organic gardening | Adventures in Natural Beekeeping

Posts Tagged ‘organic gardening’

Independence Day

Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Sustainable living, Uncategorized, tagged EGO cordless mowing, organic gardening, Sustainable living, sustainable mulch on July 5, 2016| 15 Comments »

Returning from our morning walk, my wife turns to me, “Pat, the field is looking seedy. Should we mow it?” “Yeah, let’s mow it,” I say, wondering if there’s enough gas. Hmmm, I think I’ll try the new EGO battery mower to see if it’ll work on the thicker grass. To my surprise it works well.

July 4th…Independence Day. Mowing thick grass with the EGO cordless electric mower. I’m not producing carbon emissions. I’M INDEPENDENT OF FOSSIL FUEL.

We usually mow the field with the big DR Brush cutter. It’s about 11 hp and uses quite a bit of gas, so I was very impressed that the EGO cordless mower could handle this thicker and taller grass.

3529 Leave some Heal's All, Bird's Foot Trefoil for bees, 7-4-16

Leave some “No Mow Zones” for the bees. Here’s some healsall plants and some yellow Bird’s Foot Trefoil.

3527 Left some tall grass for the deer, 7-4-16

I left some tall grass too, for the deer. I know, I know, you’re not supposed to feed the deer, but there are so many juicy temptations in the garden that they feasted on last year. In a way, I am thanking the deer for not jumping the new deer fence into the garden. Maybe it’s more of a distraction, but so far it works. We’ve been picking up the “June drop” apples along with the mountains of ripe plums and scattering them in an area where we can see them eat (outside the garden, of course.)

Time to recharge. I use solar power.

Solar power plug installed 1 January 2013 (into my press room) Before that, I used a long extension cord from the panels through the shop window. 🙂

My wife won’t let me trim the flowers around the solar panels, but if they start casting shadows, there’s gonna be trouble! 🙂

EGO’s 56 volt battery RULES!!!

3514 Wheelbarrow load of clippings, 7-4-16 copy

We fill several wheelbarrow loads. What are we using the grass clippings for, you ask? For mulch in the garden. We are coming into the dry season. We’re on a shallow well, so we try to conserve on water usage. Mulch cuts down on the need for water. I scatter the lawn clippings out in the sun. I’ll turn them tomorrow morning. It only takes a couple of sunny days to dry them out enough. (I’ve learned my lesson. Years ago I used fresh lawn clippings over newly planted potatoes. I couldn’t figure out why no potatoes were growing. Pulling up the mulch, I realized the grass had burned off the sprouts.)

After letting grass clippings dry for a couple of hot days, it’s ready to go.

Mulch in squash, lettuce and bean bed.

Barrels benefit from using mulch.

Poles beans growing nicely with drip watering pvc and lots of mulch.

With the advances in battery technology, it’s exciting to be able to do more and more things without using fossil fuels. If it’s true what most scientists are saying, then our grandchildren are facing a future of mass starvation, cities underwater, and out of control wildfires. With that being a possibility, we are very willing to reduce our carbon emissions as much as possible.

July 4…Our grandchildren.

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Sue’s Secret Garden

Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee-loving flowers, Gardening, Growing flowers for bees, Videos, tagged bee-loving flowers, Bombus vosnesenskii, echium, Gardening, organic gardening on May 21, 2016| 11 Comments »

May 18…This is the entrance. Just today Sue was able to get the path covered with wood shavings. She says, “I feel like this is a secret garden. I can’t wait to show the grand kids.”

The project involved some block work by you know who. (Note to self…never make suggestions to someone about block work unless you’re prepared to do it yourself.)

3129 Sue's (semi) Secret Garden, 5-18-16

Sue has added the planters with lobelia, snap dragons from seed, and Clary Sage Salvia (also from seeds this year), hoping to attract some bees. The squash barrels contain butternut, Red Hubbard, and Sugar Pie pumpkin starts. Between the planters and the squash is the Witch Hazel which we bought a couple of years ago, but it didn’t do well in the clay pot we chose for it. We hope it comes back and blooms in winter. It’s next to an Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium).

