:: Garry's Garden Gnus ::

our resident squirrel

2012-02-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

meet bob t. squirrel. he lives in our backyard.

orchard prep for 2012

2012-02-05T19:03:00.000-08:00

spent the day planting some bare root fruit trees and doing general orchard cleanup to make her all pretty for the year.

trucked in 2 yards of compost to improve the generally poor soil i have. the compost is added every year or two - that is the raised bedding areas along the tree rows.

51 fruit trees in that little orchard.

our house - as google sees it

2011-11-28T08:01:00.000-08:00

its amazing to me the detail that our satellites can ferret out from way out in space. this is the latest google earth photo of my house. it was taken sometime in summer of 2009 - as i can tell from what is done and not done in the photo.

even more amazing is you can see the lattice work on my cucumber trellis up in the garden (2nd bed on the right, light brown smudge). that is made from 2x2 cedar and, well you can see its there. to the left of that is a green garden hose.

as you can also tell, i still have a lot of projects to be done around the house - but, its obvious that i had my priorities straight that day.

the boat is hitched to the truck and looks like i just got home from a fishing trip.

its a good life, no complaints here.

2011 fall color

2011-11-20T19:26:00.000-08:00

the trees are getting bigger and thier color is getting better year over year. downside - those leaves will be hitting the ground and that means more work in the next week or so.

upside?

awesome compost.

last harvest of 2011

2011-11-20T19:22:00.000-08:00

this wraps up the 2011 garden - potatoes. take a gander at those spuds. those red ones are huge. and there is another box full of these babies in the cellar.

the 2012 seed catalogs are on thier way. i cant wait.

2011-11-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

this was last weekends project. big pile of cuttings that made way for the fence.

pretty scratched up from all the oak - but its a nice pile of mulch now.

got a lot done, still alot more to go. if you are lookin' for some work - i can share.

the back fence

2011-11-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

its done, but you get to see the bones here. nice to have this long-on-the-honeydo-list project complete.

other projects this summer

2011-10-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

well, i finally fenced in the back property line. the neighbor wanted the fence in, i hadnt prioritized it - we did some horse-trading.

end result?

3 big grey pines dropped in the backyard. these trees were leaners (~60-80 feet tall) and when we had the 18 inches of snow during the winter of '09 - they were leaning too far for my comfort over my boat.

so with a little quid pro quo - he got a fence in sooner and i got 3 huge trees cutdown. pretty sweet. i even found a taker for the wood - so my boys and i got it cut and stacked and the wood is now up in pollock pines ready to keep someones house warm.

i have some pretty cool pix of the fence and the guy up in the tree - but for life of me i can t make this blog take them vertically - even though they show up properly on my desktop. go figure. so you get to see 3 of my fav guys who helped out on the project. (l-r) austin, andrew and jed.

and thats my boat to the far right.

7.5 gallons - hmmm baby...

2011-10-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

yup - the weird weather didnt seem to impact honey production too much. if you followed my 12 swarm captures (mostly from my own hives) i figured i would experience a poor honey harvest. well, we saw a 50% increase from last year (2010 saw 5 gallons). i also had queen issues early in the year - which i believe was the result of me swapping the brood supers - resulting in queen supersedure and subsequent swarming.

so 2012 will see no brood box swaps and as i re-queened with new world carniolans in late june, i am hoping that they will avoid swarming - as that trait is downplayed in the nwc strain.

time will tell.

as of this week i have applied the winter prep medicine to reduce the varroa mite and have 6 strong hives. i do have 1 hive (the 7th) that i will be break down shortly, its having wax moth issues - and that is an indicator of other factors causing a failing hive. i will set out the honey in that hive and have the other hives rob it and add to their winter stores.

from there to here...

2011-10-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

well, i did it again. no summertime posts, no updates - you would think i would know better. however, it is what it is. so lets jump back a few months to the garden. my last post showed a pretty good hail storm, a week after i planted my tomatoes in May. well, old mother nature did her ~~best~~, er- worse - but we were able to pull out ok, but it was a tough year. tomatoes didnt produce until august, we had cool weather throughout the summer and didnt get the intense weeks of heat which really kick the tomatoes in high gear.

as you see in the picture (mid june timeframe) the garden did do well early. 2011 was a challenge, but gardeners are an optimistic lot, by nature - otherwise why would we plant seeds and dirt?

and i planted tomatoes a week ago

2011-05-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

hail.

on may 15. who du thunk it.

my tomatoes are covered by black plastic pots, so i am not overly concerned, but, darn - this is supposed to be may - you know, warm, shorts weather. we'll see of this stunts the tomatoes too much.

thankfully the pots covering the tomatoes will provide good protection from the hail, marginal from frost.

#13 and the last one? well maybe....

2011-05-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

i'm off the bee store swarm list, but various folks from past year swarm pickups still have my number. after i pick up a swarm, i always mention to keep my number in case they or a friend get re-swarmed and i will come out and pick it up.

today, i got just such a call.

so off i go. it was a pretty easy swarm. i cut the branch off with the swarm ball intact, placed it in the hive and came home.

this should be the last one for 2011. it'll be combined with one of my existing hives that is having some issues with eggs and brood.

the 2011 tomato team hit the dirt this weekend

2011-05-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

and the day after, we had cold weather and snow 15 miles up the road. :0 21 of those babies in the ground. lets hope for a very tomatoey 2011.

trouble in the apiary :(

2011-05-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

did the bee inspection about a week ago. i have seen numerous swarms come from my hives and i needed to see whats up in the hives.

it didnt start off too well.

hive #1 - found zero - nada - not one egg or capped brood in the hive. saw a lot of drones and quite a bit of workers. i couldnt find the queen. not good. so as i go frame by frame and getting realizing i may be witnessing a dying hive, i decide to move a recent captured swarm into the hive.

the plan goes like this. i strip the hive, right down to the bottom board. i inserted the 'russ brett' swarm and proceed to shake out all of the bees, frame by frame, down in the garden - so the bees can fly back to their hive and integrate themselves to their new queen. about 4 frames into the shaking process - and i find the queen.

oooops.

so - what to do. i'm not going to pull out the recently inserted nuc. so - off with her head. live and learn, well i know that hive will make it, but i wish i would have seen the queen earlier in the process.

hive #2 - its the same - deja vu all over again - no eggs, no brood, just a bunch of drones and workers. learning from the first hive, i looked and looked and actually found the queen. i put the hive back together and moved on to #3.

hive #3 - dude, whats up with these hives. same thing. no eggs, etc. i did find the queen. closed the hive up and moved on to the others.

all the other hives, i saw eggs and brood.

so here's the game plan next weekend will be 2 weeks since the inspection. should be plenty of time for the queen to establish herself. if there are no eggs, then the hive will be integrated with one of the extra swarms, i gathered for just in case of an emergency. these swarms have laying queens and good egg/brood patterns, so i'm hoping this saturday goes well and makes it easy on me.

what was the cause of this mess? unknown , but my attempt at hive super reversal earlier this spring, may have been less than successful. next year, super reversal is not in the game plan. i will look at splitting the hives.

stay tuned.

#12

2011-04-24T20:30:00.001-07:00

my next door neighbor reported he had a swarm over at his rental. so off i go. located at the base of a fence - overgrown with weeds. i was able to scoop the bees into the hive. scoop after scoop - it was a small swarm, but they just werent cooperating too well.

a few more scoops and BAM - i found the queen, grabbing her by the wings and popped her into the nuc hive. this one was pretty easy.

#11

2011-04-23T20:28:00.001-07:00

got a call from a neighbor about a swarm hanging on a fence pole at his house. the neighbor is pretty allergic to bees, but has a real positive attitude about the bees in general. i plan to keep them supplied with honey.

this swarm was hived while it was raining - not overly tuff, but makes the bees a bit testy.

while hiving it, i was able to ID the queen, grabbed her by the wings and showed her to the neighbor. i placed her in the hive, and after that - it was a slam dunk to get the bees in the box.

i have room for 1 more swarm.

#10

2011-04-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

this was the second one i hived friday night. pretty decent size swarm and i saw the queen, so this one should do well.

#9

2011-04-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

came home work on friday and found two swarms awaiting me.

this one was a pretty small cluster, but i needed to clear this one to get to the fatty further up the tree. this was a quick and easy capture.

but it didnt last long. swarm #11 came in saturday afternoon. and i needed the box this swarm was in. this cluster was very small and prior to grabbing #11 i looked at #9. didnt see a queen, so this cluster lost its queen and was doomed.

they are now co-mingled with #11.

tomato starts update

2011-04-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

keith dropped off the starts in early april - just as they were ready to be potted up out of the 6 pack cells. wasting no time, these babies went right into the next size pots. then, they didnt look so good.

it seems that the move to larger digs, resulted in some shock. the starts just didnt look good; clearly unhappy, the leaves yellowed. growth stagnated. are these guys going to make it? about 9 days later, things started to look better.

leaves greened up, new ones sprouted and as you can see - looks like these babies are getting ready to rock and roll.

tomato season 2011 - lets roll.

