it's significantly less than it would have been had the vines been covered in leaves.
My sister in law is so allergic to poison ivy that breathing the pollen will cause crazy inflammation all over her body.
Went and got my last two sets of bees today as nucs. This time I picked them up from the actual bee yard instead of a store, so it was pretty interesting. About 50 hives on either side of the road with bees just flying everywhere. There were 3 swarms from there hives that were out there, one big one was in the top of a 100 ft pine tree. The owner estimated it was $500 worth of bees lost since it was so high. They collected the other two. Now I'm just waiting for the rain to stop to put the bees in my hive boxes.
Yeah. When they swarm they eat a bunch of honey first to help them survive until they can get the new hive set up. When they do that, they're pretty calm. I also think that they are so full that they can't bend their abdomen to be able to sting.
I know it's not Kansas, but one of the more well known/respected bee keepers is in Nehawka, Nebraska, so it could be a thing in Kansas too.
No I checked its really not. The farmers market peeps said they are here but they aren't harvested that much
I've heard that part of the problem for the midwest is that it's really monocultured with the crops, so the bees don't have balanced food source.
They do in eastern kansas but the problem is that there isn't enough demand for it or some shit like that
Feeny's How to Sunday Afternoon Wife and kids gone = check Nice breeze on back porch = check Garden landscape = check Ice cold drink = check Good cigar = check Good dog = check
No... Its complicated. Basically: 1) people who lived here before me dumped a truckload of sand into already shitty soil for their above ground pool. I have been improving it with used compost over time. 2) my youngest daughter (5yr) LOVES sand, just not out of a sandbox. I talk about getting putting in grass, kid cries and wife thinks I am being insensitive. 3) it isn't irrigated yet, which I won't do until I can get cheaper water. Water/sewage bill is over $200 in the summer just with the garden and front yard irrigation. The county says my house can only receive the finest water in all the land. Recently found out a neighbor has a well even though my other neighbor says we are not zoned for that. Have to check that out. 4) I simply don't care as much about the back yard enough to disregard 1-3. My front yard, though, I sodded a few years ago with zoysia. Sooooo nice. Especially barefoot.
Hi, yes, hello. Just had our garden tilled last week, and seeds have been ordered from Seed Savers. My in-laws just finished the Master Gardener course that U of Illinois extension and are doing a ton of the plotting and work for us. I think we'll be building up the raised beds this week and getting stuff in within the next two weeks. All sorts of stuff to plant in our 25 X 20 space. Not sure what type of soil, but it will grow ANYTHING. Looking into some rain barrels at some point soon, just to keep the water costs down.