Comments for Farnham Allotments

Comment on Mystery plant by Dave

Dave — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:04:09 +0000

It looks a bit like Cosmos but I’ve never had any on the plot?

The bed is literally full of it…I can only imagine that it’s a weed OR what I had in the bed last year but it doesn’t look like cornflower? I also had large marigolds in the bed and again it doesn’t look like a marigold?

I’ve already dug out loads…but I think I’ll keep what remains to see how they flower!

Comment on Mystery plant by Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:04:06 +0000

cosmos?

Comment on Good weather finally and the bees seem to be enjoying it. by shonaandken

shonaandken — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 18:25:24 +0000

Yes indeed – It has been pretty miserable weather for bees so far this year. Too cold, frosty and snowy first and then too wet. But the last few days have been warmer and we had our first quick look into the hive today. Pleased to say that all looks good. The queen is there and laying eggs rapidly to increase the numbers as the nectar and pollen starts to become available. Noticed a large amount of bright yellow pollen being brought into the hive so they are obviously finding a good source somewhere nearby. Hopefully they are doing a good job of pollinating everyone’s fruit and veg (if you’ve managed to get anything planted yet this year!!).

Comment on What about the bees? by frank1943

frank1943 — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:25:45 +0000

As site rep I have not had any adverse comments so far.Frank.

Comment on What about the bees? by shonaandken

shonaandken — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 20:46:34 +0000

Hi John – thanks for asking – the short answer is that it is way too early to tell!!
Much to the neglect of the veg and fruit, we spent much of the Spring attending the practical bee keeping course at Tilford and preparing our aipary area in the corner plot. Finally in mid-July we got the bees. This was a lot later than planned, mainly due to the awful weather. We started with a 5-frame “nucleus” which includes a new queen, some brood (eggs), workers (flying bees) and stores (honey), perhaps around 10,000 bees in total. The theory is that this nucleus will find plently of nectar and pollen and rapidly expand to fill the entire hive (~60,000 bees) at the height of the summer. Well, our bees seemed to settle in well, and are very docile – the children enjoyed having a good close up look when the hive was open. But (again probably due to the poor weather) took quite a while to expand numbers up to the full hive. By this time, the Summer was over and most beekeepers were thinking of harvesting their honey crop from their hives, but we decided not to take any honey in this first year because we had been so late in starting.
Had quite a bit of interest from neighbouring plot holders, although it took some a while to realise that the bees were actually there, as you don’t really see them unless you look within 3ft of the hive. No problems reported, but I guess too early for anyone to say whether they have noticed a benefit in terms of crops (but out raspberries were very prolific this year!!). Any plot holders got any feedback?
The last job of the season (once you’ve taken the bees honey!) is to make sure that they have enough stored food to see them through the winter. This is done by giving them a thick solution of sugar and water. Our bees took about 6 litres of the stuff, which I think shows how poor the summer had been.
So we have fed and prepared our bees for Winter and now there is not much us poor beekeepers can do apart from hope that our colony makes it through the Winter and has enough bees and food left in the Spring to allow them to start the whole process over again next season. Otherwise it’s been a rather time consuming and expensive adventure. So fingers crossed for next Summer – will let you know if they make it through the Winter.

Comment on Farnham Allotments Annual Lecture 2013 by shonaandken

shonaandken — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 20:26:11 +0000

Thanks Dave

Comment on Farnham Allotments Annual Lecture 2013 by Dave

Dave — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 15:35:52 +0000

Sorry, I’ve now added the date (20th March) and fixed the Contact Us link.

Comment on Farnham Allotments Annual Lecture 2013 by Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 13:52:34 +0000

I’m also very interested, but please let us know the date. Also, is it me or is the contact link for responses broken?

Comment on Farnham Allotments Annual Lecture 2013 by shonaandken

shonaandken — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 20:56:34 +0000

For forgetful folks like me, it might be good to remind us of the date of this lecture – thanks

Comment on Deer Fencing on the Shepherd and Flock Allotment Site by Dave

Dave — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 21:28:20 +0000

Hi John

Sorry for the delay, I’ve been in Spain.

I am meeting Kevin on Thursday so will ask him, sounds like a good idea though to me.

We also need to do something about tidying up the bee area. I think a nice bench or benches, something to raise them, would be good. It might make it easier to trim around the hives.

See you soon,

David