Experiments

It will come as no surprise that I spent a large chunk of Sunday morning chainsawing sections of branch and trunk in to more manageable, and moveable, pieces. These will be put through the log splitter in the next day or so.

Most of my efforts were focussed on clearing an area up by the gate post. The reason for this focussed effort is that Andrew will be with us later on in the week, to install the new posts and gates.  

The ash tree was growing only a few feet away from one of the gate posts, and, after the crown had been removed, the trunk was felled on to the ground in front of the garage. It was then cut in to eight inch thick slices, and ended up looking like a sliced banana, albeit one that was five feet in diameter.

I needed to make as much space as possible near the gate post, in order that Andrew can replace the current post. I managed to clear the pieces closest to the gate post, and I think I have given Andrew sufficient space to work. I bloody hope so, because the remaining slices of tree trunk are piled one against another, and I would need to move all of them, to make any more space up by the hedge ... that would be days of effort!

After a morning with the chainsaw I lunched and then snoozed, before heading out to check on the bees.

I have decided that there is little hope of getting hives #2 and #3 queen right again, so my inspection concentrated on hives #1, #4, #5 and #6.  I worked my way through the queen-right hives (4, 5 and 6) and all are doing really well. I spotted all three queens, and hives #4 and #6 are already starting to store honey up in their supers. Hive #6 is a couple of weeks behind the other two, but is building up really nicely.

I then took a look at hive #1. I could see several queen cells that had hatched during the course of my inspection, but there was no sign of either queen or brood. I decided to transfer a frame of eggs from hive #4 in to this colony. Hopefully they will use this transplanted frame to raise a new queen.*

After finishing with the bees, I headed in to the potting shed to try another experiment.

Last year I planted parsnips, but did not have great success. Only a few seeds germinated and, more by luck than judgement, I managed to harvest half a dozen roots for our Christmas lunch.  The roots were large and tasty. The problem was that very few actually grew.

This time I have decided to sow the parsnip seeds in cardboard toilet roll tubes. I have placed three seeds in each compost filled tube. These have all been watered and are now sat in the greenhouse. Apparently parsnips can take a month to germinate and also like high temperatures. I am hoping that I will get better germination in the warmth of the greenhouse, and that I will be able to transplant the seedlings to the open soil without damaging the young parsnip roots.

So, it seems that I have initiated a couple of experiments, both of which will take about a month before I know whether I have been successful.

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* There is no difference between a worker egg and a queen egg. The only difference is the shape of cell that the young bee is nurtured in, and the food that is fed to the larva.  It is a common practice to get a queen-less colony to raise a new queen from a frame of eggs. The workers will choose a cell, containing an egg, and they will enlarge the cell to make a queen cell. They will then feed the larva copious amounts of royal jelly and, fingers crossed, a new queen will be produced.