This is a journal of my vegetable gardens. Skippy was my first dog and he thought the garden was his, even though I did all the work. Now Suzie and Charley follow in his footsteps. We're located near Boston (USDA zone 6A). I have a community plot, a backyard vegetable garden, fruit trees, berry bushes, chickens, and bees. I use sustainable organic methods and do my best to grow all of my family's vegetables myself.
peas planted!
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
CSA bee hives are in place
I believe our beekeeper set up this hive last Friday. Lots of bees! They have a nice sunny spot with a southwesterly slope and a good view of all the flowers that will come soon in our community garden plots.
Ahh wonderful! Everyone will benefit - I used to keep bees a long time ago, such an interesting hobby. All your flowers and veggies will benefit from this, make sure they have lots of variety to choose from and plant flowers just for them. There is a beekeeping blog on my list here if anyone wants to link through!
Honey is only part of the community garden in that the hives are nearby so we get the pollination.
The honey CSA is separate from the community garden. Its run by the beekeeper. All costs of beekeeping are covered by a fee to CSA members and the resulting honey (if any) is distributed to members. At least that's the idea - its a new experiment.
I seriously thought about starting a bee hive this year, but decided instead to do orchard mason bees. I remain tempted by a honey bee hive I must say, but am a little nervous about the work involved. Orchard mason bees are so easy.
When we were there last Saturday, we counted 6 honeybees in our plot. That's 6 more than we saw all of last year!
ReplyDeleteIs the honey part of the community garden?
ReplyDeleteAhh wonderful! Everyone will benefit - I used to keep bees a long time ago, such an interesting hobby. All your flowers and veggies will benefit from this, make sure they have lots of variety to choose from and plant flowers just for them. There is a beekeeping blog on my list here if anyone wants to link through!
ReplyDeleteThat's great! We used to have hives at my mother's farm when I was growing up. It's very beneficial for the garden.
ReplyDeleteWith all those gardens, the bees will be in heaven!
ReplyDeleteHoney is only part of the community garden in that the hives are nearby so we get the pollination.
ReplyDeleteThe honey CSA is separate from the community garden. Its run by the beekeeper. All costs of beekeeping are covered by a fee to CSA members and the resulting honey (if any) is distributed to members. At least that's the idea - its a new experiment.
That plot is huge! I'm so very jealous as I have a about 5 foot by 5 foot plot and I can barely plant anything!
ReplyDelete5 by 5 is a terrible tease! Think of what you could plant with a little more spaceQ
ReplyDeleteYou must plant very carefully. I think I would plant all lettuce, one tomato and one cucumber plant.
These will be fun to observe. I'd like to keep bees some day, May need a Xanax first though :-)
ReplyDeleteI seriously thought about starting a bee hive this year, but decided instead to do orchard mason bees. I remain tempted by a honey bee hive I must say, but am a little nervous about the work involved. Orchard mason bees are so easy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder Sandy. I have been meaning to put up a mason bee house. I will do this soon. Hope its not too late.
ReplyDelete