This week I minimized garden-related activities to get ready for our bees. The hive inspector confirmed my suspicion that the colony died from starvation. The good news was that there was no evidence of any disease or pests, and we can reuse the hive/frames this year. I’ve spent a lot of time looking through class material, reading my beekeeping books, and watching videos (from trusted sources) on different techniques. For example, one of the things I needed to understand was how to transfer the package of bees into the hive.
I made a couple trips out to clean the hive. There are a several good frames of comb, and this will help the new colony get off to a strong start. Unfortunately, in some of the frames, the dead bees are in the comb so tightly that I can’t tap them out… This means I will have to damage the comb to clean it up, and I might not be able to salvage it. I may need to cut some out entirely, especially considering that it’s warmed up over the past few days. I’m going to try to better clean them up before I give up. With the rainy weather, I couldn’t get out to the hive again as I’d hoped, so I’ll have to try this week.
Now that I'm committed to beekeeping, I am setting goals for my first season. One goal I have is to add a quilt box to the hive for the winter. This technique comes from the methods of a Warré hive, but they are available (or can be built) for Langstroth hives as well. They can help a lot with moisture control and seem to benefit the colony during the winter. One of my more advanced goals includes, if all goes well with the colony, trying to overwinter a nucleus colony (“nuc”). If that is successful, I will invest in a Warré hive next spring.
Originally, I was thinking that I would have preferred to start off with a Warré hive. However, now I realize that it is better to use what I have. It allows me to use the existing comb from the last two years, and it’s less of an investment for my first year of beekeeping. The other reason is that most beekeeping materials (to include the course I took) are primarily based on Langstroth-style beekeeping. The frames are designed to be removable for inspection. As a new beekeeper, this may end up being of benefit. I’ll be able to observe everything from the queen to eggs and comb to brood, pollen, and honey. Then, as I learn more, I will be more comfortable with my bees, and thus in using the Warré hive.
As far as the garden goes, I made some preparations for the seeding I’ll be doing on April 6th. I have a new, better grow light set up. I’ve been using one heat mat and have a second on stand-by. The heat mat has really helped the sweet peppers germinate – I had 100% germination with seeds I saved from a grocery store bell pepper last year! I have more peppers ordered from the Natick Community Organic Farm (and a couple less common varieties from the Tasteful Garden), so this is more for fun to see how they do. I also “potted up” the wild garlic and the peach melba nasturtium since they are growing in quite well.
I planted some seeds under my cold frame. It’s really too early anywhere else, but under the cold frame, soil was freshly added and prepared last fall, and it is workable. I have saffron crocus in the middle (since they are not hardy to zone 5) and planted seeds around the perimeter. We’ll see how everything fares, but I’m trying my luck with scallion, spinach, kale, Tokyo bekana, and radish, seeds. If it doesn’t stay warm enough (and the soil isn’t warm enough) for them to germinate, it’s just a handful of seeds lost. If they do work, then I have a bit of a head start!
Next week I’ll post after my big day of seed starting is complete. I’m looking forward to it!
Have a great week.