#6 and #7 - at rest - and bill, see its not only you...

2011-04-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

my gardening friend and fellow beekeeper, bill bird of natomas, - yeah you know the guy - a well known blog http://sacramentogardening.blogspot.com/ and gets some good press from the sacbee - he was concerned, as his hello kitty hive swarmed, not once but 4 or 5 times this spring.

at 1900 foot elevation, my hives are about 3 weeks behind bills, but i am going thru a similar process. humans like to think they can control things. we plan and work and do what we can to impose our will upon the workings of nature. it usually doesnt work. occasionally we get lucky.

this year not so much.

i have witnessed at least 8 swarms, all issued from hives that i own, i reversed the brood chambers - which is about all one can do. but i did know this was inevitable. the swarms in the attached picture, are still on the tree limbs 30 feet up, it has rained 2 times since they landed, hopefully they will make it. i think it would be pretty cool if they do.

all of my hives - save 1 - came from swarms captured in 2010. i did not requeen any of them. so swarming is a part of their genetics - of which i did nothing to improve. so in 2011, i intend to change that.

i have 4 new world carniloan queens on reserve to be picked up in mid-june. nwc's are a well established controlled breeding line - which among other things, utilize a small winter cluster. small winter clusters, usually come into spring with less proclivity to swarm.

no swarms = happy neighbors. happy neighbors = bees get to stay.

so in june, new queens will be introduced, by the time fall hits all of the bees in those 4 hives, will be nwc strain. my plan is as follows.

the 4 hives that are not requeened will be joined with the 4 with nwc queens. these 'super hives' will go into winter strong. some time around march, i will split the hives, essentially giving each hive room to grow, without the need to swarm.

this will create 4 hives with new queens. these hives will be requeened with 2012 nwc's queens. the hives requeened in 2011, should be ok thru 2012.

like is said these are my plans - if you have any questions as to success - please refer to paragraph #2.

#6 and #7

2011-04-23T17:48:00.000-07:00

if you look real close at the picture, you will notice a bunch of black dots. those are the bees that made up - what turned out to be 2 swarms flying at one time. i never had a chance with these, as they came to rest on branches about 30 feet up in a digger pine in the backyard.

its amazing how loud a swarm of bees are - if you ever get a chance to witness such an event, just relax, sit back and enjoy. they arent aggressive and its a marvel of nature. something akin to entropy in action.

#5 - the sequel

2011-04-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

this is the one i left behind - when i went to get the fatty - you remember, the one on the lower branch. well they stayed put overnight and early sunday morning, i was able to get them hived. it wasnt an easy job, these vertical trunk hugging swarms are a challenge.

so sugar spraying and sweeping, i go, actually getting them into the nuc hive - and at one point i actually see the queen - she dropped on the hive cover and just as i am set to grab her by the wings, she takes off. this would have been a slam dunk. queen in hive = pretty much a done deal. i was unable to see where she went to, but hoped she went back to the original branch.

so with most bees in the hive, i go on to my other chores. later in the day the only thing left in the hive is a few straggler bees. 15 feet further up the tree - way out of reach - is that nice swarm, which i will never be able to reach. win some, lose some.

i like to look at it as giving back to mother nature, who has sent a lot of swarms my way this spring. good luck bees.

#5

2011-04-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

this is the one left behind - the one a few feet down, which hopefully will still be there sunday morning for me to capture.

#4

2011-04-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

this one awaited me after a long day working a derby for a fisheries group i lead. it was about 10 feet off the ground, late evening and to add to the challenge; their was a second swarm in the same manzanita, but a few feet lower.

so what to do - i cant do both swarms, when i knock one, the other will fall also and being that i have to hang on to the ladder, position a box under the target swarm and also keep from falling - a choice had to be made.

so i go for the fatty.

squirted pretty thoroughly with sugar water, i pulled down the branch holding the fatty. they dropped like dress on prom night - right into the target box. descending the ladder, i was able to get the swarm poured into the nuc hive; at the cost a stung middle finger, that is swelling up pretty good right now.

this one will be combined with another swarm in a few weeks.

#3

2011-04-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

its that time of year, where a beekeeper looks all around - not at the flowers, or pretty ladies - but for swarms. this one showed up on friday 4/15 - hanging on the garden fence. anything other than a swarm hanging off a horizontal branch, can be a challenge.

i approached this with the usual heavy dose of sugar water, generously sprayed all over the swarm. being that one cant rap the fence hard enough to kick-off a dramatic swarm drop into a hive i had to come up with a plan b.

once well soaked, i used the hive tool and scraped the bees into a cardboard lid and poured the mass of bees into the nuc hive. it took a few scrapes and the bees were in the hive. by evening time, the bees were all snug in their nuc hive and at 5 AM saturday morning, they were moved up to hive position #8 - filling up my apiary.

still looking for a few more good swarms - to combine with new swarms to get them going even more.

#2

2011-04-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

this one landed on a tree, not 10 feet from 2011's first swarm. this one was a little easier to get to - but still required a severe tree cutting to get it out of there. so far, all my swarms have been issued from hives on my property. not a great thing - but with gas hovering at $4 per gallon, at least i am driving all over the county to get my bees.

1950's era documentary on beekeeping

2011-04-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

this short clip is certainly dated, but i long for an era - in which i never lived, and perhaps its viewed with rose colored glasses. but it seems the 1950's just was a good time to live, simpler life, safer world (after all - we just stomped on the bad guys in ww2) and the classic leave it to beaver presentation just resonates with me. production values are low, but this is the type of movie we would watch at elementary school back in the 1970's. before digital - everything was analog, very analog. the info is still relevant. enjoy!

first swarm of 2011

2011-04-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

i got called out last week on a swarm that scooted to wherever, before i could capture it - more common than one might think, as swarms that land on branches typically are only waiting for a better place to live. today, late in the afternoon, heading out of my garden, i spotted a swarm of bees that had settled on a pine tree.

a swarm clustered on a tree trunk isnt an easy swarm to hive. the nice fatty i punted to keith, over at bill birds, is a text book perfect swarm. a nice heavy swarm on a horizontal branch. juice them up with sugar water and 'BAM!' into the hive they drop.

this one - as you can tell, decided to take up abode along the trunk, extending vertically for about 3 feet. not an easy one to get to, much less hive. fortunately, it was on a tree which i would have to cut down sometime anyway - and no better reason than to get a swarm.

a few hacks with my loppers and i was able to lean the swarm over the hive box and dropped them in. well, they didnt drop real well - it some brushing, sugar water spraying, and more brushing and finally most of the bees were in the hive. tomorrow, they will move over to their new home.

seedling update

2011-03-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

mr. groundhog predicted an early spring - stupid groundhog....

at least my seedlings are making progress - as little has been done in the garden due to the incessant rain for the last few weeks. keith the seed guy is making good progress and these babies will be hitting the dirt in my garden mid-may.

for you valley tomato growers - like 'fish' jimmerson, you need to plant on april 28; the official tomato planting day, and coincidentally farmer fred's bday. up here at 1900 foot elevation, we can get a pretty good frost, past that date and mid-may is chancy, but we should be good.

btw - we got about 2 inches of snow again last night on 3/24 - which we preceded by snow last weekend. stupid groundhog....

2011 tomato seeds have been started

2011-02-22T12:57:00.000-08:00

Kieth the seed guys blog - tracks progress here:

http://epigeal.blogspot.com/2011/02/seedlings-planted.html

varieties for 2011 are:

ananias nore <-- new variety
black <-- new variety
better boy
champion
early girl
first lite <-- new variety - supposedly early, we'll see
cherokee purple <-- best purple one i have found
black seaman <-- new variety
bloody butcher
japenese black trifele <-- new variety
isis candy <-- new variety
sun gold <-- *AWESOME* will always have this one
big beef
black zebra <-- *AWESOME* will always have this one
orange flesh purple smudge <-- a new one, unique coloring
super fantastic

i will be planting 21 plants (down from 48 a couple years ago) and some varieties will get 2 plants - others only one. i have a good number of new varieties (at least for me) and also a good number of trusty hybrids - if 2010 taught me anything, tomato growing is a crap shoot, and you gotta have your bets covered.

its been awhile - but not to worry

2011-02-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

way too long - thats just what its been.

but as winter hits, i really dont get a whole lot done in the garden. the garden has been cleaned up, bees mostly made ready for winter and then the holidays. in addition, we got some new flooring, in the kitchen great room, stairs and landing - which meant i had to paint and lots of it. still not done with the painting, but you get the idea.

if you recall the post:

http://eldoradogardening.blogspot.com/2010/11/black-gold-at-least-start-of-it.html

i was pondering on the compost bin i was to make - well, i decided upon 4 bins, approximately 48 inches in width and height. i didnt want to burn a lot of money on new wood for a compost bin, so i have been scrounging for used redwood and once complete, about 2/3 of the bins will be reclaimed redwood.

a lot of the stuff was just laying around the house, my dad kicked in a bunch of 4x4's which i ripped into 2x4's. all in all its coming together quite nicely. i have 2 bins complete and will roll thru the rest as time permits. the compost pile in the above link will soon be moved over into bin #2 to continue its compost work - bin #1 will be the recipient of 2011 green waste.

farmer fred, just may have something...

