Another little bit of the Master Plan Realised

Things here are really speeding-up now. There are night frosts but weather is between 4 and 6°C during the daylight hours. There has been endless days of rain and wind, but in-between the inclimate periods there have been dry spells. This is what I wait for. I go to the lottie and wait. I watch birds through the windows, I read and drink tea....I just wait, until there is a break in the weather and then I bowl out into the lottie with an arm load of trugs, tools and committment.

Now, the first thing that I want to do is knock-off another task in the Master Plan--namely, paving the area where I stand to work with my bees. It was a grass path that had been so well-trodden that it was becoming a bit soppy with the precipitation that has been gracing our geographical countenance. You see, this path was not only for standing and working with bees, but it also led to the storage area behind and to the side of the greenhouse...so it was heavily used but me and bride alike.

My partner and I had an early start that day before the work actually begun the "prep" had to be done--you know, getting all the ducks in a row before starting so that we would not have to constantly be leaving the work scene to go and pick up a tool or a paving tile or something else not laying at the ready.

I began by removing the grass sod behind the bee hives and chopping the soil to make it soft.

We came to the point of transferring the heavy paving tiles from the far western side of the lottie over to the far eastern side where we would lay the "bee patio", I call it, for lack of a better term. I was levelling the soil when my partner had called me over to pry a tile loose from the soil. I went, kneeled down and lifted it up to her and she took it, pivoted and was lowering it into the wheelbarrow when her back went. Just like that! She could not straighten-up. Oh dear.

Well, I helped her over to the nearby bench standing there on the Riviera. It was a while before she could straighten. I was going to go and get the auto at home and come back for her, but as time passed she had less and less trouble--it was just sore.

I suggested that it was not a good idea to sit around in the cold with such an injury, so she biked home with ease. I insisted on a fone call once she got there.
When she was installed and nice and warm, the call came. She was quite sore but glad to be home.
Of course I knew the real discomfort would come in the following two days.

A view from the neighbour's garden. if you look close behind the beehive platform, you can see a strip of grass. That is what needed to be removed and the tiled laid in its place.


Right then! Nothing for it but to continue working. There would be no time for bird-watching that day. I transferred more than twenty tiles, four at the time over to bee plaza, where I placed them, pounding them into place. I did not lay them according to Hoyle, but just simply on top of the softened earth.

Here is the most of the patio laid out, just a couple of tiles to be placed over to the far right up next to the greenhouse.


....and the final product:


I wondered how the bees liked all that movement and pounding of the tiles. Once and awhile one would fly around back sort of on a recognisance mission... the fly-by was quick and she returned directly to the warmth of the hive without feeling the need to inject me. Nice girl.

As you could see in the foto it got dark on me and I just had the time to get that last half-tile placed before the darkness drove me home.

The next few days it was business as usual with the plots. There had to be cleaning, hoeing, min-tilling and covering of the remain plot. The greenhouse had to be emptied of plants and weeds as well. One of the rain barrels had to be emptied and cleaned, then stored in the empty greenhouse.


Doesn't it look an absolute mess in there. Messy yes, but clean. I shan't clean the paths too much because in the late winter, I will be removing the soil and putting in new for the coming season.

Now then--here is a foto of the remaining portion of the veggie garden that still needed to be winterized.


I also ran out of time and had to do this job in segments over a couple of days because of rain.


A pity that I do not have a pic of the finished plot, because it looks quite nice now. This foto shows all but the last little strip of soil to be min-tilled before being covered for the winter. The entire veggie portion of the garden is covered protectively with flower and veg garden debris...with the exception of a row of parsnips and a bed of garlics.

...and the bride then? Well, she is almost as good as new and can be but back to work next dry day.

 

Great job there around the bees, S. That will make it so nice for working with them later. I have a cobbed together area that I should make a little easier to traverse, especially with carrying the boxes and supers, but living on a hill there is no flat spot anywhere convenient for the bees... easy to trip on a stump or chunk somewhere. That is disastrous. I did drop a box of bees onetime...ooops! not a good situation.

