Fungus for Free?

At this time of year fungi are appearing everywhere in the moist autumn woodlands and grass. These are just one type that have sprouted in a corner of our garden. Over the past year or so we have seeded various areas in both the allotment and garden with spores from mushrooms in the hope that some would decide the conditions were just right for them!
So do we eat them? Although I have consulted the excellent Food For Free by Richard Mabey I am just not confident enough to tuck in!!

Changing the Clocks

It is the time of year when the clocks have gone back and the nights are drawing in - I was led to believe that I would not be seeing the bees until Spring, they would be in the hive huddled up against the winter weather. And yet on this November day there they are ,out and about, bringing in loads of pollen! As you stand near the hive the smell of honey is noticeable and I cannot heft (lift) it off the stand. A good sign- plenty of stores to keep them going!

We have noticed how this year is a 'mast' year in which the trees and shrubs have produced a bumper crop of berries- does this mean, as the old wives say, that it will be a hard winter? Who knows? There have already been more records this year of Waxwing arriving on our shores from Scandinavia than all of last year. This usually happens when the weather has turned severe and there have been strong easterly winds.

And yet today the temperature was around 15 degrees at lunchtime!

Dead Bees

The recent drop in temperature and heavy rain has had quite an effect on the bees- they have not been so active and outside of and on top of the hive there have been a sprinkling of dead bees. They are whole bees so it is not likely to have been robbers,when there can be body parts from the attack- it seems as if they had been out foraging and taken by suprise when it turned cold and wet ,then just couldn't make it back!

Brace Comb

As today was lovely and sunny and the temperature by the hive was 25C we decided to go into the hive to take out the second Apiguard treatment and remove the spacer eke for the winter. It was meant to be a quick removal- so I didn't light the smoker and almost didn't put on my suit because I thought the bees would have started to hunker down for the winter. They have been busy in the sunny spells taking in lots of variously coloured pollen- an indication that the queen is doing her stuff by keeping the colony on track.
Well, when the roof came off the bees poured out- the hive was absolutely heaving- we were amazed to see that the space on top of the frames in the eke had been filled with brace comb ( honeycomb that the bees make on their own in any space they can!) which was also filled with honey! As this was unexpected we decided the only thing to do was to remove the Apiguard tray and leave the eke in place so the bees still had the extra stores they had collected, then maybe try to get some advice about whether we should remove the comb now or leave it until the spring.

Robbers

This time of year beekeepers are wary of robbers- other bees, woodpeckers and wasps which are on the look out for easy honey or food. They do their best to protect the colonies by reducing the entrances so the pests find it hard to get access but they still try!!

September on the Allotment

All the potatoes have been gathered in now- there have been fantastic crops of French beans and we are struggling for space in the freezer to store the amount of raspberries, blackberries and other soft fruit. As we have cropped the beds green manure has been sown to strengthen the condition and fertility of the soil. These are left until the beds are needed and then dug in.

Recently on a visit to Sissinghurst they had sown Yellow Trefoil and then companion planted with squash to help with feeding and moisture retention for the vigorous squash plants. We have various varieties of squash this year and try them in a three sisters bed- sweetcorn, borlotti beans and squash together- as well as in raised beds. These potimarron were a favourite last year and kept really well in the cool dark garage. hopefully this year there will be a few to store again- we still need some more good growing weather to ripen them yet!

Autumn Bees

Back in the hive after the 1st Apiguard teatment things look good- there are less then 100 mites on the varroa board and its been on for over 2 weeks. From what I have read this is quite a low count so it looks as if the bees are doing well in this respect! The brood box is really full now, with activty on all the frames- as well as a  respectable amount of stores. Brigit is still busy with plenty of new eggs - I'm not sure if this is OK as at this time of year things should be slowing down in terms of brood. The new bees emerging now should be the 'winter bees' which will live for the whole of the winter and start the colony going in the spring next year if all goes well!