Beez pleezz

[Trish Stretton]

Pictures, plz! You show me Yours and I'll show you Mine!!

You're on! First one is a small one in front of the gate to the courtyard. The timber that ran along the bottom of the gate twisted and blocked the flow of the rain water and I got sick of weeding this part. That was one mornings work.
Second one is my 32 meter long sloped path made in accordance to the American Disability Assoc req's of 1 inch up for every foot along. It has 8 feet up followed by a four foot almost flat resting, then 8 feet up, 4 flat, 8 up .... next pic is the rest of the flat part to the back lawn. Net two are the paths on each side of the one vegie bed I have managed to finish and plant out, The one on the right has bundles of weeds lying on it to get all crispy and dead so ican use them to bulk up the mulch in a potato tub.
the last one is actually the first bit of path I did. this goes around the back of the water tank with a nifty curve to let me up to the "terrace" that used to be the old platform for the old water tank ,(I think). Its behind the old wash house with odd pipes running into the wash house so I assume thats what it was for originally.

 

[ducks4you]

OMGOSH!! Mine are rustic, NOT cemented in and reused. Can't compete with yours, that are Lovely!!
Pictures soon...

 

[Trish Stretton]

Thank you.

 

[flowerbug]

i like your use of bricks and chunks of urbanite.

 

[Trish Stretton]

To be honest with you, my neighbour has saved my sanity by asking me to please take all this away!!!
It would have cost her hundreds to take it to the dump and for me, it would have cost even more to buy the paving and pay somebody else to do all of this.
Never again will I ever need to waste time weeding paths. I cant wait to finish them all. It would have been quicker if I had just done them the 2 feet wide like I have had them in the past, but,thinking of the future, I wanted them to be as wide as needed so anybody could use them.
Even just doing the courtyard was a game changer. It is now my haven.

I spend way too much time admiring my handywork as it is, without accolades. lol
Last week, I got the go ahead to help myself to my bosses pile of rubble- he had whole truck loads dumped so he could fill a big hole, some of it was footpath pavement, which I need. Concrete is heavy even when its dry, so my first dip was a whole 6 little pieces that got used on the last path.

I'm hoping that this year will see all the paths done, thats the main goal for this year, along with a years supply of garlic, pumpkins, potatoes, salady stuff on top of my fruit...a year supply of honey would be nice, but unfortunately, thats not really up to me.

 

[thistlebloom]

i like your use of bricks and chunks of urbanite.

"Urbanite", that's a good word.

 

[flowerbug]

"Urbanite", that's a good word.

it's useful stuff to have if you need rubble fill and don't have rocks or bricks. and it is easier to say as a word instead of having to write out "broken concrete pieces" all the time. our pithy friend would approve...

 

[Trish Stretton]

I love urbanite.

Yesterday I inspected both hives.
The second, strangely enough is doing better than the original one. That may not be all that odd seeing as they have the original Queen which I think superseded the winter Queen.

Okay. 1st Sept, I look through the window....again, just before i go to bed and what do I see? A dead Queen being dragged around by a wing before she got dropped.
I was told- trust there is a Queen in there, and there was.
There now is a Queen actively laying in both hives.....just..... it looks like there is also a laying worker laying in the original one as well, going by the amount of drone brood in there.

The original hive has alot more honey being processed, some of it even capped. The worker brood looks really good, with a good pattern over each frame, only trouble is that its all over the place.

This recent inspection was to make sure that there was a Queen laying, that the brood looked healthy and add extra frames in if they were needed.
I did need to add a couple of extra frames to the new hive.

When I inspect in two weeks, in the first hive; I need to try to get the brood nest next back over by the entrance and all in one place and move the frames that have drone brood over to the honey side. There is enough bees in there to keep them warm til they hatch out, then hopefully, that frame will be used for just honey.

 

[flowerbug]

i've never had a bee hive to know the difference between the different cells and what they are raising.

glad you have two queens still!

 

[Trish Stretton]

I did an Oxalic acid vapor (OAV), treatment the other day on both hives. The original wound up with a mite drop of 21 in 24 hours and 51 in 48. the second hive didnt show anything, but I dont think the brood nest is over the sticky board yet, sooo....
Tomorrow, when I get home from work, I will be doing another one.