It looks great. Sorry to hear about the bride. That is a bummer. Do you have access to arnica cream or jel? that works wonders for bruising aches or pains. But it really needs to be used immediately after an accident. I keep a tube all the time "just in case" for bruises, sprains or aches.

Thanks for the update. I enjoyed seeing the news.

 

Glad to hear your wife's back is okay again.
That was a lot of work... but the result is great.

 

Good morning,great photos and story,I love to hear and see what others do in vastly different climatic conditions.
Our conditions here now are becoming almost too hot to be outside in the garden.
Great result from the hard work, hope the injuries are only short term ...stay warm,drink lots of tea.
Love 'bee boulevard'.

 

Thanks CAROLYN--I am hoping that it will make working there easier. Now that it is paved, I can set a small table there too if I want. I always take my stuff with me and it is kept together in a plastic crate. I could place it on a table or on the tiles. As long as there are three hives, I could also place the top on the table and then a brood chamber on that (when another is added). It is all good, but most of all, it will just be tidier and easier for me.
Being on a hill there, I reckon that you'd have to cut-away and pave an area if you wanted to do the same....but you guys have all that wonderful heavy equipment, so it ought not to be too much work.
I do not know what arnica cream is, but I will look for it. I have to be truthful though--we are sort of tough types and just sort of tend to grit our teeth and get on with it when injuries occur.
Glad you liked the posting, Thanks for your nice comments.

Thank you CHERYL-- I'll pass on your well-wishes.

Cheers, CHOCCY--I appreciate the compliment. Great name-- "Bee Boulevard". chuckle. It has been cold here for some time now, I have almost forgotten how hot it was back in the summer. I sometimes had to wear my full suit when helping others with their bees, and boy did I ever perspire. Gad!
Watched the finale of "Master Chef Australia" tonight. Darn it, I wanted Julia to win.

Oh EILEEN--thank you so much. I was well chuffed with the result as well. I forgot to mention that I planted lots of crocuses and Muscari out in front of the hives so the bees will have a little bit of something in the early spring. My thought being that they won't have to fly too far this way.
I shall pass along your love and good wished to the bride.
Hows your hip doing these days, BTW?

 

S, when working with the bees keep an empty super or deep, which ever is convenient, to hang the frames you are done looking at (in order of removal, too) out of the hive you are working in, so the bees aren't discombobulated, stepped on or kicked over if you just set the frames along side of the hive as you are working with them. Replacing them back inside the hive makes "house keeping" easier for them. It keeps the brood in the same pattern it was in before you moved them, too.

 

Thanks a mil for your info, C--I appreciate your insightful advice. As it happens, I have been thinking of exactly how I would approach this in the coming season. Most of this past season, I had only one hive and it wasn't a problem. Now I have three and I am weighing whether to combine the smaller hive with a larger one or not, come spring.Either way, I am going to need an organizing system for making room for inspection.
Thanks again for your attentive observation and suggestion.

 

Ouch!!! your partner must be really hurting from the back pain. Hope she is much better now and tell her to lay of the heavy lifting for awhile ya!

Wow!!! I didn't know you keep bees too and I guess your lottie must be the most complete. I always wonder how you can do so much in such a short time. Anyway well done to your partner and you Sojerd!

 

S, if you get all three hives through the winter, I don't think you will need to combine the two smaller ones. They will build up pretty fast, as soon as the dandelions appear. When the dandelions appear that is when you should be adding your supers, too. Just a rule of thumb here. Not that I always manage to follow it, sometimes the weather (rain) interferes.

Do a "heft" test on the hives periodically during the winter. Do they feel substantial or alarmingly light? feed them as needed. I keep crystallized honey over the winter just so I have something I can smear into the inner cover in an emergency. I am not sure any kind of feeding has really helped the bees get through the winter for me yet, though.

 

wonderful pics and project sjoerd! catching up here...the tiles look really good! so glaad the mrs. is feeling better!

