So the winter is upon us and the gardening and beekeeping world is shutting down. Its funny, I have a mixture of slight melancholy about it. Part of me is sad that it all now slows down, the garden doesn’t look as nice as it did several weeks ago, the bees are less active and are all tucked up trying to keep Queenie warm (at a constant 35 degrees) and yet there is also the other side of me that is a little bit happy about it all. It is the tidy up time (I know, I know, the fashion at the moment is to leave the garden relatively undisturbed to allow wildlife to thrive but I really struggle with this) and the beds start to look nice again without all the rather sad looking dead plants which were once proud to fill the beds. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Surreybeekeeper | Posted in Beehives, Gardening | Posted on 25-03-2010
The hysteria and excitement similar to that experienced by a four year old at Christmas has now
My jigsaw puzzle hive!
subsided. The realisation that I actually ordered a flat packed hive has actually set in! What was I thinking…….How on earth do I build this thing especially considering my “Dry Run” was a complete disaster, having now looked at the actual instructions! If I was running a B&B for Bees the AA would simply not even bother coming out to give me a rating. It was all wrong! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by James | Posted in Beehives, Beekeeping, Bees | Posted on 13-03-2010
On reflection, today has been a great day. It started early, for me anyway, at 6am – this time of year I always like to get something done as I run out of time what with all the seed sowing and general preparation work for the Spring – and i had planned to pop up to the allotment to get the first sowing of potatoes and mange tout into the ground. When the mornings are clear and sunny like it was this morning it is fantastic. It is quiet, no one is about and you can just go about your business without real time constraints as essentially you have borrowed time and it just feels more peaceful knowing that you are ahead of everyone. This morning was a little different however as I had a little run in with the farmer….was this the time to discuss the beehives?! Read the rest of this entry »
I have had this feeling now for some time that all this could be completely hot air. I have created a lovely blog (well I think so!) and twitter pages, I have commented on forums sites about being a beginner beekeeper and even gone so far as to order a hive – just heard news that my flat packed hive arrives on Friday, hurrah! – but there is one slight problem………where on earth am I going to get some bees from! Read the rest of this entry »
