Shallow rooted carrot varieties are ideal if you don't want to get the spade out.Paddy McCartney from Greencastle is very multi faceted in the garden and to guarantee the pollination of his fruit, vegetables and flowers he keeps two beehives.
BEE KEEPING
Tell us a bit about the bees you keep
I have kept bees for years and I couldn’t imagine the garden without them. The bees work hard in my own garden. Also in early summer the bees go down the hill to collect nectar from wild flowers and in the late summer they go up the hill to the heather beds as well. When I work in the garden the hives are behind a six-foot hedge. This stops them from flying into me as by the time they have flown over the hedge they are well above head height.
Do you get much honey?
We get enough for ourselves and a few friends. I collect the honey once a year. I only have two hives so we don’t really produce on a commercial level!
What does the smoke do when it is blown into the hives?
Smoking the bees helps the keeper to harvest the honey safely. When the bees smell the smoke they think there is a fire. Then they gorge themselves to save their food. This makes them drowsy and harmless.
Are they dangerous?
Only when provoked! If you agitate one of them, then all of the other bees come over and have a go at the enemy! This thankfully doesn’t happen often
Top gardening tip?
If you have raspberries growing you might need to support them. If you put up a wire net, don’t put the wire right down to the floor. That way you can still get to the weeds around the base of the plant.
Have you any plans for the future?
I will be introducing more raised beds into the garden. I have them already for the vegetables and I would like to grow flowers that way too. As I get older I am less agile and raised beds are really handy to sit on and work with the plants and soil. I might even de-commission some of the garden and turn it over to members of the annual courses so they can look after it as part of their course.
Thanks to Paddy for his pearls of wisdom over the last three weeks!
BEE KEEPING
Tell us a bit about the bees you keep
I have kept bees for years and I couldn’t imagine the garden without them. The bees work hard in my own garden. Also in early summer the bees go down the hill to collect nectar from wild flowers and in the late summer they go up the hill to the heather beds as well. When I work in the garden the hives are behind a six-foot hedge. This stops them from flying into me as by the time they have flown over the hedge they are well above head height.
Do you get much honey?
We get enough for ourselves and a few friends. I collect the honey once a year. I only have two hives so we don’t really produce on a commercial level!
What does the smoke do when it is blown into the hives?
Smoking the bees helps the keeper to harvest the honey safely. When the bees smell the smoke they think there is a fire. Then they gorge themselves to save their food. This makes them drowsy and harmless.
Are they dangerous?
Only when provoked! If you agitate one of them, then all of the other bees come over and have a go at the enemy! This thankfully doesn’t happen often
Top gardening tip?
If you have raspberries growing you might need to support them. If you put up a wire net, don’t put the wire right down to the floor. That way you can still get to the weeds around the base of the plant.
Have you any plans for the future?
I will be introducing more raised beds into the garden. I have them already for the vegetables and I would like to grow flowers that way too. As I get older I am less agile and raised beds are really handy to sit on and work with the plants and soil. I might even de-commission some of the garden and turn it over to members of the annual courses so they can look after it as part of their course.
Thanks to Paddy for his pearls of wisdom over the last three weeks!
Horticultural.
No comments:
Post a Comment