This is the only ‘before’ photo I could find. I didn’t realize it would become a new garden at the time the deer fence was being put in. I hope I got all the roots out or I’ll be finding them in a few months. 🙂

Here’s an ‘in between’ shot, some weeding done, some still to go.

And another ‘in-between shot), block removed and waiting for sand/clay mixture to be added and tamped down.

Here is the same view as above. Sue has added the planters with lobelia, snap dragons from seed, and Clary Sage Salvia (also from seeds this year) The squash barrels contain butternut, Red Hubbard, and Sugar Pie pumpkin starts. Between the planters and the squash is the Witch Hazel which we bought a couple of years ago, but it did not do well in the clay pot we chose for it. We hope it comes back. It’s next to an Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium).

3159 Sue in new garden room, 5-19-16.JPG++++

I asked Sue to sit down for a moment so I could take a photo.

3144 Hugelbed, cosmos, marigolds, phacelia, 5-18-16

The hugelkulture bed is technically in the new garden too. It’s getting planted with cosmos, marigolds, phacellia, California poppies, and more marigolds.

This is the other end of the hugelkulture bed, looking back towards the tall echium.

Some other garden scenes…

May 22…Potatoes growing well.

3121 Turnip blossoms, mulched lettuce, 5-18-16

May 18…..My wife says it was a mistake to mulch the lettuce. It takes quite a bit of time to remove the straw when you want to eat it. In the background you can see the turnip flowers heavy with growth. This is our turnip seed source. The bees are still working it for now. For the record, these turnips, which were planted directly over crab shells last year, grew all winter.

Because of the new deer fence, I can plant pole beans for the first time in about 25 years. It’ll be fun watching the vine crawl up the bamboo poles.

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Garden in May

Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee Video, Bee-loving flowers, Macro bee video, Music video, Natural Beekeeping, Raised beds, Tower of Jewels, Videos, tagged bee-loving flowers, Bees on echium, bees on Oregon Coast, bees pollinating turnip flowers, bombus melanopygus, Bombus vosnesenskii, echium pininana, Flor Braier, Foxgloves, Greenworks garden cultivator, Lobelia fistulosa, natural beekeeping, organic gardening, Pony Feelings, Wild pollinators, Yellow-faced Bumble Bee on May 10, 2016| 13 Comments »

I love the May garden. Everything is so lush and and green.

May 8…Looking over the garden to the southwest, Sue’s foxgloves (grown from seeds) provide the foreground colors, the volunteer Tower of Jewels (or echium Pininana) to the left, yellow turnip and kale flowers all attract the bees.

The potatoes are up. I just tilled between the rows with the little cultivator below.

For several years, we tried to garden without using fossil fuel. We prided ourselves on the ability to spade the garden and then hoe out the weeds. But now we’re several years older. Last month when we were faced with the task of planting potatoes, my wife says, “Let’s get the old Troy-Bilt tiller out.” Yes, it started on the second pull, but it also is waaaay too big for the raised beds. Reverse doesn’t work on it anymore and plus…it uses fossil fuel!!! Enter the battery-powered Greenworks cultivator. It’s easy to use, works well in the raised beds, and USES NO FOSSIL FUELS!

2988 Peas growing outside, first time 20 yrs, 5-6-16

Peas planted outside…first time in about 25 years (because of the deer fence.) I added a couple of rows of carrots in the middle after I tilled it one more time.

3005 Buckwheat, tomatoes, peas+carrots, potatoes, 5-8-16

Buckwheat is growing well, tomatoes need cages, peas and carrots, potatoes in far back.

May 2…..Sue plants some corn.

…and a second batch of lettuce.

