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United Kingdom
Thursday, February 13, 2025

Upkeep


A small honey harvest

It’s about 80 levels at Poppy Corners, and it’s that actual time when, each April, we are saying to ourselves, “Is the neighborhood pool open but?” The season of flip flops and tank tops indicators additionally that it’s time to do some much-needed upkeep at residence. Tom and I at all times preserve a working record, impressed by Monty Don and Gardener’s World, known as ‘jobs for the weekend.’ We add to all of it week after which start to sort out it as quickly as we’ve completed our espresso Saturday morning. Our record this week was actually so long as my forearm – typical for this time of 12 months.

Fortunately, I’ve already planted most of our summer time veg, which I usually wouldn’t do till the temp is persistently over 50 levels at night time. However I’m scheduled to have knee surgical procedure on Could 8, so I assumed it could be good to get all that performed earlier than then, and fortuitously all the pieces has survived. Since we eliminated all of the raised beds from the North Backyard (to make the orchard), I used that wooden to make the raised beds within the South Backyard taller. We’re not getting any youthful round right here and taller beds will probably be useful in that regard. I ordered three cubic yards of planting combine from a neighborhood nursery, and added that to the beds earlier than planting. It’s good to have all that performed.

However immediately, the very first thing on our record was the irrigation system. Now that we’ve had the final of our (prodigious!) winter storms, it’s time to start a daily irrigation schedule. It’s necessary to start out out with 100% saturation in your soil; in case you do this, you’ll simply be topping it off each time you water, as an alternative of enjoying catch-up. However the irrigation system hasn’t been used all winter, so it’s not so simple as simply turning it on. Inevitably there will probably be some issues – breaches within the traces, clogged drips, damaged micro-sprayers. Tom and I activate one ‘zone’ at a time and go round watching what occurs and making notes. Typically, I’ll see an space that wants protection, and we’ll add some traces. Generally an space is simply too moist and we’ll alter that too. Tom at all times has a number of restore work to do. It’s actually good to get all that performed earlier than irrigation turns into essential.

Are you able to see the swarm?

After that, Tom opened our top-bar bee hive. Two days in the past, I used to be out working errands after I received texts from two totally different neighbors: “Your bees are swarming!” So I rushed residence so as to not miss it and to see if I might seize it for my dad, who at all times needs our swarms. Alas, it was too excessive to achieve with our ladder. I’m not even positive in the event that they have been our bees (there are lots of beekeepers within the neighborhood), however it was a superb reminder to spend a while trying by the hive and including bars for brand spanking new brood and honey. All the pieces appeared because it ought to, and Tom took a full bar of honey out for us. Opening the hive is now Tom’s job since I’ve grow to be allergic over time; he’s gotten actually good at it and by no means will get stung anymore. I grasp again and look on longingly, peppering him with questions which I’m positive he simply loves. At the least I can deal with the messy job of reducing up the comb and extracting the honey, although gravity does a lot of the work.

I additionally spent a great deal of time immediately cleansing out our huge passionvine. It’s a Passiflora ‘Blue Horizon,’ and has beautiful flowers and small black bitter fruits. It helps an enormous variety of gulf fritillary butterflies yearly, and is a stopping place for each curious neighborhood youngster in summer time. I purchased it as a dwelling deer fence, assuming that it could die again each winter with our frosts (and subsequently stay manageable). It’s by no means performed that, solely gotten increasingly huge annually. It’s extraordinarily promiscuous and reveals up in all kinds of locations I don’t need it to, so I’m at all times pruning the factor. Nonetheless this 12 months, we had so many nights of really chilly climate that the vine died again, leaving a hedge of lifeless leaves and flowers a foot thick. That was enjoyable to hack by and take away. Now it seems to be fairly naked, with simply basis vines on the trellis, however it gained’t be lengthy earlier than that monster places out new development and begins the cycle another time.

Tomorrow, we plan to scrub the home windows and screens, a once-a-year job that we detest however that at all times makes such a distinction in the best way the sunshine is available in our home windows, so is completely price it.

We even have reserved time for mountain climbing each days. In any case this rain, the hills are merely coated in wildflowers. This morning, we walked as much as Shell Ridge the place a man named Phil (a volunteer with the Walnut Creek Open House) has been working for ten years to revive a large hillside with native flowers. This 12 months it’s merely spectacular, with each sort of California native annual you’ll be able to think about. Beneath you’ll be able to see a really small part of the hillside, coated with poppies and chia. Tomorrow, I’m hoping we may have time to go slightly additional afield and hike in a spot the place we are able to ford some streams, which by no means will get outdated in our normally-arid Bay Space, and see nature-planted flowers.

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