Heligan

During our recent visit to Cornwall we visited The Lost Gardens of Heligan- a lovely garden where you can easily spend the day exploring. The gardens have been restored over a period of time and have areas of jungle, wild gardens as well as walled kitchen gardens and the Lost Valley to wander in. The weather wasn't the best for our visit but nevertheless I would recommend a visit to the gardens at any time of the year.



Bee Boles

These bee boles at Heligan show how people kept bees before the idea of hives were developed- the bees were kept in the skeps which each had a place in the wall protected by the wooden doors. You can just see a gap at the bottom of the door where the bees could go in and out to forage.

Four Hives

If you are following carefully you will know that we had to take a prime swarm up to the out apiary at Waxwings and leave them in a travelling box for want of any more equipment. This prompted a phone call about the nuc boxes that still hadn't arrived and a call, then a trip to Thorne's in Rand to collect a new hive. Thorne's kindly responded to my desperation and put together a flat pack hive for us- so there was hammering into the night to get brood box, frames etc finished for the next day.

Later on Thursday saw us with Jill and Rob ready to transfer the bees into a lovely new hive- and they were fantastic, they were crammed in the box and drawn all 5 frames of the foundation they had been given.There must have been a sigh of relief as we gave them another 6 frames and the room of a brood box. As an added incentive to stay we gave them a pint of syrup in a contact feeder and left them alone.

So now we have four hives- two at home and two at Waxwings and to simplify things we will call the hives at Waxwings 1 and 2 from now on!!
A quick update on Waxwings 1- brood, egg and stores on 8/9 frames so a super was put on today. There will be lots of forage on site, unseasonably early brambles and lime trees, so we are hopeful that this colony will thrive.

New Recipes

For my birthday I was lucky enough to have books- including the two new Nigel Slater books on Fruit and Vegetables. I had wanted to try a seasonal recipe using Rhubarb and polenta. This cake had flour in and as I needed something gluten free for a visit to Jen's I opted for his Elderflower, Honey and Polenta dessert. (Still a link to bees!!) He serves his cake with baked gooseberries, but our crop at the allotment was still little sour so seasonal strawberries have been chosen to go with it- oh- and having been teased about the yoghurt when we last had strawberries I have opted for full fat cream from Jersey cows to go on the side!!

The holes are where I drizzled the syrup made from honey, elderflower cordial and lemon  over the top- it looks very moist , can't wait to try it!

Another Cast

The swarm in the tree wasn't the last this week- a cast issued from the same hive 2 days later! These bees had nowhere to go- so they were collected and put back into the hive they had come out of to sort them selves out! I removed the queen excluder to give them more room, checked through to try and find if there were any queen cup and then emptied them straight in the top. Some didn't make it so I put up a ramp and shook them on to it so they could all march in- and they did!!

Eden

I have long wanted to visit the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, spring seemed the best time to view gardens so a visit was planned. Tim Smit has been instrumental in developing both these gardens. It is ten years since Eden opened and our first visit- obviously much has changed but the philosophy remains the same- education about the planet and the impact we are having with the way we live our lives.

The biomes are impressive- no doubt- it was interesting to see how some of the everyday products we take for granted are grown and how they impact on the earth. It made me think even more about what we grow at home and how that can be made not only sustainable but more effective in our use of space and the plants we grow. Radio's 4 Food Programme recently talked about the Forest Garden, growing more perennial plants that we can eat, how they are more likely to withstand extremes of weather as the climates changes. Rob on his blog http://sustainablegarden.blogspot.com/  recently referred  to how this principle is close to his heart as he developes his new site with his family. Definately a programme worth listening to and giving consideration to when planning for the future.


Cashews



Viewing Platform



Is That a Swarm in That Tree?

After a lovely break in Cornwall, confident that the bees should be fine, it was great to come back and see how things had progressed in the garden and allotment. I had thought of the posts I could write about the Lost Gardens of Heligan and the Eden Project ( and these will be written!). Sunday was a day to catch up with those jobs that always need doing when you have been away- including checking the bees at Waxwings but the others needed leaving a bit longer to give the new queen time to hatch and mate.
During the afternoon I decided to do some tidying up in the garden- around 5.30 my back started to complain so I began to tidy up. Mmm, quite a few bees round the pond I thought and looked up into the Viburnam that hangs over the water. There, fairly high up in the bush was a lovely, calm swarm of bees just hanging there- the odd one flying out and back. Were they ours? Probably, I had thought the hive didn't seem quite right but we had been VERY careful about only leaving one good queen cell. Had they tried to make an emergency queen cell from a larva that was too old? One thing I have learnt from these bees- they like to swarm, whatever I do!
So, feeling a sense of responsibilty and wondering just how long they had been there- out came the nappy box and white sheet again- a branch loped off and the swarm collected. The only problem, no more equipment, I had ordered nucleus boxes before we went away for just this eventuality but had been let down. After a phone call on Saturday I had been promised delivery on Wednesday, not much good now with a swarm to find a home for. The only thing available was a travelling box made of Correlex, luckily I had got 5 brood frames to put in it, so that was it.
The bees took a while to get in the box, so I had time to make up the frames and we got ready to take them straight up to Waxwings. Hopefully the neighbours up there were not too concerned that as it was just starting to get dark 2 people dressed in full beekeeping gear were wandering around. The travelling box was surrounded by bricks to keep it secure and the bees shaken in- alot of them didn't make it, so we fashioned a little ramp out of wood and shook them onto that and left them walking up. After about half a hour they were all more or less settled. We left them to it- today it is cool and raining, so maybe they will stay for a bit rather than get wet, we will just have to wait and see- hopefully those wooden nucs will arrive in time for them to make a home for another colony of our swarmed bees !

It was a lovely evening, there were bats flying around as we left Waxwings, but at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night we were wondering- what had we done before bees?!

Makeshift ramp and home for bees!



Rainy Monday and they're still there!!



Garden Orchids

In common with the rest of my family I like to grow orchids- both more exotic ones in the house and hardy ones in the garden. This year I wasn't sure how they would respond after having been moved and disturbed during our garden redesign. But they don't seem to have been too badly affected, although the dry weather is probably having an effect which may reveal itself as the year progresses.

The Trilliums in the garden have also done well despite the transplanting- I particularly like the way this Grandiflora changes to a dark pink before it fades away.