9/18/2024
You hear this said a lot, but this year is flying by. In fact, it’s so fast that it’s past the middle of the month and I haven’t posted once. Not good.
That said, there has been a lot of stuff going on and things to review from last year. I hope to remember to mention all of them.
The bees…
The remaining bees are doing very well. When it started getting dry in August, Linda and I began feeding them to hopefully stop the bees from leaving like they did last year. The plan is to continue until the end of September. The population of these colonies is much larger than last year’s. I not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, time will tell.
The purple object with the green bottle is a feeder that I printed here on my 3d printer. I have a very long post about the printers and how they work here.
The colony in the Quilt box unexpectedly absconded. Small hive beetles didn’t exert any pressure, so it’s good not to have to clean up that mess. It’s very possible the other two colonies were robbing them. Wherever they ended up, I hope they survived.
Review of last year’s goals
In July of last year, I set some pretty ambitious goals for this year They included:
- 3 more hive boxes
- 3 more stands
- 60 to 80 new frames, which in turn means:
- 60 to 80 tops
- 60 to 80 bottoms
- 120 to 160 side pieces
- clearing out the foliage where the new hives boxes will be
Like I said, pretty ambitious. We did indeed get the new boxes and stands built. We fell short on frames, but I have enough pieces cut out for several more. Not to mention the ones that need to be wired. So maybe we did meet the goals.
The barn and greenhouse
I’m happy to say that this year’s work on the barn is as good as done. I think there is one piece of trim left to hang, but overall it’s done! I am very happy with the results.
The greenhouse is basically functional. I’ve got to figure out shelving as well as a fan and heater to control the temperature. If anyone has any ideas, leave a comment.
Both of these structures took all summer to finish. Happy they are done for now. More improvements to come…
The lavender bed
It has been somewhat of a struggle, but it looks like the 56 or so plants we have will survive the year. After it cools off, we will rake back the mulch and pull back the garden cloth to add lime to the soil. Yes, lime. The soil in this area is too acidic for optimal lavender growth.
Today’s pictures.
The Koi pond
We haven’t mentioned the pond this year. That’s because there was a leak which kept the level very low and not looking real great.
We started leak-busting this spring by tearing apart the waterfall. The odds were the leak was somewhere in it. It wasn’t.
We moved the rocks off of one side and found a 4 inch gash in the liner along a fold. It was hard to patch, but it seems to be holding. After patching the leak, we rebuilt the waterfall.
A video of the rebuilt waterfall.
I think I’ve hit all the major topics. Thanks for reading.
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