Dark Clouds

Our weather seems to come in month-long blocks now. I guess it's something to do with how the jet-stream has been disrupted. After bone dry April we have May downpours. 

And gosh we have had some downpours! 

The First Swarm of the Year

Last week I had to go into self-isolation again so that I could go down to London and have one of my regular hospital check-ups. Due to Covid it was two years since my last visit so it was a relief to find nothing majorly wrong. The procedure did leave me a little wiped out though, so it was a week of pottering about in the garden.

When we arrived back from London Sue came across our first bee swarm of the season and it was an absolute monster! We were half  expecting it as we found queen cells in a few hives when we inspected them. Muggy May days seem to be when we get our swarms. Sue had just managed to take us down from ten hives to eight by amalgamating weaker hives, but this swarm needed a whole hive to itself.

In general the bees are doing very, very well at the moment, though it looks like we won't be getting much early honey as it's been a cool year so far.

Poultry News
The ducklings and chicks are growing fast, but they do make a mess! So when we can they go onto the lawn for the day. It won't be long before they need an accommodation upgrade. We're not quite sure where they'll go though as the stables are taken up by geese and turkeys. We'll sort something out.

The young turkeys are doing really well too. We lost one to a sad accident, but all the rest survive, fingers crossed, which is actually really hard to achieve with turkey poults. Quite a few are spoken for so we just need to keep hold of them until they are old enough to leave their mothers.

On The Plot

Out in the veg plot, we have hopefully had the last frost now. I'm moving young plants into the ground as quickly as possible. The only thing stopping me is the wet weather. All the onions are out, interspersed with beetroots as they make good companions. Brassica netting is up and I've planted out my collards, a new crop for this year. I'm busy earthing up potatoes as they appear. With no dig, I simply dump a forkful of compost on top of the emerging leaves.