2010-11-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

(and not to imply i dont learn a lot from him)

on december 7 2009. we received, what i believe, was a 100 year storm here in diamond springs.

on that day we received over 12 inches of snow. not earth shattering, but here at 1900 foot elevation, and supposedly below the snowline - it was a bit much.

well, if you recall, we had some severe tree damage across our half acre.

http://eldoradogardening.blogspot.com/2009/12/low-snow-in-garden.html

we lost one full oak tree and another oak tree saw 3 of its major trunks (out of six) snap from the weight of the snow. a lesser, tree in the front yard also lost a limb. that tree is a japanese maple that had good symmetry and fall color. the tree was in a challenging place, as it had to endure full southern and western exposure.

not a good thing for a japanese maple, but she seemed to endure the heat ok; up until that point.

the limb was obviously weakly attached, and it snapped off and pretty much ruined the symmetry of the entire tree.

the point of this post is pretty much one-fold. take a look at the photo and you will see severe bark defoliation as a result of sunburn on the trunk, just below the location the branch was broken from. prior to breaking off that limb offered enough canopy cover to shade the trunk from the sun.

having listened to the farmer fred (kfbk and kste garden guy on sundays 8:30 -12) for years and hearing the pro's, cons and arguments about the merits of white washing the trunk of a tree to reduce sun burn - and just recently hearing his talk with annalisa stewart, who maintains white washing isnt proven to do anything but paint a tree white - i believe there is sufficient anecdotal evidence to suggest that whitewashing is probably worth the effort.

i would bet there would be an even chance that sunburn would not be as severe. i even offer, if sunscreen is proven to reduce skin sun damage, why wouldnt the same logic flow on trees. paint or sun screen, offers a thin layer to which the rays of the sun hit first, reducing damage to whats underneath. seems logical, but at best - all i have is anecdotal evidence.

one downside, i wouldnt like to have a whitewashed trunk in my front yard. in addition, the lack of symmetry probably will result in the tree getting pulled. it is a focal point in my yard and the way she looks now, is not helpful. i was hoping the tree would push another limb and recover, worst case, i dig it up and plant it in the backyard.

to paint or not to paint - well, i'm thinking i'm back in the painting camp with farmer fred.

got my first 2011 seed catalog today!

2010-11-22T18:44:00.000-08:00

got my first seed catalog for 2011 today. totally tomatoes, still looking for tomato growers supply and a couple others - but its looking up!

when shredders devour themselves

2010-11-14T17:41:00.001-08:00

these are the parts, i had to replace on the shredder. somehow one of these guys decided to come loose, and pretty much made the device pretty lethal for all things down stream. these parts are the flail portion of the shredder and are pinned to the flywheel - which is the working end of the device.

october glory maple

2010-11-14T17:37:00.000-08:00

the picture isnt as vibrant as the real thing, but its still not bad.

black gold - at least the start of it

2010-11-14T16:21:00.000-08:00

what you see here, is the makings of the best stuff on earth - or i should say from earth.

well, i decided i have to completely re-rig my compost system.

if you recall a post back in may 2009: http://eldoradogardening.blogspot.com/2009/05/omg-has-been-month-already.html

it turns out this 2 bin system, just didnt have the capacity for the yard waste i was able to generate in a year. this came apparent late in 2009, when i was cleaning out my garden beds. so, that fall - i ripped out the bins (which are real cool and made from recycled plastic - i bought it about 10 years ago at my last house).

so i did the pile thing and didnt shred the garden waste last year; i just kinda chopped it up and let nature takes its course.

i dont have the time to manage the compost pile, so it never warmed up too much. i added dr earth compost builder - and it didnt do much, but relieve my wallet of $10. as fall kicked it and temps cooled, i will be building a new series of bins.

i have been noodling on it awhile and after referencing an online guide:

http://www.mastercomposter.com/

and farmer freds blog and radio show, http://www.farmerfred.com/

it looks like i will have a 4 or 5 bin system. at this point, i am planning each bin being 4x4 in size, possibly 5x5 depending upon a few factors i am still working on. that would mean a series of bins 20-25 feet long. a monstrosity, for sure, but with some careful landscape planning and i believe i will be able to mask the bins.

this may be overkill, but with a low compost management time, i would bet 4- 5 years should be sufficient to generate compost the slow way. so the way it will work, will be thus - bin 1 will receive all green and brown for 2010. that pile will move to bin 2, in 2011. bin 1, will then take 2011 stuff. each year, the piles will move up 1 bin, and by the time a pile finishes up in bin 5, it should be black gold.

good compost, like fine wine, cant be rushed, and given more and more trees getting larger and generating more leaves, every year- size will matter for my composting. so to make room for the new bins, i had to haul out all of last years compost pile and while i was at it, i figured it would shoot it thru the shreader this year. and the pile you see here is only the pile from last years goodies. shreding of this years garden commences this week.

i am a bit less organic today....

2010-11-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

its been over a month since i last posted. i would LOVE to say i was diligently working at bill birds rental assisting him in his painting chores - but to tell the truth, between scout stuff, work stuff and other stuff, i have gotten about zip done around my house this past month.

my last post showed the rating of several types of tomatoes, and between now and then the garden moved into steep decline and i started to pull out the remnants of the plants. as i started to shred the plant remnants, my shredder began to shudder and made moves that any break dancer would be proud.

the sound - oh the sound - it reminded me of an engine coming apart. i was able to shut it down and the flail parts of the shredder decided to disintegrate and actually punched a hole in the chute housing; i am glad i wasnt downrange of the dismemberment of the shredder. so $150 in parts on order later and my garden cleanup tasks are on hold.....

now for why i am less organic. if you recall a previous post:

http://eldoradogardening.blogspot.com/2009/04/orgainc-on-lawn-too.html

it was april 2009 and i decided to go organic for grass fertilizer. it was the right thing to do. now, 18 months later, i have changed back to 'best turf supreme'. why? you ask? well they started showing up about 10 months ago. 'they' are worm castings. not a bad thing at all, and in fact i welcomed them. from what i have learned from farmer fred's radio and the organic advocate steve zion, worms and the resulting castings are a real indicator of a well balanced soil eco system.

'GREAT!' i thought at the time. well several months later and an increasing volume of castings and i am finding - at least for me in my turf areas - castings just arent going to work out.

really -its me, not you; mr. nightcrawlers. as referenced in my april 2009 post, i am anal for a lush green, leave it to beaver style front yard. and in my zeal for that lushness, i used the dr. earth lawn fertilizer. and it did its job. the lawn responded and so did the crawlers. castings pushed up daily. the subterranean bulldozing - which they do - left an uneven lawn. worst of all - when enjoying the lawn, you would leave it with mud spots on ones derriere.

not cool. i figured i could live with the inconvenience of the castings. but as time went on and it continued to get worse and worse. there is no way i can get rid of the offending critters; however my hope is a return to a fertilizer based upon salts will diminish their numbers and will, hopefully, get my lawn as green as i like - sans the mud spots.

big beef

2010-09-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

well not so big this year, but a good producer. hybrid vigor and expected tomato flavor. good one to have. sometimes gets mealy at times, but not too bad.

grade = 3

champion

2010-09-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

another good producing hybrid that i will have in the garden year after year. standard tomato taste and production was very good inspite of 2010 weather challenges.

grade = 3

cherokee purple

2010-09-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

a great heirloom that i will grow every year. purple flesh, with a bit of green shading up near the top. juicy, well flavored mid-size tomato. production was less than stellar this year - but we all know why. this will be on tap for many years to come.

grade = 4

super fantastic

2010-09-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

for most of the remaining red tomatoes, i gotta tell you - taste is pretty consistent across the board. its expected, they are hybrids and are bred for consistent production with other admirable attributes, which make them a winner in adverse weather years like we had in 2010.