Just for the fun of it, we bought some giant lobelia (Lobelia fistulosa) for the hummingbirds and bees. A daisy to the left and the Knockout dahlia in the center back. The dahlia has flowers that attract leaf cutter bees (at 1:18) It’s fun to watch the leaf cutters in action.

II had to get creative with the drip water grid for the squash. I’ve been accused of planting the squash too close together in years past. This time, there are only 5 hills here, where I’ve planted 10 or more hills before. The idea is we will get more if we don’t crowd them. I left the turnip flowers for the bees (and for next year’s seeds)

Drip watering gets the water to the customer without wasting any.

Another look at it…I think these are Sugar Pie Pumpkins.

There’s never enough room for squash. We are trying some ‘container squash’ this year. It’ll trail down over the stump grinding experiment.

These squash are up against the fence for a reason. They get the morning and afternoon sun. We might try using the fence to trellis them. The upside…more squash. The downside, I’ve got to water by hand unless I figure out a drip water solution.

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Planting Winter Lettuce over a Banana Peel

Posted in Gardening, Raised beds, tagged Deer netting over raised beds, organic gardening, Planting Winter lettuce, PVC water grid on August 27, 2015| 4 Comments »

August 27…I’m a sucker for any ‘gardening trick’. Here I’m holding up a dried banana peel. It’s supposed to give your transplant a shot of something (potassium?) when the roots reach down to it (assuming you put it in the hole before the plant goes in.)

August 27...The lettuce transplants on the left have the dried banana peel under them. On the right, no banana peel. PVC water grid in place, deer netting over the top, we will see what happens.

August 27…The lettuce transplants on the upper left have the dried banana peel under them. On the lower right, no banana peel.
PVC water grid in place, deer netting over the top, we will see what happens. I forgot to mention the heaps of fresh crab shell that were buried here last week.

October 5…This is what the lettuce looks like 5 weeks later. Can you tell where the banana peels are buried? I can’t.

October 5…Just to use the rest of the bed, I shook some dried kale branches in this area. Ha-ha…there must have been some seeds that dropped out.

August 20…This is WHY we are planting in this bed already. The oh-so-cute deer chomped our beautiful broccoli plants when we forgot to re-net it after burying crab shell in one end.

The new fawn follows Mom to the bird feeders every evening.

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No, These are NOT Giant Marijuana Plants

Posted in Bee-loving flowers, Bumblebees, Natural Beekeeping, Tower of Jewels, tagged bee-loving flowers, echium, Gardening, natural beekeeping, organic gardening, Tower of Jewels, Transplanting Tower of Jewels on November 13, 2013| 5 Comments »

But they ARE echium ‘trees’; more specifically, Towers of Jewels.

I spaded the this patch of turf, then kept finding more and more transplants to put in.

Last year the only one I had grew 10 feet (3 meters) in a single year. The bumblebees loved it. They worked it mid May til mid September. I kept thinking about collecting seeds, then forgot. Not to worry, I’ve got plenty of ‘upstarts’ now.

If I ever had any doubts that the Tower of Jewels would throw seeds, those doubts have vanished. Self-seeded echium in garlic bed.

If I ever had any doubts that the Tower of Jewels would throw seeds, those doubts have vanished. I’ve got to get these out of here to plant garlic. If I don’t transplant them, my wife has threatened to ‘toss’ them. Why? We have so many.

The plants don’t have big root balls. Hope they take.

October 20, hummm, they look a little wilty. I better water them.

November 9, 2013...They are starting to look better after I trimmed the lower leaves. What are the tires for? They are to hold up the tarp to protect them from freezing. Not too hard to cover them when they are this short.

November 9, 2013…They are starting to look better after I trimmed the lower leaves.
What are the tires for? They are to hold up a tarp to protect them from freezing.

November 13…Echium in the sun, looks good. This will be the area I’ll plant some of my “Bulbs for the Bees,” Snowdrops, Winter Aconite, and Siberian Scilla.

