When Zephirus eek with his sweete breath...

[oloriel]

*reappears from garden, wipes humus off hands, gets mulch out of hair*

Right! The past days have been pretty much perfect, weather-wise: Some rain at night, warm sunshine by day. It was exceedingly windy, though, in the way you usually get by the sea, not this far inland. (This April is really trying hard to re-enact the General Prologue!) I promptly ended up with a stiff neck because I was underestimating the draft, and actually had to resort to Paracetamol just to be able to move my head again.
Today was sunny and less windy, but quite cold (compared to the previous days). Supposedly, we're going to get another couple of freezing nights but pretty warm days. Dangerous combination. So far, only the pussy willows have started to bloom, but the apple, plum and cherry trees already have big fat flower buds, they're just waiting for another warm day or two. I hope their flowers won't freeze at night!

Today I made a panic check on the bees because hardly any were flying out of the hive despite the sunshine. But inside the box, everything was busy and fine, so I expect they're just having a change of generations which just gets ridiculously noticeable because they didn't breed at all until a week ago and the old winter bees really are giving up the ghost now. In general, the bees are probably going to have trouble catching up - thanks to the cold March and "sudden" warmth now, everything is in flower at once, while they are still few and can't hope to use all those flowers. Probably no honey harvest this Spring - unless the fruit trees hold their flowers for at least another week and a host of new worker bees hatches, like, RIGHT NOW. Not likely.
But they're busy breeding and brought in a lot of pollen from the willows. I've now put in the missing frames -- should I have to feed the colony again, I can now add another box on top, which I'll have to do soon anyway. It's not likely that it will stay below 10°C for more than a couple of hours at a go, after all. (Quoth she, crossing her fingers!)

I'm done turning the compost, I'm done preparing the veggie patches, the taters have arrived and just have to germinate, the first starter cultures are peeping out of their pots. Now come the really unpleasant tasks - weeding the flowerbeds, cleaning the garden path, (further) cutting back the raspberries and the brambles, prune the willows (yes, late for that, see note on hazels in previous gardening post). And continue fixing the bloody terrace fortifications. They look quite nice, but they're such a hassle to make. Whine whine.

And... there will probably be a picspam soonish. Because it just isn't Spring without a Spring picspam.

Oof.

Comments

[sermanya.livejournal.com]

I read about you having bees from time to time. How comes? Did you inherit them? Can you buy bees in a bee-supermarket? ;)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

The colony that I have now was sort of a gift from our carpenter's girlfriend (http://oloriel.livejournal.com/487768.html) (who got me into beekeeping in the first place) - they swarmed from one of her colonies, and while she managed to catch the swarm, she had no more room for yet another colony. So she gave them to me, because she knew I'd lost my old colony to hornets earlier last year.

There are three basic ways of getting bees:
- Catching a swarm (under modern German legislature, swarms belong to the person who catches them, no matter where they came from), either because you just happen to see one or because you told the local firefighters that you're a beekeeper and can help with swarms.
- Talking to other beekeepers. You try to keep your colonies from swarming by creating artificial new colonies BEFORE they feel crowded, and often, experienced beekeepers have more young colonies than they actually want - they sell those.
- Order colonies from a professional supplier (the bee-supermarket, so to say ;)). That tends to be the most expensive variant.
I was lucky because I.'s bees swarmed very late in the year (August) when nobody expected it, so she gave them away for free because she wasn't sure they'd make it through (any!) winter. But they did! \o/

[cowboy-r.livejournal.com]

You seem so much more connected to the physical world than I am. There's a part of me that's jealous, but at the same time... all that stuff you did? That sounds like real work. I'd much rather read about you doing it than go out and do it myself.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Well, you could do some low-level gardening with flower-pots or the like - less work (real or otherwise ;)), but still with the rewarding feeling that you're in touch with nature, doing something seasonal and (ideally) getting some sunshine and fresh air in the process. Supposedly, gardening has an anti-depressant effect that probably can't quite be achieved by just reading about it! ;) (Of course, they say similar things about physical efforts being good for the mental equilibrium :P)