Pineapple Sage

Every few years I plant a pineapple sage.   I love them.   They smell good and those flowers just make me happy.

I get one bloom in the spring when I plant and then the blasted things go quiet.    They grow and grow and get huge, but no more flowers, and then BAM in September, right before the first frosts, they start blooming big time.

And for a couple of weeks, it is covered with flowers and the hummingbirds feast and all is right with the herb garden. 

Acorns

It's officially fall now and the acorns are raining like confetti from the tops of the trees.  We've never seen so many and are guessing that the long rains we've had this year are the cause.










Acorns are enchanting.  I like the textures.

In fact, I like all the textures of fall -- the moss, the colored leaves, the ripened seeds on the grass, the flowers, the trees....   It's all beautiful.

Fall Hive Inspection

Here are the hives all happy in their new site.   The bees took the move in stride and are busy as ever.   We did a full fall inspection early in the month and discovered some interesting things.

The 24 hour mite board check turned up 3 mites from each hive.   Also, some dysentery in the Hello Sweetie hive [probably from some fermented sugar water.]  The mite load is small enough that I don't have to treat this year. 

Both hives had tons of brood - the bottom brood box was pretty much packed full of brood. 

But no honey. 

Both hives had just barely started building any comb in the top box.   Each one had only a partial frame and no honey in it. 

No. Honey.   In Sep-freaking-tember.

I've been feeding all summer, the way they tell you to the first year of a hive.   And this is the most brood I've ever had, so that's great - but no honey is not great.   What do they think they're going to eat all winter?? 

I got on the forum and one of the more experienced beeks took some time to answer my questions and make suggestions.   He noted that I may have a 'benign predator problem' with wasps and hornets and maybe some birds.   'Benign' as in not a bear or teenage boy knocking the hives over and destroying everything, but rather something stealthy making regular small raids and keeping the bees busy doing the wrong stuff.

Which would totally explain why I've never had much brood until this year.   This whole year I kept only one small entrance open at the landing board because late summer robbing is an obvious problem here.  I turned the top entrance up [the one you see opens into the top box which holds the feeder, which the bees use through a screen, so predators can get into the top box, but can't get into the brood boxes.]   I have screened bottom boards for summer ventilation.     The one small entrance is all they have.   Both hives are trying to enlarge it.  We'll put a hardware cloth mouse guard over it soon for the winter.

Since we have a lot of birds, too, I put up some poles with those heavy tinfoil disposable cupcake tins tied to them.  [See pic in previous post.]  They make some noise and the reflection is supposed to scare birds away.  They've helped in the garden, so I put two near the bees, just in case.

The goldenrod flow is still on and a good hive can draw a whole super in a week, so I'm letting them try and feeding them heavy syrup [Michael Bush's 5:3] in hopes that they'll get busy and store some.  It should be warm enough for the next couple of weeks.  If they don't, I'll pull the top box and put on mega candy boards for the winter and keep a close eye on them.   We'll push them together, insulate and wrap the sides up tight with black geo textile for the winter and wrap the bottoms [with slider boards in] to reduce draft.

I'm hoping that the new location will deter the predators and help get them through the winter.    If so, then maybe next year I'll have big hives and a decent honey harvest.  These queens are Indiana queens, so I'm hopeful.  It'll be my fourth year.   I'm ready for big honey.

If the hives don't make it this winter, I'm going to try one more time, with Russian bees that I can get from Kelley Bee Supply in Kentucky.   I hear they're good stock for surviving Indiana winters.   

Busy as a Beehive

We decided to move the hives this fall.   They had been up on a grassy hill a few hundred feet away from the house, at the foot of another even taller hill.    It was a good place for them, but kind of inconvenient for hauling tools, etc up to them.

When we got rid of the big blue pool at the end of the garden, I realized that we had a lovely graveled area around which I could put a black- and raspberry patch and in the middle of which I could put the hives.   Much closer to the house.

We can mow all the way around it and there is a tall picnic table right there, too.  Perfect for holding extra boxes and a nice place to put the notebook when we're doing inspections and taking notes.  I decided to face the hives east with the table in front as a wind break that would force the bees up a bit out of the traffic area at the foot of the garden.    Works like a charm.   I can stand behind or next to the table and be out of their flight path, even when there's a lot of orientation going on. 

How did we move the hives?   It was easier than we feared.  We had read that it was no big deal, but we suited up all the way, including gloves [which I never wear even for inspections] I took the top blue boxes off, since they were mostly there to hide the feeders, and we ratchet strapped the hives from bottom to top around the sides.   I stuffed a little rag into the openings and duct taped it down.   We looked for other openings and taped those over, too.   Then Eric got on one side and I got on the other and we lifted the hive into a wheel barrow.   I walked along the side and held on to the strap and top in case of an accidental tip and we moved the hive down the hill, over the creek, and up the hill to the new site.   Then we repeated the process for the other hive.   

The suits were overkill.   We moved the bees at dusk and they totally ignored us.   No big deal at all.   After we moved them and got everything settled, I took the tape off the entrances and put bottom boards in for a 24 hour mite check.   It was warm that night and then it rained hard the next day.  The day after that, there were bees orienting everywhere and Lily and I did a full fall inspection.    Details on that later. 

We put the bees on that resin decking material so we could slide them together for the winter.  The base is small enough that it will be easy to wrap for the cold weather.   Hopefully the gravel will help keep things warmer during the cold months and both hives will survive the winter.  

