It's Swarm in the Garden

These are the ones that got away!

One minute they were there and the very next... they were gone!

It was a hot, very hot Saturday in May. Thankfully The Pumpkin Patch workshop was just about to end... we'd just watered the greenhouse plants... very nearby and then the sky turned black and very noisy!!

Lucky for us, they quickly settled on to low bush of honeysuckle (ha ha!!)... the perfect place for us to catch them!! We phoned a friend for a spare hive to put them into and waited... took loads of photos and enjoyed the apparent calm of the swarming bees!

How silly we were! Why didn't I get a box, knock the branch and drop our bees into the box and close it up until the hive arrived????? I just took photos!!!! The bees in the meantime got ample time to gather their thoughts, calm down, do a headcount before leaving for pastures new!

Our friends arrived, took one look, gasped in amazement and watched as the whole swarm of bees broke up and once again turned the sky black and took off like a long black cloud. They were gone!

A sad day! An expensive day!

Thankfully we have been left with a good and strong hive, the queen has since been replaced by another younger model and we now know the cost of taking photos rather that taking action!

We now have four hives from the two we had last year. We had already successfully divided both hives during early May. One of the newly divided colonies soon ran out of space got a little congested and warm in a confined space and decided to take action... and move out.

The queen ensured that she laid plenty of good quality queen cells to replace her and off she went! I wonder where she is now?

Gardening Week!

Gardening Week at the new St Catherines Walk, Carmarthen.

The Pumpkin Patch recently set up camp in the new St Catherines Walk shopping center in Carmarthen. Not the usual place to dig, plant and design a garden...but we did!

The Cottage garden, a mixture of flowers and vegetables, and a cottage!!

Below, the kitchen garden full of beans and peas carrots, salads,

a gooseberry bush and trailing tomatoes, all in a square meter!

Below, The children of Johnstown school showing us their Cottage garden

(just before their long walk back to school!)

Five local primary schools took part. Each one planted up a square meter with plants relating to the theme they had chosen. We had two wildlife gardens, a cottage garden, a beekeepers garden and a kitchen garden.

Spring Lamb and Green Fingers!

The spring has well and truly arrived with lovely bright mornings and light evenings .. a great time for gardeners! The crisp early mornings are still cold enough to damage small seedlings, so we still need to be careful about what we plant out.

Just to remind ourselves that Spring really was on it's way, we got ourselves five little (tiny!) pet lambs. Very sweet, very cuddly, adored by the children, but lots and lots of bottle feeding!!

The greenhouse is now full of seed trays which need regular watering.

Don't forget that even when it rains.... it doesn't rain in the greenhouse!!

So far we have French climbing beans (purple – remember the magic beans from last year?), French dwarf beans (yellow), Pumpkins (of course!), Swiss chard, peas and sweet peas, Parsley and leeks, Gourds, courgettes, and mixed salad leaves.

* * *

I've had a great time digging and planting and now it's your turn! The vegetable plots are looking bare ...time to get busy! We do have a few broad beans coming through and the onion sets are growing nicely, but it's now time to plant beetroot and radish, rocket and lettuce directly into the ground (now that they won't be damaged by late frosts)

. . . .

The potato tubers we placed in the greenhouse have now chitted (produced little shoots) and also need planting into well manured trenches. This year we are only planting those knobbly little Anya and Pink Fir Apple salad varieties. They are difficult to find in shops and are very expensive... so a great vegetable to grow for ourselves!

After months of worrying about the bees, and whether they would survive such a bitterly cold winter.... out they came! They've been out and busy in the garden for weeks now. The next worry is... will they swarm, when and to where? Our job now is to keep an eye on them and to check them regularly.

West Wales Food Festival

What a day!! Well 2 days really!!

Last weekend (May bank holiday)
 The Pumpkin Patch held cookery workshops at the West Wales Food Festival, at the National Botanic Gardens,Wales.

 We basked in the lovely sunshine and warmth of the great glasshouse.

 We made Welsh cakes, Funtastic Fritters and Smoothies with almost 100 children and teenagers. Mums, Dads were itching to take part but it was a children only zone!

 Here are the recipes for those keen to have a go at home!
(The other language is Welsh!)

My Family Welsh Cakes

  

Ingredients

110g Butter / Menyn

80g Sugar / Siwgr

225g Self Raising Flour

50g Currants / Cwrents

1 Egg / 1 Wy

Pinch of Salt / Halen

Milk, if needed / Llaeth os oes angen

Butter and caster sugar to serve /Menyn a siwgr i orffen 

Now the fun bit...How to make them!

Wash your hands!! (don't forget that I write the recipes for children!!)

Sift the flour and rub in the butter

(until the butter totally disappears into the flour... magic!)

Stir in the sugar and the fruit.

Whisk the egg in a small bowl and add to the mixture.

Mix to a firm dough using a little milk if needed.

Roll out to 5mm thickness (on a floured surface) and cut into small circles.

Place onto a hot griddle / frying pan, turn once, cook until golden.

Sprinkle with caster sugar, and serve!   .... Mmmm!!

I hope you love them!! We do!

Sweet Sweet Success!!!

After months of cold winds, severe frosts and week after week of below zero temperatures and snow, the bees decided to reveal their success story!!

Once temperatures reached double figures they began to spring clean the hive and we breathed a sigh of relief! They had made it and winter was officially over!!

Joshua and his old (but still young!!) form teacher, Paul,

opened and checked and cleaned each hive.

The queen in green (she's marked with a green dot, see below) was still present.

Joshua, so pleased to see his bees again!!

With the recent warm weather and the huge activity at the hive we're hoping for an early harvest of honey, we can't wait!!