Middle of May

Cant believe it has now got to the middle of May , and the middle of another week. Yesterday it was pretty hot here, getting up to 18 degrees and wasnt surprised when Jack came into tell me my bees had swarmed and were hanging on a post off the deer fencing. Would love it if they swarmed when it was a bit cooler as with a bee suit on it is pretty hard work with the sun beating down on you. I managed to get most of my 'pots" out into the garden which had been cluttering up the summerhouse since back end - back end is what we hear in North Yorksire call late Autumn. I havent got a green house here at the moment so bring them all inside to keep the frost off them . With my infrequent watering they all seem to have survived.6 large fuschias are already flowering well. The Olive tree has been out all winter and looks not very blooming, so I thing it will probably have to be taken from its pot and dug into the ground and a good feed of Tomarite. I give Tomatite to eveything, even my lemom trees which I have 37now of varying sizes and about 60 which are about an inch high ones .I must start to think about selling them or not planting any more pips -they grow like rattle . Or maybe I could give them away to guests.I even managed to get the Bird of Paradise out too. It is so big the pot it is in has to be rolled rather than lifted out. It has one flower on and another in the making .Last year it had 4 on . All the plants seem to love going outside. They were moving their leaves about and I dont think it was a wind causing it .I often says isnt nature marvellous. My chocolate mint is coming on great guns and I am pleased to see the tomato plants which I planted so late will be giving me a late harvest. I seem to have little plants all over. But nothing beats bluebells growing in our woods. It takes forever watering them and as I run out of space I even have some in the bedroom on the window sill. I think my dad will be keeping his eye on me I wonder if he has got the Head Gardener's job up in Heaven yet.

The birds are singing their hearts out and the woodpecker is still around and coming more frequently so guess it has a nest somewhere in the poplar trees. Last year it hatched 5 off so there was quite traffic flow of wood peckers in the garden when they started to fly . I have 8 artichokes and hope they do better than last year so popped them in down an aspargus bed . The asparagus will be ready next year so how about scrambed egg and asparagus for guests breakfast . And I have apricots too,lets hope they dont get into the squirrels mouths like the peaches did last year before we have time to pick them The flowers are not the only ones enjoying the sunshine. Cows and calves are enjoying it too.

Time to spend in the garden

Every year I say I will make an early start in the garden . A bit like a stitch in time saves nine .The aconites are out and an abundance of snowdrops. Bulbs are popping up all over ,the birds are singing. A few bees are out and when I went up the other day to look at the hives, they all look as if they have survived the winter. Always a worrying time for bee keepers. I find bees are harder to look after than children they are always wanting something doing to make sure they are doing ok. They are so special, we need to do what we have to with them, but trust me if you have never kept bees and havent donned a bee suit in the middle of Summer, I dont find it theraputic as a lot of bee keepers would say. Jack has already being cutting the hedges and the hedges up the sides of the drive are getting well established now but the deer cant be turned even though we put a deer fence up last year and we think they are the culprits for the gaps. We mustnt'grumble as we love to see the deer which will soon start to graze at the back of the house and come most tea times. The green shoots of the wild garlic are pushing through now and life in the woods is starting to wake up after a not too harsh winter. It is always nice to see the scarlet fairy cups - which they say are edible but I prefer to leave them for the fairies. Last Sunday I was up in the woods with the grandchildren as they are making yet another waterfall. Martha was happy making little bowls out of the clay and it was all very civalized till they got carried away and daubed it on their faces like Red Indians. But they enjoyed themselves and that was the main thing and not a computer game in sight. So it just goes to show take children into a forest and they are all happy and learn how to play using their imaginations like we did as children. So Grannies and Granddads, time to think to bring your children to roam in our woods while you sit around on a tree stump with your gin and tonics />

Green Fingers and 2 weeks of gardening

I know it is rather early to tackle the garden. We have had amazing weather ,blue skies and sunshine. What nicer way, however exhausting, to get on top of all that needs doing in the garden. I kick myself now that I had not taken before and after photos. The vegetable garden is all dug over, ready for when it warms up a bit to get planting. A good sprinking of ash from the fire on it too - potash ash all for free. The roses are pruned and I nearly got quite carried away as I was just asking my Dad where there was a saw to cut a very spindally tree down. He gave me one of those looks that was as much horrified crossed with the

look you got when you raced to pick up the phone when you were young when it was his place to do that . The tree in question was actually 80 years old and was slow growing. Plenty of mulch on the rhubarb outside. Inside I have a bit that I brought inside a few weeks ago . Did you know rhubarb is the perfect diet food?. Even with sugar on as long as you only eat it and nothing else for a week or two. A few years ago I sickened myself of it but did lose quicte a lot of weight. I just tend to boil a whole pan full and run the juices off to add to a glass full of ice and gin. I keep a lot of juice from boiled fruit fruit to mix with gin .I am sure it must count as one of my 5 a day . The green plant do you know what that is .... it is my very special yuzi tree which a very kind Japanese lady and her friend posted me from London. It was after they saw I had a collection of lemon and orange plants all grown from pips. Only my lemon tree has produced fruit so far this year The cuttings that look like little fir trees are rosemary cuttings that I took from my best friend's home as she moved the other week. A rather late housewarming present butthough it would be nice to have something as a keepsake. Hopefully out of those at least half of them will grow. Under Fathers instructions I have planted seeds- cabbages, cauliflowers ,leeks, broccoli and onions although he perfers onion sets .I prefer buying a sack full ready to use. I know it is very early, but it looks like I will be having a very busy year with guests so need to get the gardening out of the way. Carrots, beetroot, koli rhabi and other similar seeds will be plented directly into th eground when the soil warms up . Oh and what you will all be glad to hear as I went to feed my bees on Saturday, that all 4 hives have survived winter and hopefully will go on to be busy this Summer. I did have over a dozen hives at one time but they are so time comsuming and I havent a pipe and beard - the typical thought of a bee keeper. I have to wear a suit to protect me from getting stung. Believe me you wouldnt want to buy a sauna when you can wear a bee suit in the height of Summer.

Adding bee keeping to my skills

What a B day .... I started off enjoying my bees .Looked after them like children, tucked them up in bed ...well their hive in Autumn. Fought off the wasps and vermin that tried to eat their supply. In Winter fed them and even on Boxing Day would go with candy to feed them . Dont laugh it was true. I have gone up trees and into some of the most precarious places to retrieve a swarm.
Then I got stung and again and again and 3 years ago ended up at the hospital with sepsis  . It was getting too regularly an occurrence. For some reason they like me or not .
So as it is Jack who eats the honey and I dont really like the taste of it he said he would help cant be too much to do ... He has soon got fed up with these time consuming little creatures and what really did it for him he got stung on the chin and what a mess he was.
So it was a joint effort . In my bee hey days not too long ago I had over a dozen hives .The trouble is you have to go into the hives on a hot day when they are all flying to see what is going on and even though I wear a full suit I wear extra clothes underneath as the suits these days are so thin they can sting straight through.Wellington so they dont get up my trouser legs and long thick leather gloves . So I feel I am in a walking sauna and when you lift a box full of honey at a back breaking angle you are looking at probably 3 stone in weight.
Anyway we have 2 hives now .And here you will see them busy and buzzing and there is Jack walking down the path he has had enough of them .So when you dip your knife or spoon  into that honey jar just think of how labour intensive it is .

Honey bees must gather nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey. One bee would therefore have to fly around 90,000 miles - three times around the globe - to make one pound of honey. The average honey bee will actually make only one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.