this is super fantastics third year, and will be in my tomato posse - just because i know i can count on it for production - and this year was a good test. although fruit size was smaller than expected, it still had a lot of them. good standard tomato flavor. a keeper

grade = 3

mr stripey

2010-09-14T17:08:00.001-07:00

thought this would be a larger bi-colored tomato. turned out pretty much to be redundant to black zebra. moderate production, no noticeable blossom rot issues. fine taste, but no better than black zebra. sorry mr. stripey, black zebra wins.

grade = 2

sweet gold

2010-09-14T17:01:00.000-07:00

a yellow cherry tomato that was planted to compare to sungold. typical cherry production, but didnt seem as prolific as sungold. taste wasnt bad, in fact quite good - but not as good as sungold. late season production seemed to taper off sooner than sungold. if i hadnt already been a sungold fan, this would be in the winners column. in light of sungold - it pales in comparison.

grade = 2

early girl

2010-09-14T16:57:00.000-07:00

my go-to for early production and this year it was the earliest tomato. medium/smallish in size, 3-4 tomatoes per cluster. typical hybrid tomato taste. main strength, early season producer and given 2010 weather, it did a good job. continues to produce throughout the year.

definitely should be on the list every year - if only for getting an early tomato.

grade = 3

gregori's altai

2010-09-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

marketed as an early russian heirloom. wasnt too early, but had heirloom taste and qualities. pink colored tomato, bigger than mid size. not a prolific producer, but given 2010 weather, that might be a different variable.

a bit of cat facing, didnt see any blossom end rot. solid taste. overall, not bad, but given small number of fruits on the plant, dont count on it to provide much.

grade = 2.5

black from tula

2010-09-13T18:08:00.001-07:00

planted to compare to cherokee purple. similar in flavor, color and size to cherokee purple. possibly slightly more roundish and offers a cute 'belly button' on the bottom end. did see a slight propensity for end blossom rot, but not too bad. must pick when ripe or it quickly goes over ripe with a watery bottom end. prone to catfacing, but that and cracks dont really slow me up or become a hinge factor in my decision. if i had to choose between tula and cherokee purple - purple wins.

grade = 3

black zebra

2010-09-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

a favorite from last year, and still a favorite. doesnt seem to have the bit of saltiness that last years plants had, but the weather could be a factor. near perfect size and prolific producer. i love the bi-color skin. seems to avoid cracking. still a real winner.

grade = 4

cabernet

2010-09-13T18:01:00.001-07:00

sure looks and tastes like your typical red hybrid tomato. nothing great or bad about this variety.

grade = 2

insights on the tastes of some tomatoes

2010-09-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

this kicks off, what will be, a non-scientific, biased and subjective review of the tomatoes i grow. i do this mainly so i can have a report of a particular variety going forward. i hope to give enough detail to make each tomato standout or fail on its own merit, but i expect most tomatoes to pretty much taste like - well, a tomato. so unless i clearly state that 'this tomato stinks' most will be just that - average, no outstanding attributes, no real drawbacks. i am keeping in mind that the weird weather in 2010 impacted tomato production and when the plant finally produced.

tomatoes will be graded on a scale of 1-4:

1 = bad, will never plant again

2 = ok, just doesnt standout, not good, but not bad, i'm agnostic about it, average.

3 = good, a solid performer, better than average.

4 = great, definitely a must have in the garden.

so the first tomato we run through is Sioux.

its a smallish tomato that is borne in clusters of 4-6 tomatoes. plant was vigorous. taste is typical hybrid tomato flavor. a nice looking tomato, with no evidence of cracking or end blossom rot. it was bred in the 1940's so not real old heirloom, clearly a hybrid. nothing to make me want to grow it again.

grade = 2

2011 garden layout

2010-09-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

well, the 2010 garden hasnt even been ripped out yet, but i believe i have the bed layouts for 2011 dialed.

some challenges i had this year:

1. the two sisters plan - sharing corn and squash in the same bed, didnt work as anticipated, and i really have enough room, so i probably will not try that again anytime soon.

2. corn didnt produce as expected (2 years in a row, same ultra super sweet hybrid), so i am going to go back and use pa's favorite and try silver queen and a variety keith uses and see how those do. also, i will plant an entire bed at one time, the staggered bed didnt work as i expected - now the weird 2010 weather may have had something to do with that but i will change it up and see how 2011 rates. yes, we may see too much corn at 1 time - but i would rather have that challenge, instead of too little corn at one time.

3. 25 tomato plants is still too much, i am backing off to 21 and that frees up an entire bed, so i can land squash in its own bed - again (see challenge #1).

4. i think i have my rotation down so i will not have a nightshade relative in the a bed year after year. i squeeze out 1 tomato and plant bell peppers as companion planting (bed 8) and that arrangement moves to the left in 2012 (to bed 2). so each bed will have a 1 year hiatus from the nightshade family (potatoes, peppers, tomatoes).

5. 1 summer squash plant is enough and i found a variety that is kind of shaped like an acorn squash, and matures quick like the long summer squash, but is the right size for the family.

6. thank goodness for tomato hybrids, the wacky weather really slowed down the heirlooms, just now getting a cherokee purple - which is on my must have list, but black from tula, seems comparable. overall i have an abundance of tomatoes - now - but boy did it take too long.

7. i have pretty much decided that sun gold is the ne-plus-ultra for cherry tomatoes and will no longer look for a superior variety, that will free up at least 1 spot for another tomato. 1 caveat - if farmer fred finds something in the future, i *might* be convinced to see if sun gold reins supreme. :)

8. hybrids and heirlooms will be roughly split 10 of each.

so heres looking at 2011 and hoping for a good year.

5 gallons baby....

2010-09-12T17:10:00.001-07:00

today was honey extraction day. as i learned my first year of beekeeping -oh so many years ago, you gotta do it when its warm, or you will pay a dear price in labor to get at your honey.

2 hives produced surplus honey - the first serrano hive and the folsom hive. the rest are just cruising into early fall with, what i believe to be is enough honey to survive the winter. one more look into the hives in a few weeks to confirm, shuffle some frames to prep for winter and a dosage of essential oils to help ward off the varroa mite and hopefully we will see a good number of the hives make it into spring 2011.

between the two hives i had about 4 honey supers and once extracted and strained, we have a 5 gallon bucket that is brim full of the magic gold elixir that takes millions of bees to produce.

lets hear it for the girls! without the hard work ethic of those worker bees (all female - btw) and we would not have the abundant honey harvest we got this year.

in the attached picture, you see just 2 of 40 frames that held our 2010 harvest of el dorado counties finest honey.

espaliers

2010-08-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

my first attempts at espalier action of fruit trees. a few broken branches - but hey they will grow back. i filled up the last holes in the regular orchard this spring and am now turning to the fence line - and espalier - for apples and pears.

only certain varieties of trees are suitable for espalier - those with long lived spurs or other fruit bearing wood which isnt renewed every year. like i said - apple and pears, good. cherries, yeah probably. nectarines and peaches - not so much.

so in went my first two asian pears. hosui (totally awesome - juicy, Bartlett type flavor and crunchy). and shinko (never tried one, but the description sounded great and i needed a pollinator).

even though its totally against my normal rules, i let one of them set fruit this year (usually wait at least 2 years for bare roots) and will see how it goes. i will also be grafting other varieties of pears to these trees.

espaliered apples will start next spring with about 4 varieties, that i will get from trees of antiquity - and the bar is thus for a tree to be accepted:

1. an uncommon variety that you cant find, possibly even at farmers markets

2. must be on old variety - early 1800's is the newest acceptable; preferably older - much older.

3. has a characteristic which makes it stand out. i.e. colored flesh, scent, others?

4. most likely not red skinned, i just have a thing against red skinned apples - probably from the hundreds of red delicious apples i threw out as a kid because they were pithy or other such reason.

as these espaliered trees mature and grow in number - i will begin to graft additional varieties to them to further increase my diversity. california rare fruit growers offers a scion exchange - usually in mid-january, where for a small fee you can buy cuttings suitable for grafting. grafting - i have done before - trained by my grandpa and had success, so i am looking forward to doing it again. the scion exchange is not well advertised, so listen to farmer freds show as he is usually the only way i hear about it also (sundays - 1530 am 830-10, 650 am 10-12). he's a hoot - you wont regret listening to our local radio gardener.

top heavy tomatoes

2010-08-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

looks like the garden for 2011 will have to have some guy-wires installed to prevent the top heavy tomato plants from toppling over. seems the weather didnt stop the tomatoes plants from getting tall, only keeping the fruit from getting red.

an utter failure - at least for me

2010-08-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

i had the idea to pair up my corn and winter squash in the same bed. seemed like a good idea when i heard about the three sisters idea on farmer fred's show.

so i planted my corn and two weeks later - in went the squash seeds.

well, it turns out that waiting 2 weeks wasnt necessary, as the corn completely outstripped the growing rate of the winter squash. and as you can tell in the attached picture, the puny squash plant has struggled since it broke ground.

as i am downsizing tomatoes to only 20 plants next year, that will free up an entire bed for winter squash, so i will probably not co-mingle corn and squash. BUT - if i do, you can bet the corn seeds and the squash seed will go in at the same time.

the fence keeps them out...

