Comments for Garden Geekery

Comment on Quest for the Holy Grail: Non-Toxic Garden Paint by astevens16

astevens16 — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:31:45 +0000

Yeah, definitely didn’t want to use paint. Color isn’t necessary; just wanted something to protect the wood. I looked into cedar, but it was way too expensive. I’d looked into linseed oil, too, but it sounded too time consuming for me. I lack patience.

I’ll have to check into Penofin. Haven’t heard of that one. Thanks!

Comment on Quest for the Holy Grail: Non-Toxic Garden Paint by benjamin Landers

benjamin Landers — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:41:21 +0000

I advise against paint. If you must have color try a stain. You may make up your own or even use and alcohol based dye. and then a oil based sealer

The beds will last a good while with out any protection. Next time try building the boxes out of a rot resistant wood like Black Locust.

But if you must seal the wood the way to go is with a product called Penofin. It is food safe. Or another way to go though likely as or more expensive is to use linseed oil and thin it down then apply it like a stain,.

Happy Gardening!

Comment on The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen! by astevens16

astevens16 — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:28:34 +0000

Brian–I’ve been slacking off on keeping up with my blog, so I didn’t even see your comment ’til now. Not sure if you’ll see this reply or not, but here’s the URL for my bee suit: http://www.ultrabreezesuits.com/

Comment on Robber Bees by astevens16

astevens16 — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:25:23 +0000

Good idea on bringing along an extra deep next time. Hopefully switching to all mediums will speed things along a bit, too.

And I unfortunately didn’t vent one of my hives well enough. One of them didn’t make it, and I’m pretty sure that’s what killed them.

Comment on Robber Bees by astevens16

astevens16 — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:19:18 +0000

I actually tried the box-with-lid thing the next time, and it definitely seemed to help. But switching to all mediums should also help this year!

Comment on Robber Bees by Brian

Brian — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:05:46 +0000

Amanda,
Great work! Looks like your robbers paid a dear price for what they didn’t get. One thing to do if you find yourself in the same situation again is to bring another deep and an old towel along with you and place the deep in the cover when you take it off. Put the frames you pull into that deep and cover the deep with the towel so no bees can get in. This will help immensly and keep the swarm around your head to a minimum.
Also, the dead bees you see in front of the hive on the ground were probably eaten during the night by skunks or other critters and early morning birds who also love to eat bees.
I’m goad to hear you hives are doing so well, especially with losing the original queens and having a swarm that was lost. You seem to be doing a tremendous job.
I am sure if you were watching lately you saw the bees kicking out the drones. Next you’ll see the bees start to cluster when we have 3 days and nights near 40 degrees.
Remember to set up the top of the hive to vent moisture and something to absorb it (newspapers around the inner cover hole or some light laundry bags filled with pine shavings above your top screen inside of a deep with the telescoping cover over that.
Good luck this winter.

Brian

Comment on Robber Bees by Richard Soundy

Richard Soundy — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 20:12:56 +0000

I am so sorry to read the sad tale ….. right it off as a learning experience.

I recall when you first set up this blog and your excitement about getting into the Beekeeping hobby/business. I am also sure that your enthusiasm is still there and you will get better and better as time passes along.

If you recall my words during your initial decision on hive type selection I said weight was an important (and under estimated problem by most) factor. The 8 Top Bar box I build on the Warre Design weighs <3.2 lbs. – no bees, no product. A note here: Please this is not meant to be "I told you so" type statement nor a promo for my beehives. Just a discussion!

I always have some large plastic boxes with lids around (they are fairly cheap) to store frames with product when manipulating the hives during inspections. An easy solution to prevent the above happenings.

All the best – Richard

Comment on The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen! by Brian

Brian — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:20:41 +0000

I missed you at the last meeting. I was going to ask how you were doing with the two hives. I would like to get the url of the bee suit you mentioned. It does sound like your allergy to the bees is moving in the wrong direction and my suggestion would be to see your doctor and get an epi pen, just in case.

It sounds like you have made all the right moves and are now getting set up for the fall and winter with a good supply of honey to carry them thru. We have a new local bee distributor opening in Jan.in Kingston so we won’t have to depend on Betterbee any longer (which we couldn’t anyway).

Take care and I’ll see you at the next meeting.

Comment on Diary of a Wimpy Beekeeper by astevens16

astevens16 — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 21:11:06 +0000

Yeah, if I could sew, I bet I could make one of these! (Or not…)

Comment on Diary of a Wimpy Beekeeper by Tim

Tim — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 14:57:36 +0000

And very stylish, too.