According to Palmbob, at Dave’s garden, trying to transplant it, ends up killing it, but these are still growing almost a month after transplanting. The Tower of Jewels is a member of the Boraginaceae family which includes borage (grows all year here) and comfrey which I planted 40 years ago and is still coming back. I’m hoping these will grow to be tall nectar sources for bees and butterflies.

11-24-13…I’ve had to take drastic action for the cold weather. Bags of leaves hold up the tarp, tires hold it down.

12-26-13…These echium have definitely taken a hit from the sub freezing temps we’ve been experiencing for a couple of weeks. I hope they make it.

February 5, 2014…Five out of six have survived so far. These sub freezing nights are NOT helping. I cover them with blankets and a plastic tarp every night.

February 5, 2014…new growth means it’s still alive! More cold nights forecast so I’ve got to keep them protected.

Feb. 5, 2014...These four echium are more slightly more protected. They were put here as a back up (Plan Bee)

Feb. 5, 2014…These four echium in the backyard are slightly more protected. They were put here as a back up (Plan Bee). I didn’t think it was a very good spot because of the shade, but they are doing the best of the bunch.

12-29-14…I shot these backyard echium to show the progress they have made. No blossoms in 2014 means they will blossom in 2015 (if they make it through the winter without frost damage.)

March 9, 2015…Is this the year the echium will bloom? I sure hope so. It’s putting on a spurt of growth.

February 23, 2014…five echium still hanging on, barely.

February 23, 2014…This poor echium plant suffered in the cold temps, but it’s still showing signs of life. Footnote…it didn’t make it.

June 16, 2014…Three echiums made it through the winter, but it looks like they are not going to bloom this year. Sometimes it’s the second year and sometimes it’s the third year. I guess I’m going to have to wait a year. 😦

12-29-14…There are still 3 echium plants going into winter, although one looks a little sick. I wanted to shoot a photo before I covered them up with tarps prior to the big freeze this week.

March 9...This echium also has been adding height. I notice it most when I try to pull the tarp over the top to protect it from frost.

March 9…This echium has also been adding height. I started noticing it when I tried to pull the tarp over the top to protect it from frost. We haven’t seen any bud starts yet.

March 19...I just noticed the tallest echium (in the picture above) is starting to send out blossoms. Hooray!

March 19…I just noticed the tallest echium (in the picture above) is starting to send out bud starts. Hooray!

July 14, 2015...In the spring, we enlarged this bed and planted some bee-loving plants along with the echium.

July 14, 2015…In the spring, we enlarged this bed and planted some bee-loving plants along with the Towers of Jewels echium plants shown in the background.

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The Birds and the Bees and the Butterflies

Posted in Bee to Flower relationship, Bee-loving flowers, Butterflies, Hummingbirds, Music video, Natural Beekeeping, Videos, tagged bee pollinating poppy, bee-loving flowers, bees on borage, bees on Oregon Coast, bees on parsley, Crocosmia, daisy, Hummingbirds, Kiera O'Hara, Lotus, macro nature video, macro photography, Mary Steele, Mourning Cloak butterfly, organic gardening, Painted Lady butterfly, pollinators, Skipper butterfly on wallflower, Swallowtail butterfly, Sweet Thunder, Wendy McGinnis, Wild pollinators on November 12, 2013| 3 Comments »

Sweet Thunder provides the delightful musical background for this video of hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies at work in my garden on the Oregon Coast.

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New Raised Bed for Tomatoes

Posted in Drip watering, Raised beds, tagged cloches, Extended growing tent, Gardening, Gardening tips, growing tomatoes in cool climate, organic gardening, Sustainable living, vegetable growing on May 8, 2013| 8 Comments »

This is how the garden looked in August 1998. All those beautiful raised beds are rotting into the ground after 15 years and need to be replaced.

This is how the garden looked in August 1997. All those beautiful raised beds are now rotting into the ground after 16 years and need to be replaced.