2010-08-29T19:18:00.000-07:00

the electric fence seems to be doing its job. the only intrusion of deer into the garden, i believe is when i had the doggy entrance open and surprising to me the deer went thru and chewed up a few plants.

subsequently closing the doggy/deer door and no more evidence of deer in the garden. lets keep our fingers crossed.

jimmy durante doppleganger?

2010-08-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

what do you think?

and the abundance begins - finally....

2010-08-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

well the wierd summer weather has had a big impact on my vegetable production. nearly 4 weeks late for initial planting, resulted in a huge delay for my veges. didnt see my first tomato until late july. we are now getting an abundance, but still have a remarkable number of green tomatoes.

but, in spite of odd, off-beat weather, we have been doing well. cukes, once rolling along have done well. i am sold on the japanese climbing variety. vertical is good for the vine and they are crisp, good flavor and havent found a bitter one yet.

corn - ho-hum year. we did get some ears. the staggered planting, didnt seem to improve any yields and am betting that a lack of concentrated pollen may have resulted in less than optimal pollination. this is year 2 of using the extra sweet variety - mainly selected for a shorter growing season. i am pondering going back to pa's tried and true silver queen variety and see how that works. also, the stalks of corn fell over , so i am betting i need to plant the seeds deeper next year.

tomatoes - ok, yields are getting there and no doubt i will be composting a bunch of green ones. oh - i will be only planting 20 plants in 2011. 2010 had 25, 2009 had 41. this will free up 1 full bed for other plants - and i know we will still have more than enough tomatoes.

beans - just fine.

bell peppers - did well, but the yellow and orange varieties didnt seem to color up as expected. maybe due to the odd weather.

summer squash - a new variety and worked well.

winter squash - a near failure, look for a future post on that.

potatoes - *AWESOME*

there will be honey this year

2010-08-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

the bee hives have been a challenge. as you know, i hived a few swarms and also raided some feral hives and had 6 hives by july.

turns out the feral hives, just havent grown as hoped, and i have combined them over time, hoping that combining the hives will give them a critical mass to survive the winter. so i am now down to 5 hives - not that i am complaining, mind you.

i have been treating the hives with powdered sugar, to protect against varroa mites. my goal is to follow organic methods for the hives - as i have for the garden. there is some scientific evidence to suggest that the sugar kicks off the bees cleaning activity, which results in more mites getting cleaned out.

next up will be honey extraction the weekend of september 11 and at that time i will treat the hives w/ thymol and other essential oils to assist with varroa eradication - but in an organic method.

and now gophers?

2010-08-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

i swear, the dirt that would become my garden had not seen a mole or a gopher - ever. and once i decide to turn it into a raised bed garden - they show up.

its like they dropped from the sky and now i have to deal with these guys. my orchard has been over planted w/ clover and i would bet that gopher had been there for awhile before i found it.

the real issue is the damn tunnels they dig, which redirects the water away from the roots - infact, thats how i found the damn thing, my blueberries, which were planted as bare roots this spring, started to get crispy and when i began investigating i found a tunnel - which was a bad thing.

caller #5!

2010-07-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

no applause necessary - really folks - its all in a days work. but yesterday, 7/18 - i was caller #5 on the get growing with framer fred show. his garden grappler was to name a determinate tomato.

easy question, as i usually have a tomato catalog handy - hard part was i was at home depot when he asked the question. apparently, it took folks some time to come up with the answer and dial into the show, as i was able to complete my shopping trip, go home find a catalog and still call in.

the prize was an awesome master gardener catalog, which i really wanted, but some time ago, the fred made a deal, the next time i got caller #5 he would offer me a vintage krak 1140 marketing glossy with all the dj's on it. it seems when i was a kid, fred was the late night dj - while i knew joey, rick, jim and hal when krak was the 50,000 watt country music powerhouse in nor cal (alabama? conway twitty?, mel mcdaniel? anyone, bueller?, bueller?) - fred's work day was a bit after my parent imposed bedtime and i didnt ever hear him on the air.

so true to his word, the 1981 vintage marketing glossy is on its way courtesy of usps. thanks fred, this prize is the best one yet.

the current project

2010-07-04T17:44:00.000-07:00

between fishing trips and scout events, i get a few things done at the house. albeit, not as fast as i did back in the day. this started right i after finished the kiester boards in the garden. i had to keep the deer out my garden.

i currently have a 5.5 foot picket fence surrounding the garden. i knew that wasnt enough to keep deer out. deer can clear a fence, upwards of 8 feet high - maybe higher, depending upon the athletic prowess of the deer and how hungry they might be at the time. but i do have aesthetics to be aware of. so just couldnt install an ugly barrier to make the garden 100% deer proof. the compromise is an idea i picked up from joe lamp'l a tv gardener guy who happens to be a facebook friend. behind the fence is a series of poles that are almost 10 feet tall. these poles, once electrified, it is hoped that the deer will find food easier to obtain elsewhere.

these poles have been waiting for about 2 years to be put to use. so this week i started to electrify the fence. there are 4 strands that surround the garden. 1 waist high, and 3 that are about 6 feet, 7.5 and 9 feet off the ground respectively. next step is to add in a feature that will compensate for wire expansion/contraction throughout the seasons and connect the wires to the solar powered charger.

first harvest of 2010

2010-07-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

radishes dont count - they are too easy. but i got the first purple bells of the year. sliced up, placed in ice water and yum, yum!

somethings eating up my garden

2010-07-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

over the past few weeks, i have noticed something nibbling at my plants.

first it was my bean sprouts missing their new leaves. next it was my watermelon plant. a leaf here, another leaf there. the beans were chewed in a manner that was reminiscent of slugs or snails - but there was no tell-tale slime trail and i hadnt seen any up here at all.

maybe it was deer, but when they get in the garden, they typically will not chew a few leaves; they mow through everything. i mean everything, from tomatoes, to trees. so i was a bit stumped. and whatever ate my watermelon seedlings, set the plants back a couple weeks.

then today. today i witnessed the guilty party. while i was up in the garden taking a water break, the wife that is lisa brought up a nice glass of melon water and with her came the ever faithfull dog jed. he who is the head of ranch security, the dispatcher of the deer, the eater of the doggie snacks. he non-chalantly walked over to the bean patch and took a nibble off one the plants.

'A-HA!' i found the culprit. right in broad day light, in front of witnesses, i found the leaf nibbler. to wit - the wife said 'oh - isnt that cute he is eating his greens.'

if my eyes could have bugged out like a stomped on toad, i would have. 'What?' i said. 'now i know he's been doing this, he has lost all garden privileges.'

so i had grandpa cut a plywood door - which will keep jed on the yard side of the garden. its a sad day in mudville, but if you cant trust your bird dog - who can you trust.

hives 7,8,9

2010-07-04T16:27:00.000-07:00

i have a problem.

i collect far too many hives until it becomes a chore and its not as much fun. there i said it and i feel better.

the bottom.line is - if i know a wild hive is destined to be destroyed, due to circumstances beyond its control, i feel an obligation to do what i can to save it. martyrdom? do-gooder? dont really know, but off i go to help out.

well, thats what happened, when keith and i got another call from the construction site, where we had pulled 3 previous ferral hives. he had 3 more that had to go. so, one early saturday morning keith and i set forth and did our duty. keith got into his ritual bee gear, but did go sans gloves - so he is getting tougher :)

the process of clearing out a wild hive is pretty messy and sting prone. bees are pissed and dont appreciate thier home being wrecked - even if it is to save thier lives. one wild card is always - did we get the queen - you will never know until you go back later in the day to pickup the hive box. if th e bees are in there - you got the queen. no bees in the box, you missed the queen and the whole prcoess starts over again.

through the series of photos, you can see keith smoking up the hive and as we progress on through claiming the brood comb and honey comb. finally we see the end result of wearing no bee gear.

thats right, i am wearing a fat lip, two quick pops by 2 different bees, pretty much showed the bees sometimes get the last word in the deal. well, 3 new hives are up in the garden and ready for combining into other hives to strengthen them up. as for the chore - i have taken my name off the swarm list at the bee store. now its all fun again - even the stings.

hive update 6/18....

