Beekeeping. Progress Notes. Top Bar Hive

I decided to paint the hive. Will last longer. Less likely to mold mildew rot. Used white primer and a white outdoor latex. Decided on a different location. This location is in full sun but also secluded, for safety. Near Ning's planned wildflower meadow. There is a sizable bramble patch behind, for near by nectar. I want to plant lemon balm around the hive.

Open, with some bars removed. Now it depends on when the bees arrive. Someone has offered to help in case I am indisposed, which I might be. Bad timing but it is what it is. Been so looking forward to this....

Laburnum Cuttings

Brought the cuttings home to pot in potting soil, and some mycorrhizal inoculantIt's a delicate stage for them. New growth is all white - needs light to make chlorophyll. But not too bright - could burn. And could dry out. Interesting to see what happens.

Front Yard

Rhubarb not quite ready for pie. Maybe 2 weeks. The pink tree is "Hollywood Plum". There may yet be some frosts / freezes, in which case maybe no plums. I always think about that, this time of year. Side/Front yard. Spring is here.   I'm impressed with the amount of diversity in this small space.

Hardwood Cuttings from Trees. Progress Report.

I'm starting to think this propagation method is very good. Not just for figs. Fig cuttings root easily by almost any method. These were prunings I had lying around this winter. I did what I've been doing to jump start fig cuttings. Use cuttings about 6-8 inches long. As thick as practical - pencil thickness seems good.  Thinner or thicker seems to work. Make incision through bark and cambium layer using sharp pocket or kitchen knife. Dip in rooting hormone dip-and-grow at 1:10 dilution 1 to 2 minutes. Wrap in moist paper towel. Place into plastic bag and close. Keep in warm place.

These cuttings are from ornamental plum.  They have calloused well.  There is some top growth.  Not sure if roots are developing yet.  I think I see root initials.  So these are still in the "maybe" category as to whether they will develop into little trees.



Laburnum (golden chain tree) cuttings. These are also a few weeks old. Same method. The top cutting is a "mallet" cutting. It is a small branch. The base is trimmed with some remaining stem from the 2-year growth, trimmed.  The bottom cutting is similar, pruned just below the junction with the previous years' growth.  The middle cutting is just new wood.  All have calloused and are forming roots.  Some previous years' growth seems to work best.  Small sample size of course.  With these, some previous years' cambium seems to help.

Redmond American Linden. These have some callous. They leaked a jelly-like sap for a while. Not much. The root initials look promising.  They are also in the "maybe" category, as to whether I'll get trees from them.  If the tops grow too fast, they might overwhelm the almost embryonic roots.

Ning with Tiller

Here's Ning rototilling an area of lawn. If all goes by plan, this will be a wildflower meadow. There will still be grass in the meadow. THe tilling opens up sod to give the seeds a chance. We've never done this before so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.