Trex-built raised bed 5-5-13 Don’t look at the background…it’s messy. I’m linear. I can only work on one bed at a time!

We built most of our raised beds in 1996 and ’97. The lumber came from a small sawmill using white cedar that had been passed over by the big timber companies. It was sawn to a full 2 x 10 x 16′ (5.08 cm x 25.4 cm x 4.87 m) It was beautiful wood. We had less personal time then but more energy…lots more. As good as that wood was, it still rots when in contact with the soil. So after 17 years all those 16 beds have got to be replaced. We found this decking material on close-out. It’s not cheap but is supposed to outlast wood. It’s a little wobbly so I had to set the corners in concrete, but if it outlasts wood, it’ll be worth it. We’re trying to replace ONE raised bed a year now. The green one was built last year out of old siding…much cheaper than this one, but won’t last as long.

Soil leveled, drip water grid laid out, tires centered over drip holes in pvc.

Soil leveled, drip water grid laid out, tires centered over drip holes. The tires extend the warm temps into the cool evening.

Hoops added with 1 x2x 8 re-enforcement. I use this to hold the tent open too.

Don’t glue any of the pvc like I did for many years. That way you can have more options like this swing-away hose connection

Clear plastic over hoops, held up rope and the re-enforcement wood.

Clear plastic over hoops, held up by rope and the re-enforcement wood. Why have ‘tents?’ Our night time temperatures will dip to 45 deg. F (7 deg. c) even in the middle of summer. Use 6 mil UV stable greenhouse film. It’ll last for years of opening and closing every day. We like our tomatoes to be warm and happy.

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Thunbergia- to Attract Leaf Cutter Bees

Posted in Bee-loving flowers, Gardening, Leaf cutting bees, tagged bee-loving flowers, Black-eyed Susan vine, natural beekeeping, organic gardening, photography, solitary bees, Thunbergia on March 2, 2013| 3 Comments »

These seeds are from last year's Back-eyed Susan vine.

These seeds are from last year’s Black-eyed Susan vine. Big and easy to plant.

Thunbergia Transplants, also called Black-eyed Susan vines, attract leaf cutter bees.

Thunbergia , also called Black-eyed Susan vines, attract leaf cutter bees.

These are not much to look at right now, but today we transplanted the Thunbergia seedlings into a hanging basket and left them under the fluorescent lights until the weather warms up. This year we’ll provide some bamboo tube housing near by.

This is what we are aiming for…last year’s vine…and where we saved seed from.

Black-Eyed Susan with leaf cutter ‘cut-outs

I haven't seen any sign of the leaf cutter bees on this plant, but it's not for lack of blossoms. We're real happy with the way it turned out from our own saved seed.

August 9, 2013 I haven’t seen any sign of the leaf cutter bees on this plant, but it’s not for lack of blossoms. We’re real happy with the way it turned out from our own saved seed.

August 27, 2013...This Thunbergia plant just keeps growing and growing. You can see an Echium in a pot below and the hop vines that my son-in-law said wouldn't grow in my coastal town, at the top.

August 27, 2013…This Thunbergia plant just keeps growing and growing. You can see an Echium in a pot below and the hop vine that my son-in-law said wouldn’t grow, at the top. I haven’t seen any “cut-outs” yet.

This is the video I shot last August of the Leaf Cutter Bees slicing up petals from the Thunbergia as well as a nearby Dahlia. I’m looking forward to getting more video this year. Hope they were planted early enough.

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Flowers blooming mid-winter

Posted in Bee-loving flowers, Log hives, Natural Beekeeping, Uncategorized, Videos, Warre Hive, tagged bee-loving flowers, beekeeping, Canon SX-50, Gardening, honey bees, Log hive wood carving, Log hives, macro, natural beekeeping, nature photography, organic gardening, photography, pollinators, Sanyo Xacti, Sustainable living, Verticle log hive, Wild pollinators on February 22, 2013| 8 Comments »

Could this be pollen from the laurel bush? It’s been blooming since Jan. 22. I know that you can’t tell by color alone, but at this time I don’t have the microscope or capability to properly identify pollen.

