Allotment Fun
Hello there- welcome to 2017 :0)! So far this year we've been very busy bees (excuse the awful pun) with both the allotment and the bees. Over the weekend our digger man Dev has been working hard prepping and fertilising the beds for winter- the things that man will do for a cheesy chip bap! With much help from both the dog and lovely tea ladies we are now all set up for the year with Cathy planning her next plants and bed rotation.
After many, many sandwiches and the occasional hot chocolate it was time to do a very quick hive check to see how the girls were doing. In order to give them the best chance of survival over the next few cold months, we have used an organic treatment for varroa mites and left plenty of honey for their winter food. With our super duper Queen Bee Martha (who is allusive and far too quick to ever spot), she should begin to lay eggs and the hive will start to grow in numbers within 21 days - at that point the honey consumption will increase and we will need to watch closely to see it we will need to pop a homemade sugar fondant in so that they don't starve. Tis a very worrying time trying to get our girls through their first winter.
