Today Bill, Colin and I collected the Bees from the hollow tree. Bill said he was taking them to one of our members Nigel who lives in Southfleet. They are eventually destined for the garden of Nigel's Dad in Dartford but have to be temporarily stationed at least three miles from the hollow tree.
Throughout the day Colin and I , with some help from Kevin and Emmanuel, erected and roofed the shed given to us by Steve. During the day I also hived the swarm that Colin and I collected last night. They are housed in a Langstroth which has increased the variety of hives on site. We now boast 6 Nationals and one each of Langstroth, Dartington, Kenyan Top Bar and Omlet Beehaus.
Tomorrow we visit Romford to collect a "wild colony" in a compost bin.
Stop press - There's been a hitch, the "bin Bees" may have to wait until the weekend after next because the people are not able to make themselves available during the week.
Most gardeners dig all their Parsnips before they flower and then produce seed, but there are at least three good reasons to leave a couple of roots undisturbed.
For one you get large quantities (one plant will supply all your needs), of free seed which is of a much higher quality in terms of germination than much of the seed you buy. I've found that if you allow a parsnip to spread it's seed freely they spring up everywhere but if you sow from a packet you're lucky to get every fourth or fifth seed to germinate and even then it's painfully slow.
Another good reason to cultivate seed is that the flowers are very handsome. They're yellow, umbelliferate flowers, (a flat headed inflorescence), a bit like a yellow Achillea.
My last and I think, most persuasive reason for recommending a bit of "slack gardening" is that all manner of insects including bees are strongly attracted to the flowers and because they bloom early in the season they are especially valuable to all manner of wildlife.
Barry
No comments:
Post a Comment