This is the first year I’ve had bees into winter. I was curious about all the types of pollen showing up on the bees entering the hive. I was sure some of it was gorse since we seem to have so much of it growing thanks to Lord Bennett of Ireland.

I made a 9 minute movie showing the bees on different types of flowers and Shigeo of the local bee association demonstrates how to transplant an Echium. I realize that some people can’t spare the time, so I’m offering ‘screen saves,’ as well.

Laurel blooming by Bonnie’s house

Bee on laurel, tannish-colored pollen…January 22, 2013

Bees on rosemary, at City Hall, February 8, 2013

Pussy Willows blooming near our hives...sun comes out...bees love it.

Willow catkins blooming near our hives…sun comes out…bees love it. February 8,2013

Gorse pollen is orange…I had been hoping it was the yellow pollen I had seen going into the hive. February 13, 2013

The video shows this bee in slow motion working the pollen back to it’s pollen sac. I didn’t see it at first until a more experience bee keeper showed me. February 13, 2013

Bee on heather, 2-14-13, right up the street from Tom and Karen's house.

Bee on heather, 2-14-13, right up the street from Joe and Karen’s house.

Bee on acacia, 2-15-13…Shigeo showed me this place to get some video. By the time we got to it, the bees were returning to home so I only got a short clip of it.

Shigeo shows how to transplant an Echium Tree.

Echium for 2013…I’m hoping this plant will shoot up 10 feet (3 m) starting about April or May. The tarp protects against freezing weather.

These are the plants that Shigeo demonstrated in the video, how to transplant. They are my hope for 2014

We planted this in late October 2011. It just stared blankly at us for several months. April or May we noticed it had grown about 10 feet. The bees worked it for 3 solid months.

We planted this echium in late October 2011. It just stood still for several months. About April or May we noticed it had grown to about 10 feet. The bees worked it for 3 solid months.

The video shows the bees in action on the flowers. I used the Canon SX-50 (50x optical zoom) on the laurel as well as the willow catkins. My little pocket camera, a Sanyo Xacti performed admirably for the rest of the close ups…I love the ‘super macro’ feature.

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Hugelkulture

Posted in Gardening, Hugelkulture, Raised beds, Uncategorized, tagged Centipede, fungal pipi, hugelkulture, metabolites, Nasturtiums, nature photography, organic gardening, rotten logs raised bed, Snail-eating ground beetle on February 17, 2013| 17 Comments »

This little patch of land is going to be the hugulkulture bed

This little patch of land is going to be the hugel kulture bed

My son started looking at perma culture ideas. “Hey Dad, I was thinking about building a Hugelkulture bed. You put in logs that are loaded with mycelium and plant in them. You don’t ever need to water.” “That’s interesting,” I said, “but you don’t have any room for something like that.” “No, but YOU do.” That’s true and I’m always game for trying out a new idea. My son has helped me so much. He installed my solar projects, roofed my house and shop, and repaired a bunch of rotten siding on the house. Why NOT try this out? I’ve got lots of rotting logs too.

Pick and shovel work. I don’t think I’ll go down any deeper because I’ll hit water at this time of year.

This will be a little experiment. I’d like to plant bee-loving flowers like Nasturtiums, Wall flowers, and other flowers which the deer won’t eat so I don’t have to fence it in.

The next weekend I was working on a burn pile of accumulated storm debris. This had been piled up for a few months. We wanted to get the place cleaned up for visitors, this weekend it wasn’t raining, so it must be done NOW! Everything was so wet it, it was going to be an all day affair. As the fire got built up, I started pulling out branches to burn and starting seeing wonderful mushrooms and examples of mold. I didn’t want to destroy this beautiful living organism, so I started collecting it for my hugelkulture bed.