The daffodils are up! Despite it still being January and having some 5º weather in the last couple weeks, flowers are eager to get started.
The first daffodils of spring
Leave a reply
Author Archives: twentyacres
The Bees Survived
The bees made it through our latest cold spell. We had 5º weather a few days ago, and were below freezing for several days. Since it warmed up to 68º they were out foraging for food.
Bees form a cluster and surround the queen, keeping her warm and the hive at around 90º inside by shivering their wing muscles. This takes a lot of energy and they use the stored honey to keep going in the winter.
We will also put out some commercial pollen for them to eat while it is warm for a couple days. Purchased pollen comes in long patties and looks a lot like taffy candy.
It’s Cold here in the South
This is ice from the pond Monday morning. The temp got down to 5º Sunday night after about an inch or so of snow and sleet on Saturday.
We have started to warm back up, and the forecast is for mid-60ºs by Friday before cooling back down.
The heaters in the greenhouse could not keep up so we supplemented them with a kerosene heater. Everything seems to have survived just fine.
Bee feeder
We made a hivetop bee feeder this afternoon. As nectar gets more scarce during the winter we need to feed a thick sugar syrup to the bees for their winter food. Each of the hives has one of these.
This box has two parts. On the left is an area open to the hive below where bees can enter. They crawl over the low wall and cling to the screen to get to the sugar water. If they get past the screen and into the open sugar-water ocean they drown. Bees don’t swim well.
Winter Garden Preps
Time to get the garden ready for winter. We cleared out the remaining dead plants, and then tilled in a load of mulch and some rotted straw. Some lettuce will remain under cold frames to eat all winter long. The fall garlic planting is up and will grow all winter long for harvest in early summer.
Lettuce, broccoli, and cauliflower are still growing, despite having several nights of lower 20 degree weather. We’ll keep it as long as it continues to grow!
Frogpond Acres 