Tuesday 16 April 2013

The Bees are finally buzzing...at least one is anyway!

I had the best surprise ever when I went into the Polytunnel yesterday - a Bee! But not just any Bee, this is the first Bee I have seen this year and I have a Pear tree and a Plum tree in there that could seriously do with some pollinating.
Shame the little guy took off from this position though and proceeded to buzz around the plastic


This is where I need the little guy to be

I did try hand pollinating as all my fruit trees are self fertile but I don't think I did a good job of it - much better if Mr Bee does it.

I also managed to get some of the veggies pricked out and potted up individually. It's going to be a fair few weeks before it's safe to plant these guys out though



The original Sweetcorn that I sowed died. I thought I may have been able to save them but it wasn't to be and luckily I made another sowing just in case they didn't make it, so thankfully I have more Sweetcorn on its way.
I have plenty of Cabbage (Greyhound & Golden Acre) and Cauli (All the year round) for the first sowing, I'll make another sowing in a few weeks.
The Tomatoes (Roma, Black Russian & Gardeners delight) all seem to be doing well. The Swede (Invitation), Cucumbers and Courgettes (I must post the varieties) are all romping away in the polytunnel.
I've got French beans growing too but they won't be able to go out for a few weeks neither will the Leeks.
The ground is still quite cold at the moment so I am going to have cover it with plastic to warm it up a bit so that I can get the Parsnips in.
So far I have had absolutely no success with the Celeriac sowings. I've done two seperate sowings and tried one in the heated propagator and one in the polytunnel. The propagator ones grew sporadically then just withered away and the polytunnel ones have yet to show any life at all.

And because all the veggies are growing I needed to make some more veg markers. I didn't want to make completely wooden ones for the veggies though because I needed something that would be quick to make and require nothing more than cutting and nailing, plus I wanted whatever I wrote the veggie name on to be weather proof so here's what I came up with


Granted they're not the most stunning of markers but they were quick, easy and free to make. All I did was cut that wood to the length I wanted, cut up an old milk carton to get the plastic I wanted then folded the plastic over on top and nailed it to the wood


I'll make the more ornamental ones I posted about HERE for the garden plants or plants that are in tubs.

6 comments:

  1. Your seedlings are coming along nicely. What a lovely pic of the bee.xxxxx

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  2. Is that pollen on the bumble bee - I hope it isn't mites as it doesn't look fine enough for pollen. I saw a tortoiseshell butterfly basking on a dandelion at the plot today. Butterfly welcome - dandelion less so!

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    1. I didn't think it could be pollen either Sue, it just isn't fine enough like you say but I was told not to be silly. I didn't know they suffered with mites? It did keep lifting a leg up so maybe it was trying to rub off an irritation?
      Poor thing!

      Linda

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  3. Great seedlings and bees what a great surprise. I have not been out enough due to work to see if they are visiting finally

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  4. I recently saw some bees in the crocuses. It's a reassuring sign the season really is moving along.

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