2010-06-18T06:58:00.001-07:00

well, i got into the hives tonight to see if any of my predictions were true.

1. the garbage can hive, which i thought i had injured the queen has started to re queen itself. the injured queen was no where to be found and there are 2 queen cells. so it looks like that hive is in the reforming stage, but they have brood and i'm thinking it'll be alright.

2. the new queen hive. 2 queen cells still, good worker numbers and brood, so this looks ok.

3. the original bill bird hive (originally the first construction hive). :( this one is just not going to make it. even with brood, the hive isnt replacing its queen. and honestly, i dont know if this hive ever had a laying queen, there were eggs, but i am betting it was laying workers. if you recall, this is the hive i found a queen under the bottom board and when i placed her in the hive, she was balled up by the worker bees and dead by the end of the day. in fact, tonight i will shake out the bees and use this box for my hive pickup tomorrow.

4. looked into the third construction hive (refer to picture on previous post) and i saw newly laid eggs and saw a nice fat italian queen. so this one is the new bill bird hive (renamed in adjoining picture). so bill, we are still in the game, this one is looking good. we need to plan on day and time to make the drop off.

tomorrow 6/19 - keith and i will be up early to wrangle 3 more hives from the construction site.

the apiary lineup

2010-06-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

so when i am talking about the hives - you know which one is which.....

garden update 6/15

2010-06-15T19:12:00.001-07:00

planted round 2 of corn yesterday. 1bed down 1 left. we should see a good succession of corn this year - 75 days away - i cant wait.

challenges in the apiary

2010-06-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

this past weekend, i was able to carve some time and go thru the hives, see whats up and whats the next steps i need to take.

i have the hives named - based upon where i got them and allows me to keep somethings straight in my head.

so i have the following hives:

first serrano hive

folsom hive

second serrano hive

nuc hive

first construction hive

garbage can hive

second construction hive

third construction hive

not soon after i started working the hives, my neighbor called up to me and said she saw one of my hives swarm. my neighbor isnt a fan of bees, but she has a good attitude on it. but i wasnt sure if she might have confused a swarm with a big orientation flight.

i worked first serrano and folsom hives, sorting frames in both and adding a honey super on the folsom hive. got to the second serrano hive and found the neighbor was right. there was about 7 sealed queen cells (see pix) and it was obvious this was the swarmed hive and the neighbor was right. why did it swarm? who really knows, as hives based upon swarms and not requeened do have a tendency to be swarmy - but i bet i didnt place a second story on the hive soon enuff. so on a second story went - kinda like closing the barn door after the horse got out - but better late than never.

the nuc hive looked, good found the queen and added a second story to it.

the garbage can hive needed to be moved from the nuc box to a full size hive (it was sitting on top of the first construction hive). there was old comb in there that bees had made a mess of. in transferring to the new hive, i may have injured the queen. time will tell, but this hive may be re-queening itself, if i dented her too much. although i thought i was being careful, its obvious i wasnt careful enough.

the first construction hive (destined to be bill bird's hive) i saw eggs laid in cells - but numerous eggs (usually a sign of laying workers or a young queen). upon further inspection, i saw a cluster of bees under the bottom board on the metal screen - and there was a queen bee. thinking it was the queen for the first construction hive, i marked her and placed her in the hive - where she was immediately balled up by the resident bees. not a good sign. by the end of the day that queen was dead and the future of that hive is up in the air. so bill, this hive may or may not make it - but i have others, so we are still on track - no worries.

the second and third construction hives were still in the nuc boxes they were placed in upon capture and it was time to liberate them to full size hives. when the hives were originally captured - i placed the brood comb into the nucs to help the hives in their transition to a new home.

the second construction hive cleaned up pretty quick - found the queen, marked her and moved the brood comb to frames and all is well. the third construction hive was bit more of a challenge. in it i found the same sealed queen cells that i placed in there from the original capture - but i saw evidence of eggs. so what to do.

i created new hive (lets call it the new queen hive) - i moved the queen cells to a nuc, shook off some worker bees and now its a waiting game.

luckily, i got a call this week from the construction site and there are another 3 hives that need to be gathered - so keith and i will be up early saturday morning to gather them. 2 to my apiary and 1 to fill up keith's extra hive. so bill - as you can see, we will get one to you and venus no matter what.

solar wax melter

2010-06-06T19:35:00.001-07:00

i have had the kit for almost 10 years and finally put it together. the melter renders beeswax from old hive comb and hive scrappings. painted black and a glass top, and it gets pretty hot in there.

you can see the old comb i placed in there earlier today.

garden update 6/6

2010-06-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

most of the seeds popped this weekend - 1 week after planting. still mia? carrots (they take forever), potatoes and watermelon.

i planted 1/4 of the corn and will follow with an additional 25% every 2 weeks.

see, i told ya bill....

2010-06-06T18:26:00.001-07:00

it has your name on it....

the other picture shows some his girls in action. i was unable to see if the queen was there when we captured the hive, so a few more days and i will cleanup the old comb and look for the queen and if i cant find her, i will look for new eggs. i will keep you apprised of its progress.

#5,6,7

2010-06-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

keith - bee keeping action hero - got a call about several established hives in a construction area that needed to be cleared out or they would have to be exterminated. he, being the very eager newbee (pun intended) beekeeper, saw this as golden opportunity to jump start his beekeeping hobby.

at that point, i had three hives already from swarms i captured and was not as eager as keith to bust into existing hives, duke it with bees defending their home and hope to convince them i was the good guy and was there to help.

our first trip , brought home a smallish hive, that seemed to sulk about 2 weeks before it starting taking sugar water. i havent even looked for the queen in that hive yet (i know she went in, so not worried about it being queenless), hoping the hive is able to survive.

memorial day weekend came and keith and i were out to wrangle some bees. 6 am and we were busy. the bees had taken up home in concrete forms.

using sugar water, smoke and patience, keith and i were able to get most of the bees into our smaller portable nuc hives. bees typically arent too cooperative when you try to move them to a new home - but for the most part we won. keith used full beekeeping gear and survived without a sting. i prefer to work without protective gear (not as hot, and usually i dont need it as swarms are very docile) and ended up with 10ish stings, i lost count, but typically just power through stings and all.

so up in the garden i have 2 hives that are in rehab - and one has bill birds name on it.

#4

2010-06-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

picked up swarm #4 about two weeks ago. i didnt think to take a picture of it - as the swarm cluster was hanging off a garbage can wheel and it was raining and - well i just forgot. but not more than 5 feet away from the cluster was a bunch of bees in a nice knot hole in an oak tree.

there really isnt a way to get them out, without damage and the home owner was happy to let them stay, but its cool to see the bees in a tree. the owner says that this hole has housed many hives over the years, but they eventually die off - probably not big enough for a critical number of bees to survive the winter.

the 2010 garden goes in

2010-05-31T19:40:00.001-07:00

more pix to follow - but this was the first bed i put in today.

i got almost all of them done, tonight i am soaking corn, bean, watermelon, cucumber and summer squash seeds.

all of the tomatoes have been planted (25), radish, carrots, melon and bell peppers are also in and done.

a look into the beehives

2010-05-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

its been quite a few weeks since i hived up a few swarms and have given the bees a chance to settle in. if you poke into a hive - particularly a newly hived swarm - you run the risk of the bees just leaving. ask keith, he knows....

i have been keeping the sugar water pretty steady and wanted to see how the wax was being drawn out and check the brood patterns, to see if the queens are laying well.

i am seeing good numbers of bees everyday doing their orientation flights; by all accounts the hives are doing well.

hive #1 - first swarm i picked up in serrano. i was unable to find the queen, but the egg pattern looks fine.

hive #2 - second swarm, i picked up in folsom, is still the better populated hive, found the queen, all looks good. (first picture - red oval)

hive #3 - third swarm, also picked up in serrano. found the queen and had a good brood pattern also. (second picture - red circle)

both queens i found are italian's - by virtue of their yellow coloring. all of the swarm queens will be replaced in late june with new world carniolan queens, i will buy from strachan apiaries in yuba city. nwc's are typically more docile than italians and also tend to over winter better.

most of the hives had 7 out of the 10 frames drawn out, so i added a second super with frames, so the bees wont feel crowded and be of the mind to swarm. the bees are taking about 1/2 gallon sugar water about every 3 days; sugar water will be continued until all frames are drawn out.

one thing i did note, there was very little stored honey in the first super of both hives, something i will have to keep an eye on going forward - as no stored honey will mean a dead hive next winter.

