A WILD GARDEN TOUR: Bricks, Watermill, and More! — Ep 019

Today I Learned ...  

You can share a video from YouTube by just clicking a couple links. 

Neat old guy with a neat old collection and a neat old way of thinking. Watch the minute linked here, then go back and see the entire thing.

Doin' the Texas Rain Dance

 Been doing the Texas Rain Dance all day today. 

For you new Texans out there, and people in other places, that's washing the car, watering the garden, and hanging laundry out to dry.  Looks like my efforts just might pay off. Radar now:

And what they say it will look like at eleven o'clock tonight:

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Maybe I should go wash my car again.

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UPDATE, Friday evening, April 30th:

UPDATE May 1:

*~contented sigh~*

Hanging Top Bar Hives ~ Three Sizes

TA DA!!!!

Look what I did yesterday! Been meaning to do this forever and it finally percolated up to the top of the Neverending To Do List. Some friends were over a couple days ago and helped me get the hardware off the old porch swing and drill holes in the board the hive will sit on. Some other friends invited me to dinner and a visit Friday, so I took the hardware with me since I knew the He of the couple would have larger washers I needed. So by Saturday I had everything I needed for the project. Thanks to friends. 

Blue=existing entrances. Red=new ones.

I've been doing projects in stages, small steps every day. Things get done a lot easier that way and I don't wear myself out. I'm getting older, so can't expect to go all day like I used to. After too many disappointing days being a hardhead only to fail AND spend the next day painfully, I finally decided to give that shit up and just deal with the fact that I'm not twenty anymore. What a wonderful thing! Giving myself permission to NOT finish things in one day! Such relief. And, interestingly, I get so much more done now because instead of being disappointed in how little I got done, I'm happy that I reached my daily goal. Disappointment weighs you down while happy gives you energy, so I end up doing more than I thought I would. Bonus!

Awwwwwww. Cute little nuc box.

So yesterday I thought I'd just go hang the board and call it a day. It went so easily and I was so happy with it that I thought I'd clean out the best topbar of the two and just set it on the swing board to look at it. That went so well that I thought I'd screw it down so the wind wouldn't send it flying. That went so well that I thought I'd drag the other top bar to the house so I could clean it out the next day. That went so well that I cleaned it out, took it apart, cut it into two, cut new ends for the second nuc box one, screwed them all back together, drilled new entrances, and hung 'em on the swing, too! 

So now I have a 44" top bar hive, a 30" top bar  hive, and a 14" 8-bar nuc box. Ain't it kayewt?! I've always wanted a cute little top bar nuc box.  Only thing left to do is fashion a top. Not sure what I want to do for one yet, so that'll wait for another day.

Feeder w/follower & divider boards either side.
Spot of melted wax, too - hot out already. UGH.

I also cut some divider boards - three of them. I already had some follower boards, but those don't fit snugly enough to keep bees from going around them. I wanted to be able to divide a top bar completely in two to have two colonies in it if need be. I always thought that would be handy in case I saw some SURPRISE! swarm cells and wanted to make a split on the fly. 

I'll keep the follower boards that bees can get around so I can feed them in the empty cavity part of the top bar. But now I have options, man. Options are nice. And are all easily stored at one end 'til you need them. You can always make one divider board, then drill a couple holes in it and add a swing-cover of sorts - then you'll have both in one board. I'll probably do that next time I build one from scratch instead of redo an existing one. 

I'd bought some extra-long bars when I bought the extra regular sized  ones. The long ones fit perfectly into a Lang box. Handy. I know there's an idea in there somewhere. Maybe I'll build a top bar to use those bars on so I can switch the frames from topbar to Lang. Wouldn't THAT be handy when a top bar gets too packed and I'm not ready to harvest or split the colony. Or maybe I'll use them on the Long Lang I've always thought about building. Who knows. But that really WILL have to wait for another day.

Snow, Beautiful Snow

 

You GOTTA' Grow This: Mouse Melons

OMG! Y'ALL! You NEED to grow these! Seriously!  They go by many names: Cucamelon, Mexican Sour Gherkin, Pepquinos, and my favorite Mouse Melons, but their botanical name is Melothria scabra, so as long as you get those, you're golden.

They're so cute that that alone is reason enough to grow them.  

But wait! There's more! They're tasty, too! Tart like pre-dilled cucumbers. Tangy and crispy and yummy. Bite sized even, right off the vine no slicing or dicing needed. I think they'll be great in a salad. Wonder if they'll last long enough for my mesclun that's just sprouting to join them. I'm going to leave a few in the fridge to see if they do, then make some 'frigerator pickles out of a some, then can the rest for later.

They've been growing out there all year and I didn't think they'd made anything, so never really looked. I did see a few on there a while back, picked a couple, and ate them. They were pretty great, better than regular cukes I thought, so I made a mental note to grow them again next year, starting earlier and paying more attention to them, then thought no more of it.

Last week's frost nipped the vines enough that I could see through them, and lo and behold, there was a shit load of the little buggers on there!  Five little plants that covered a 3' wide by 4' tall trellis made a half gallon or so fruit. Interestingly, they also sent out a couple or three vines across the ground, shooting out singly in different directions.  One was about eight or ten feet out, headed to the squash bed, and made little melons even right on the ground!  

I'm impressed with them since it was so hot and dry this year, plus they were in a shadier spot.  Next year they'll get much better accommodations.

Now I'm off to make pickles as the cold front rolls in.  Ahh, bliss...