The Un-Parsnips

This is not a parsnip.

It grew in a row, where I'm pretty darned sure I planted parsnips.  

I  watched them get bigger and bigger - especially this one.  And I was so happy because I was growing parsnips!   A new food to try!

And I planted a row of turnips on the other side of the bed so we could try those, too.

But when I was reading up on the best time to harvest parsnips, I noticed that the leaves on those pics did not look like the leaves on my parsnips.   And then I realized that the leaves on my parsnips looked an awful lot like the leaves on the new turnips I had planted.

Someone had obviously made a mistake somewhere along the line.   Or vandalized my planting.  

This is what I'm pretty sure happened:  Someone came along after I planted my parsnips and carefully pulled up every seed and replaced it with a turnip seed.   Yes.      

That must have been what happened. 

So I harvested my row of un-parsnips and sure enough, they are Boule d'Or turnips, just like my new row of them.   Quite lovely, if I do say so myself. 

We chopped them and roasted them with carrots, two ways.   Savory:  with garlic and olive oil.  Sweet:  with a little butter and generous amounts of brown sugar.    We roasted in the oven at about 300 for an hour and a half or so - until they were fork soft. 

I liked the sweet ones the best and will probably chop up a handful of candied ginger to roast with them next time.  Mmmmm.

Here's another recipe I just found for Turnip and Parsley Patties that sounds pretty tasty.  [Great blog, too!]  They're turnip fritters!

We'll also put some of them in pasties to freeze for winter dinners.   It's so exciting having a new veggie to try.

Late Summer Sonnet

It's late summer, the time when a gardener's heart turns to sonnets.

Yes, this is a poetry blog, too, and as you know, I am freakishly fond of sonnets. See the others here.

I can't help it. I love them.

It's ok if you don't like them though - I am no rural Shakespeare. That's for sure.



Rural Sonnet #4

Late summer bursts with color near my gates,
On roadside, hill and woods. The yellow blaze
Of daisies short and tall illuminates
The quiet edges of the woods when days
Grow hotter still and August sears. The grass
Blooms by the ironweed’s bright fuchsia knots
And bluing pools of mistflower as they mass
In lower spots beside orange touch-me-nots.
The golden rods of goldenrods sway high
Above lobelia’s lovely violet spires –
And asters’ paling pinks intensify
the almost hidden arum’s burning fires
‘Til jealous trees in autumn’s chilly nights
transform their own limbs into fiery brights.

12 Month Gardening

We've been busy with the bees and the gardens here lately.   We've moved the hives closer to the house to a place at the end of the existing gardens where we will be putting in a berry patch.    It's so nice to have the bees closer!   Expect more details on that later this week.

What I want to talk about first is 12 month gardening.   

We grow food in our gardens for 12 months of the year.   When I posted last winter about veggies that like cold weather, one of my lovely readers cross posted it on Reddit.   I got lots of pageviews [Thank you!!] and some very interesting comments posted on reddit.  

A few people thought my list was ridiculous.   They assumed that I go out in January in the snow and plant my lettuce and radishes then.    There is a deep misunderstanding of how 12 month gardening works.  

Winter gardening is not going out in the dead of winter with your hoe and a packet of seeds and  then carving a row out of the frozen ground, then planting the seeds and expecting them to grow like they do in May.

No.   Definitely not.  

Winter gardening begins in early fall - September, here.   We prep the beds and get them planted and then cover them for the winter in hoop houses and cold frames.  This way we can harvest through the entire winter and then plant again as soon as our latitude gets enough sunshine in the spring.

It's as easy as you want it to be.   Put some straw mulch in there if you want to prevent weeds and water if it gets too warm. 

Here are some things to think about now for your winter garden:

1.  Good soil:  Fertilize with manure or something else before you plant things.   This is especially necessary if you've grown a crop in that bed already this year, as I do. 

2.  Choose appropriate winter veggies:   Don't plant corn, squash and tomatoes.   Do plant greens, radishes, fennel, carrots and other cold weather loving veg.

3.  Prepare appropriate covers:  I use a two layer system - a cold frame or hoop house on the outside with row covers or extra plastic on the inside.   It's like you being in a winter coat in a car in the sunshine.  Even when it's really cold out, you are going to be much warmer than the outside temp.   And that's warm enough for the right kind of vegetables.  

If you can get your hands on some double walled greenhouse 'glass' [it's really acrylic] or some recycled double paned windows, they'll work too.  

And remember - cold frames don't have to be very big and they can tuck up nicely on the south side of your house.   That's just enough to plant a short row of radishes and some greens.

4.  Plant early enough so that you're still getting enough light for things to grow.  Once they get so big, they'll be fine all winter in the ground.   This is where the idea for root cellars came from.   I can plant until early October.  

5.  Watering:  In cold weather, the plants aren't respiring as heavily as when it's hot, so you don't have to water unless it's really warm in there.   If it's warm enough for you to be outside working comfortably, then check the cold frame and if it's dry, sprinkle it. 

6.  Weeds:  They'll grow too, so we use a thick layer of straw between rows.  Newspapers or cardboard work just as well.

We will likely be replacing our current hoop house structure [made with pvc] with a structure made with a 16' cattle panel.   The old one was fine....until we got loads of snow and it collapsed.   The new one should be a little more collapse proof.   I'll keep you updated.