Today is the Bee’s Big Day

Written 4/23

This will be a moment of truth. The bees were brought home 3 weeks ago on Saturday. It is time to open and inspect the hive. Michael and Winter opened their hive on Saturday. I deemed it too cold to open mine. Their hive is doing really well. There was some burr comb that had to be removed. It had uncapped honey in it.

Today the temperature is supposed to go to 72. It is time for the grand opening. It is hoped that there will be lots of brood and a little honey. Michael and Winter’s hive had that. The bees have been coming to the hive with loads of pollen in their pollen sacs. They have been doing a little dance on the front porch. One day it was a back and forth dance. Another day it was a waggle dance.

There are some varroa mites in the present hive. A foundation for drone brood will be inserted into the hive when the inspection is done. The idea is for the varroa mites to lay some of their eggs in the drone brood. The drones are pretty unnecessary so the comb can be put in the freezer and killed along with the mite larvae. When it is replaced in the hive the bees will clean it up and refill it. In theory this reduces the mite population by 10% each time it is done.

Incidentally, the first little tomato has appeared.


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David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

The Fence Seems to be Spoiling Dinner for Bambi

Since the gate was installed on the Bambi fence, no deer tracks have been seen in the garden. The depredations on the young plants has been minimal and mostly attributed to Bugs Bunny. Ricky Raccoon does not seem to be bothering the garden, but I believe he has been trying to get into the beehive.

A have-a-hart trap will be placed under the beehive tonight. If Ricky stays away he won’t have a problem. If he doesn’t stay away, he will have a very bad night.

Everything in the garden has come up except for the okra and some beans and cucumbers that were fill-ins for things that didn’t come up. The fill in sugar peas have come up and the yellow squash in the front yard has come up. Dill and zinnias were planted in the front yard on Friday. The zinnias have come up. It may be a little early for the dill.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

I Love My Garden

Every year is a perfect garden year when the garden is in the planning stages. As the greenhouse gets going, little failures creep in. Then comes the spring planting and some things don’t come up. If everything comes up, Bambi and Bugs Bunny come in and have a feast on the small plants, which leaves nothing. Several improvements this year have helped maintain the garden quality. Of course it is very early in the season.

A new greenhouse was purchased and assembled before the greenhouse season really got going. This tripled the amount of surviving plants. Everything planted came up and flourished except for the basil and the nasturtium. A Bambi fence has so far protected the garden from Bambi. Bugs still comes to dinner, but so far he hasn’t eaten much. A big red-tailed hawk is a welcome visitor to the garden. He does eat some of the songbirds, but his favorite dish is rabbit. The asparagus bed was loaded up with about 4” of compost at the end of the last season and asparagus is being cut at the rate of about 4 per day.

The biggest disappointment each year generally comes from the spaghetti squash. It usually has a poor germination rate, producing only 1 or 2 plants. Then there is a low fruit set, and finally there are pickle worms. This year a new bed has been made around about 1/3 of the garden. Everything in that bed has come up extremely well except for the cucumber. There are actually so many spaghetti squash plants that they will have to be thinned.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Too Much of a Good Thing

The ideal situation is to plant grass and have immediate rain. Thursday saw the last task as putting out grass seed. It was too late for mulch. Thursday night saw rain to wash away the world and probably the grass seed. The straw was spread Friday afternoon. That was closing the barn door after the horse gets out. I suppose if the grass doesn’t come up, the yard can be reseeded over the straw.

Everything in the garden is planted except for the okra. The yellow squash was planted in the front yard. I did not tell my wife. We’ll see if she raises Cain. There is still a good bit of work to do in the ornamental beds.

Potatoes have been planted in sand bags for the past several years, because the soil in the garden was unsuitable. This worked out well but makes it almost impossible to grapple the potatoes. The garden soil has improved greatly over the years, so the potatoes were planted in the garden this year. They have come up already but are not big enough to hill up yet.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Good Friday really was (good)

It rained all night Thursday and Friday, but the days were nice. A lot of plants went in the ground. The gate to the garden had to be installed 1st or Bambi would eat the garden. Bugs Bunny can still get in, but he doesn’t eat much. A big red-tailed hawk has been hanging around the yard, so we haven’t seen many rabbits this year. Why doesn’t it eat squirrels?

The greenhouse was way too productive. Loads of plants have been given away and there are still too many for the garden. Some of the tomatoes have blooms. All of the marigolds have blooms. Herbs are planted all over, but this year there is a dedicated bed for herbs in addition to the ones that are in the vegetable and flower beds.

Rotten Saturday was a beautiful day, but my father always said the anything planted on rotten Saturday would rot. The main thing we did on Saturday was pickup and situate the bees and get the front yard ready to plant grass. It is almost ready. Maybe grass will go in the ground today. Clover seed is being mixed with the grass seed to give the bees a little extra nectar.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/