tomatoes on the ground

2010-05-23T19:02:00.001-07:00

i have mixed feelings on this. as this screwy weather is so unpredictable, its just plain risky putting tomatoes in the garden - and its late may!

so today, i planted 3 tomatoes and set them up with walls-o-water.

usually, early planting with this device would be march or possibly into early april. this would set the plants up for a jump start in may, when the walls-o-water would be pulled off and - walla! you have giganto plants and tomatoes in june.

if i did such a thing this year, i would have had a real problem. most likely would have had plants taller than the walls and - BAM, a frost like we have had over the last few weeks and then a dead plant. frontyard nursery did the walls-o-water thing back in february and it snowed - even walls-o-water cant help with that. the snow filled in from the top and that equals sad tomatoes.

whoda thunk i would be worried about frost and tomatoes in may. lets see how this rolls.

number 1

2010-05-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

todays farmer fred garden grappler had me dialing into his show. luck would have it, i was caller number 1.

the question - 'name a piece of drip irrigation - and be specific.'

the answer - 'anti-siphon valve.'

was really hoping for caller #5, but i was a little too quick on the trigger finger. keep up the good work fred. and now you can be fred's facebook friend:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Get-Growing-with-Farmer-Fred/101135776596504?ref=ts

its done been dripped

2010-05-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

it sure doesnt look like much, but it took the better part of two days to get the new drip irrigation into the beds.

whats new?

i have tacked the 1/2 inch main line to the new kiester boards, keeping it out of the dirt. i added a cut-off valve on each bed, as i have found that as harvest time rolls thru, i dont need to waste water on a bed with no growing vegetables.

originally, the 1/2 inch main line was only extended down one side of the bed, with the new design, i extended the 1/2 inch main line onto 3 of the four sides. this will allow me to position the drip sprayers and get better coverage than i was able to get last year.

i'm thinkin' this new design is gonna work out real fine.

kiester boards

2010-05-23T18:02:00.000-07:00

just over a year ago - i advised you of my test installation of top boards on a raised bed.

the project came up again this year as i was re-engineering the drip irrigation of my beds and realized that to take the drip to the next level, i would have to have the kiester boards installed prior to dropping in the drip.

farmer fred recommends one uses 2x6's, but my original plan was to use 2x4 redwood lumber - primarily because it was cheaper and i am - well, cheap. and i figured 2x4 would be ok. as i found out 2x4 was barely adequate - but i would make it work. there was barley enough room for a cheek, but cost is sometimes the over ruling factor.

luck would have it, but one year later - by a pure fluke of economics and maybe some sort of other-world vortex in the lumber industry; right now, 2x6's are cheaper than 2x4's.

go figure.

so i bought the required lumber and spent 2 days installing my new kiester boards. 2x6 is definitely more butt friendly than 2x4 and it was cheaper - itsa win-win. my wallet approves, the cheeks approve - and the 2x6 is actually quite comfy and the beds are now 100% complete.

the 12 beds are in and done. now to move on to new drip.

online garden rebate

2010-05-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

kellogg's garden products is offering an on-line $1 rebate per bag (up to 10 bags) if you buy thier products. i just happened to run across this and in case you havent heard about it. here you grow - er- go.....

http://www.mykellogggarden.com/rebates/consumer/rebateForm.jsp

our local radio gardener farmer fred is sponsored by these guys - so help yourself and help fred by buying these products and put a little green back into your pocket.

and they are hiring too....

http://www.kellogggarden.com/?q=hiring

a lesson learned

2010-05-07T05:03:00.001-07:00

being green has a cost. in my case last night, it was time.

i planted clover as a cover crop in my raised beds to help build up the soil. the plan was to rototill the plants in once i am ready to plant.

last night i started to do just that. rototill the clover into the beds. lets just say it was less than successful.

in order to ease the rototiller's work, i sheared the clover with hedge shears - but to no avail. the clover wrapped around the mantis tiller's axle and about every 3-5 minutes i was trying to cut away clover so the mantis could continue its tilling task.

plan 'A' was a bust.

plan 'B' - which wasnt really plan 'B' because i did not fathom i would have a wrapping issue with the mantis. hence no plan.

but plan 'B' was hastily thrown together and turned out that i would have to pull out the majority of the plants or said plants would wrap around the mantis tiller shaft and grind it to a screeching halt. it worked, as i only had to clear clover about two times while rototilling a bed.

the problem is i spend about 30 minutes per bed pulling out the clover plants. which means less clover being put into the beds. dont get me wrong - the clover isnt being wasted. my youngest son (in his endeavor to earn enough money to buy a leopard gecko) is cheerfully taking the pulled/sheared clover to the compost pile. so the clover will be destined for the beds - eventually. another surprise is how deep those roots of the clover go. most of these plants are just locked in to the dirt and arent easily pulled up.

last night, i got through 5 of the 12 beds - way slower than i anticipated. BUT i did get to listen to the rivercats get beat up by the SLC bees (come on cats whats up with you guys this year).

for 2010 - it seems this is a lesson learned. a quick google search shows a weed wrap preventer for the mantis - anyone have any experience on this contraption?

hail damage

2010-04-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

april 28 - official tomato planting day and farmer freds birthday was capped off by an incredible hail storm with hail pellets nearing the size of double ought buck pellets.

if i had planted starts or seeds, i would be looking for replacements.

the trees in the orchard, however, were in the line of fire. this is one of my pear trees which shows some moderate damage from the 12 minute ice deluge.

up here in the foothills, its usually mothers day when we plant. this year, we might be rethinking that one.

one of my garden buddies

2010-04-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

jed - probably the best dog in el dorado county. he loves the garden, i often find him laying down up there year round.

green, orange and purple - oh my!

2010-04-29T19:54:00.000-07:00

some of my favorite colors - particularly for bell peppers. frontyard nursery is in full swing with their veges and i scored some nice peppers.

transplanted from the six packs to these larger pots and they quickly responded.

#25

2010-04-29T19:48:00.000-07:00

i couldnt help it.

it needed a home and i couldnt leave it sitting on the counter with her sisters. i brought home another tomato plant.

this will be the last one i add to the inventory this year. honest.

tomato update

2010-04-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

these babies are definitely in the class that farmer fred and bill bird have produced. they arent leggy, they are lush, rich green - not induced by excessive nitrogen - but deep green indicative of a strong well built plant. scroll down a few posts and compare their size today versus when i first transplanted them into the 1 gallon pots.

keith - the seed guy - is still working on wave two of the tomatoes, but these babies have just skyrocketed since i transplanted them into 1 gallon containers.

some topsoil and dr. earth is all i have added to these pots. 2010 is going to be a good year.

bee's at the trough

2010-04-29T19:33:00.001-07:00

rainy weather is not helpful to a young bee hive, short on resources. like puppies, you have to keep the food constant and plentiful.

a 1/2 gallon container of 1:1 sugar/water mix helps keep the bees happy and keeps them focused on drawing out the wax frames. the hive will run thru 1/2 gallon of water about every three days, depending upon weather - the better the weather, the more bees fly and they do prefer real nectar and will eventually wean themselves from the sugar water when nectar is plentiful.

until then, costco and 20 pound sacks of sugar for the foreseeable future.

i'm getting greener

2010-04-25T20:36:00.000-07:00

ants like sugar.

honey is concentrated sugar, kept outdoors and guarded by bees.

sounds simple, but ants are a constant battle for bees and if not controlled - the bees spend a lot of resources securing their hive from ants. i know bees live in trees and other places where ants are - but i figure if i can help the girls out, they would help me out with abundant honey.

the solution is to create a barrier ants cant cross, thus freeing the bees to do other tasks. the solution i found was empty cat food cans, holding the feet of the redwood hive stand. the cat food can was filled with oil - motor oil.

i know, i know - not too green; but very effective. at the last house, the bee hives were not in my vegetable garden and i honestly didnt worry too much about the oil. the current hives are in the middle of my vegetable garden and i dont want vegetables with hints of penzoil.

at this house its changed. although not a hardcore organic dude, i have made a significant leap in that direction. miracle-gro? not for me. it's dr. earth. yearly fruit tree spraying regimen? nope - only if i need it (so far, havent needed it for 3 years). weed killer? not in the garden.

so i had to find a solution that is effective against ants, but friendly to my garden. thank heaven for diatoms.

diatomaceas earth, is pretty much the skeletal remains of microscopic sea critters. the skeletons are as sharp as glass to bugs - and those that crawl across the barrier - pretty much signed thier death warrant. its like dieing from a thousand cuts; the bugs end up drying up and dying. so instead of cat food containers filled with oil, we have them filled with diatoms and hopefully will have reasonable results on the ants. only time will tell.

its a small step, but certainly a green one. lets hear it for the bee's.

no swarms this week

2010-04-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

the funky weather mid week probably had a lot to do with it. what self respecting bee would find herself all balled up in a swarm - getting soaked. may is still a prime swarm month and i would bet at least a couple calls come in.

in the meantime, i transferred my hives from the nuc (nucleus) hives to full fledged 10 frame langstroth hives. willingly moving bees from one home to another is a challenge, but they adapt.

the apiary at this house is better planned than at my last house. i am setting the hives up on concrete pads to elevate them off the dirt. i am also using the redwood hive stands that allows me to create an ant barrier to make my apiary a 5 star resort for bees - after all i dont want them spending time chasing ants; i want all bee attention on making honey and lots of it.

the photo to the right illustrates the current layout of the three hives. the pad is for the next swarm or the nuc ordered from sac beekeeping supply.

