HIGHER MORWELL GARDEN DIARY
10th May 2019
The bees have arrived!
It is looking promising for them and for us in
the wildflower patch, still not many flowers
but a lot of ox-eye daisy buds and some yellow
rattle, also a new flower to the patch, borage.
A slight touch of air frost one night singed the
flowers of the big pink azalea but left the
tender vegetable plants untouched.
The hives are made of
expanded polystyrene, a
new idea which should
keep the bees warmer
than a traditional wood
design.
They are named - on the
left is Mulberry and on the
right Morwell. Morwell is
already a very active hive,
while Mulberry is currently
waiting for babies to
hatch.
I have been given a
protective mask to wear to
cut the grass in front of
them!
4th May the bees were
transferred from their
“travel boxes” seen under
the smoke puffer, and
each rack of bees was
moved to the new hives.
Natalie is checking to
make sure that the queen
is moved with all the
workers, nurses and
drones.
The bees do get a bit
feisty during the move but
I can report no-one got
stung. I kept well back and
used the telephoto lens!
I’ve finished building the
wall which is needed to
step down the soil level in
front of the tank.
We’ll make a bed at the
lower level and plant one
of the acer trees there,
giving it shelter from wind
which they hate.
Also after a trial with some
low fencing which has kept
the rabbits out and is very
unobtrusive, we’ll put more
of that around both beds
and put in border plants
which are normally rabbit
food.
The yak is flowering! It has been a mass of buds since we planted it late last summer after
seeing one at Bodnant Gardens. The wretched deer ate some - the bare patch in the
middle did have buds - but it should be quite a sight in a few years.