 

Hiyah C--I am already hefting the hives when I go there. All three hives weigh noticeably different. I will continue though. Thanks for the "rule of thumb".

Oh dear, TONI--That really is something odd isn't it. Our two radically different climates.
Is Arnica montana a flower then? I guess so. Do you know what the chemical is in that that helps the muscles?
I shall look for it here. Thanks. My partner is feeling much better already.

Thanks BUNKIE--I appreciate your compliments.
I have missed your postings lately.

Oops, I almost forgot KK--Thanks for your nice words, mate. I shall give your regards to the partner. Yes, I have bees. They are such interesting things to have as a part of the garden. I guess that getting so much done in a short time is down to focusing.

 

Patio looks well laid there sjoerd, i'm envious, we had to re-lay stone paving this year which was a pain to get flat.

Must admit beekeeping is high on my list of to do's when we move next, cant keep them in current location unfortunately. Out of interest are they hard work and need a lot of attention? or can you leave them to do their own thing?

I find it slightly suspicious that the wife on a cold rainy day, ended up going to a warm cozy chair with a hot cup of tea after the first slab???? Leaving you to finish it off...

Only joking, hope her backs ok i know how painful it is.

 

ROARRRRRRRRRRR!!.......Oh Dan, did I ever get a rollicking laugh from that statement about the bride repairing to the comforts of home, leaving me to do the work. Dear, oh dear, oh dear.... ---my sides are aching. That was a good one.

Thanks for the compliment on the bee patio. I am pleased with it. You know Dan, we make a distinct difference with lottie and home. At home things have to be fairly neat, but the lottie (by virtue of what a lottie IS) is meant to look a bit hap-hazard, and not too polished.

What I am getting at here is how I laid the patio there. I do the same with all tiled paths and other patio's on the lottie property.

I realize that the proper way to lay a patio or paths is to dig down, fill the hole with zand and then use a 2x4 to sweep back and forth across the surface to make it flat. One then takes a spirit-level to check the levelness or slope if that is desired.
In the lotti, I dig and chop the ground, then raking it, making it a bit fine and loose. I then plop the tiles onto this loose soil and pound them into place with a rubber mallet.

The cost of buying and transporting enough sand to do it properly, I find too expensive.

Beekeeping: I personally do not find keeping bees work intensive. One can make it as "busy" as one wants, depending how deep his interest and/or committment runs.

Knowing how much work is involved and the variations of work performance (in my opinion) is best learned by taking a basic course in beekeeping. It will equip you with some knowledge so that you can make your own decisions about how YOU want to keep bees.
Some folks do not begin this way. I have a scientific background and so, before I start on anything, I want to study and understand it before I actually begin. That's just me.

As I said--when keeping bees, you can leave them to their own devices, or you can make it as complicated as you want. I think that to make a decision on how you would want to keep bees, you need some kind of basis knowledge in order to make an informed decision on that.

I do find that the more that I work with bees, learn about them and their behaviour...the more fascinated I am by them.
My beekeeping came out a motivation to help bees because of their dwindling numbers worldwide. I began with planting plants that were high in nectar and pollen yields in my lotties, then when I resigned my job, I went a step further, taking a course and eventually acquired a couple of colonies.
It is a hobby, but my motivations were based in wanting to do something (in my own small way) to help bees out.

I am writing a three-piece series on my personal experiences on beekeeping. One has already been posted on here and I am almost ready to post part 2.
You can read these and see what I did and how I did it. There are also at least two ladies on here that keep bees and have much more experience than I do. When you are serious keeping bees and are still in the planning stage, I would suggest that you ask these women questions and read on the Internet. Gather as much info as you can, because before beginning with bees, you must be 100% sure that you want to do it. It is no good to study, invest in the basic equipment and purchase a nuc (I believe they call them there)...just to let it sit and go to seed, so to speak. It would be a pity.
I for my part--you can always ask me anything at any time and I will try and answer your questions the best I can. One thing is for sure--I would support you 100% in such an undertaking.