#3

2010-04-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

well you cant count your chickens before their hatched, same thing goes for swarms - but if i get this one home , we will be well along at re-establishing the apiary i gave up when we moved to diamond springs.

this swarm thought it wanted to live in serrano. a rather posh, ritzy, way too expensive for my income place to live - and its behind gates, which makes it extra special. well the serrano folks dont take kindly to bees trying to take up residence in their neighborhood. this is a second swarm i got a call from in this area. thats ok, their loss is my gain.

it was another good sized swarm, not as big as folsom's but i will take it. about 3 feet off the ground on a small oak tree. a few snips of some limbs, a few squirts of sugar water and 'BAM' right onto the ground.

you guessed it, trajectory calcs were off again.

the bees survived, i pulled out with only one minor sting and if the bees stay in the hive when i go back to pick them up, we will put this in the win column. my goal is 5 hives - i am buying a nuc from sac beekeeping supply and hope to get 4 swarms - only one left to fill my quota. after that - mr. bird in natomas, swarm #5 has your name written all over it.

#2

2010-04-16T06:59:00.001-07:00

called out on a large swarm in folsom yesterday. with the bee diseases, large swarms are a rarity these days. but i sure appreciate them when i can get them. and as usual, i wasnt prepared. i should have a nuc, frames and capture gear in my car so i can just head over and pick them up.

i didnt.

so up the hill to diamond springs and back down the hill to folsom i had to go. it was worth it.

the swarm was very docile - as expected no stings. the swarm was knocked out of the bush and totally missed the hive. seems my trajectory calcs were a bit off, but the bees and i took it in stride and they started marching into their new home.

the owner of the house, who made the call, turned out to be a gardener and did the fish emulsion/organic thing; so we had a lot to talk about while waiting for the bees to organize themselves.

he has started his seeds in the ground and they have already popped out. all in all, it was a nice experience to get some bees and talk tomatoes with a friendly guy. his boys were real nice kids and all were very interested in the bees and what was going on in thier backyard.

cuttin' up the spuds

2010-04-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

the seed potatoes have really started to push their eyes and it was time to slice and dice them - to allow the potato to harden off its newly cut side.

you can cut a seed potato into smaller portions, if each portion has at least 1 eye. the eye is source of the new plant and your future potatoes - no eye = no plant, just a rotting unproductive seed potato. the healing will make the tuber a bit more robust when it is placed into the dirt in a few weeks. the spuds typically scar over in about a week with normal household kitchen temperatures.

there are four varieties of taters laid in those pans. if you have fluffy soil - you should really consider planting potatoes, you will not be disappointed.

first swarm of 2010

2010-04-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

got my first swarm call and was able to hive it up and take it home. attached is a very fuzzy picture of the swarm ball i picked up in edh.

its was a text book swarm, nice height in the middle of a plant. i sprayed the swarm ball with sugar water. this makes the bees less likely to fly and the sugar gets their attention to cleaning up themselves and away from the guy who is trying to box them up in a new home.

i cut back some branches and knocked the swarm ball into the hive, topped it off and went home for the night. the next day, i picked up the hive and now it sits up in the orchard.

orchard 2010

2010-04-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

the orchard is now sporting 52 trees and all spots, within the rows are full. all future trees will be espaliered along the fenceline. many nectarines have flowered and most of the newly planted bareroots have pushed some leaves - so things are looking up for the orchard in 2010.

tomato update

2010-04-11T17:31:00.000-07:00

seems like these plants are growing inches per day. it was time to move the tomatoes from their small pots to larger pots. so i re-potted the plants into 1 gallon pots. the soil is an organic mix, purchased from the front yard nursery - to which i added a small dose of dr. earth vegetable fertilizer.

cutting off the low leaves and deep planting the starts, we begin to develop the hair roots along the main stem of the plant. the transplant to the 1 gallon pot will be the last one and the next move will be into the raised beds - most likely the first part of may - where the starts, will again have the lower leaves snipped off and planted into a deep hole.

a word of caution, make sure the soil you purchase is fully composted. i learned this the hard way a few years ago, when the 'top soil' was still actively composting and was way too warm to plant into. end result - had to buy new plants.

redneck hothouse

2010-04-11T17:23:00.000-07:00

my seed guy keith needed to clear out some plants to make room for the next round. still being a bit cool in the garage, i felt it would be necessary to provide some added protection for the plants that would spend their nights in my cold garage.

so with the help of my eight year old, we geared up this redneck hothouse.

some scraps of cardboard, a couple towels and a nice warm halogen lamp, i was able to keep the temps in the hothouse in the 50's. this only lasted a few days before i had to transplant the tomatoes into 1 gallon pots.

the tomato growing season is looking better, every single day.

tomato/tomawto

2010-04-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

a quick update - these pix are the latest and the girls will be coming home this week. so they will start to harden off in the garage and will be planted into the raised beds some time around mothers day weekend. except for 3 - these guys are going into the garden with the walls-o-water.

this will be my first foray into the walls-o-water and hope it works as planned. front yard nursery had already planted their tomato with the walls - and oops, it snowed last tuesday. from what i heard, the tomato is in the green house, hoping to make it as it had about 3 inches of snowed which filled up the inside of the walls.

hopefully no more snow and no more frost.

dont let the nice weather fool you

2010-04-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

mother nature is a tease. thats right, she does pretty much what she wants, when she wants and those who think they can predict her actions - soon realize its at best, a 50-50 shot at getting it right.

it snowed yesterday. march 31, a week or two after the start of spring and we get almost 2 inches of snow at 1900 foot elevation. and boy am i lucky to live below the snowline (yeah, right)thank goodness i didnt fall for mother natures tease of the last 2 weeks and put anything in the garden. this type of weather is even risky for hardening off tomatoes in the garage.

the weather folks at channel 3, who i hold in pretty high regard even though its a crap shoot, missed this last one by - oh about 15 miles (and that would be pollock pines, where they thought the snowline would be.) they predicted snow down to around 3000 foot elevation, like i said, we got it at 1900 foot elevation.

farmer fred, who lives down in the flatlands doesnt put any tomatoes out until national tomato planting day (april 28) and with good reason. so heres to another 4 weeks or so of no planting.

happy april fools day. btw - the above is all true and not an april fools joke.

this one is for chris j.....

2010-03-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

its been awhile since i have posted, primarily because not a whole lot has happened in the garden. at nearly 1900 foot elevation, even planting on farmer freds bday (april 28) is a chancy option - but my tomatoes are percolating along and i have some pictures for an update.

my seed guy - keith - has done a good job this year, although we lost our first batch of seedlings; keith bought seed warming mats and that solved our problem. in the off season, keith worked on soil mixes (he rolls like that) and believes he has a good soil that allows good growth - organically. looking at those seedlings, i would say he is right. i will get them in a couple weeks and start hardening them off and hopefully they will be in the ground the first part of may.

some garden activities that have occurred - i have been pulling out burr clover that has popped up in the beds and i did land a bunch of blue berries and some more fruit trees. i will check the digicam to see if i have pics of those tasks to put up here too.

the 2010 growing season has begun

2010-01-19T18:21:00.000-08:00

the word on the street is my tomato seeds have been planted. today, officially, is the start of the 2010 growing season. next stop, the official planting day - farmer fred's bday - april 28th. this year we will use some walls of water and hopefully pull in the growing season. at nearly 1900 foot elevation, i face some challenges that the flatlanders dont. i will be cutting back on the numbers this year to 24 plants - 2009 had 41 plants and it was way too much. as a reminder, here is the first string for 2010.

gregoris altai
early girl
matina
big beef
cabernet
big raspberry
champion 2
costolto fiorentino
nyagous
sioux
super fantastic
black zebra
crnkovic
black from tula
chreokee purple
sun gold
sweet gold
mr. stripey
better boy
bella rosa