Pleased to be using peat free compost. At B&Q locally, the resultant mix is not rotted down enough (rushed through the mass production I suppose) so last year things struggled in pots. Moved on to more expensive stuff this year with John Innes written all over it and it is doing well. But on a pension this will be a stretch longer term!
Have used comfrey leaves for the first time as reco'd by Monty Don. Their roots go down so far they harness less attainable nutrients. Wintered whole until they putrefy under a weight then mixed with water, but boy! Does it smell.

Originally Posted by: Bertwhistle 

Our "No Mow" patch is looking good - lots of yellow rattle and the ragged robin doing very well in the shady corner. It is humming with bumblebees, but honeybees seem to be missing - even though a swarm went into our redundant chimney recently. Thrift and Long-horned poppies are thriving on their gravel, with new plants popping up too. Our resident Cudweed seems to be doing well in "the cracks". The badger and hedgehog seem to be boycotting us just now - not sure why. All we need is some nice weather to enjoy! Today is overcast and very windy - again! 😬
I gave up beekeeping 4 years ago after cardiac by-pass surgery. It seemed unwise to be lone working in out of the way fields with poor phone signal coverage. Uneven ground, slips and trips, carrying heavy supers, etc. I do miss them - but not the work involved. If you reckon to get 80-100lbs of honey per hive - quite achievable - that's a lot of jars to fill, store, carry about and sell! 😲
I shall nip over to The Green to tidy up the 9 Sqn RAF Memorial there ahead of D-Day commemoration here on Sunday. They were involved. The pigeons and jackdaws constantly crap on the propeller!
https://bardney-group.parish.lincolnshire.gov.uk/homepage/31/ix-bomber-squadron-raf-war-memorial 

Originally Posted by: Roger Parsons 

A fellow beekeeper in his mid-70s maintained over 20 hives in his back garden in New Malden. He sold nucs and honey, using the proceeds to sponsor a family he met during a trip to Africa, helping them set up their own local business—a truly commendable act.

Beekeeping is incredibly demanding work, particularly when managing swarms and dealing with aggressive bees. Once, a colony followed me for a couple of hundred yards. As I approached my house, I had to kill individual bees clinging to my outfit before I could remove my gear and go inside. It was a very daunting experience.

Originally Posted by: Sasa 

20 hives is a lot of work! I do have friends who work on that scale. My max was 8 hives which represented a potential harvest of some 800 lbs of honey.
I recall a chat with an African honey hunter. He used to raid wild bee colonies high up in trees, built under the branches. He explained he'd strip to a basic "loincloth" and then cover himself with wood ash, before climbing up with some burning material to smoke the bees. The cut honeycomb was put into baskets and lowered to the ground.
When I asked about the reason for removing clothes he said that the bees only got tangled up in them and got even madder.  A bare skin dusted with ash seemed to work better. Clothes made climbing more clumsy. He added: "I also wear a "ju-ju" that stops them stinging!" 😁 Belt and braces? Worth a try, I guess. I never went honey hunting, but did work on a project with KTB hives in Africa.
https://www.beekeepingnaturally.com.au/natural-beekeeping/the-kenyan-top-bar-hive/ 

Originally Posted by: Roger Parsons 

Brave African chap but no tx for me!

I attended a training course rean by that chap who was on TV. He has hives all over London incl central London.

He said some of them were based in areas like Brixton and he could smell certain substances/pollen in the honey! Not sure if he was joking or not but my nose is definatelly not that sensative.

Originally Posted by: Sasa 

I suspect sensitivity in sense of smell varies with the individual. I had no evidence of that suggestion myself.  However, pollen colour and timing of flowering is always a good giveaway WRT the plants being worked. Honey colour and physical characteristics help too. The first link below has some errors and typos. The second link refers of the pollen being carried by the bee.
https://lbka.org.uk/flowers_month.html 
https://sheffieldbeekeepers.org.uk/tools/pollen-chart/ 

Originally Posted by: Roger Parsons 

Nice one. Here near London, we’re fortunate to have a wide variety of flowers blooming for probably more than ten months of the year. In contrast, the countryside, being more remote, likely has a different flowering pattern and fewer choices.

Originally Posted by: Sasa 

Being near flowering trees and shrubs is always a helpful bonus. The sequence of agricultural crops is useful too. I liked to get my hives on to Borage. Pumpkins are also good. Field Beans and Oil Seed Rape were our staples. All those honeys were very characteristic. You are making me feel very nostalgic!

Originally Posted by: Roger Parsons 

I've never tasted oilseed rape since it's not available here, but I've heard it's very difficult to extract.

We go skiing in Val d'Isère, France, which is at a high altitude. I love buying honey there, even though it's very expensive. Since we usually drive to our ski trips, we tend to bring more than we need, which has become a travel habit for us.

Originally Posted by: Sasa 

Observations about the recent spring and current summer in the garden.

1. I have two sunshade parasols I can erect but so far this year they have remained in the shed.
2. Plants grow well in these conditions (apart from when it is windy) except cannas and basil, which are slow to grow outside this year.
3. Molluscs are doing well this year. I’m glad I plant hostas in pots with Vaseline smeared around the outside rims.

Edit.
Oh, and one last observation. I have yet to experience this spring/summer, a dawn to dusk period when the sun shines continuously without a cloud in the sky.

Originally Posted by: NMA 

We got away lightly last week while our windows were fixed Nick. Now I need to get the mower out and then tackle "Let it bloom June."
Did you get my PM on "Dairies", Nick?
R.

Originally Posted by: Roger Parsons 

I saw an interesting article in the Telegraph earlier, suggesting that keeping bees is the new way men celebrate their midlife crisis! Hadn't realised it was so trendy TBH, and it made me think of this thread. 😁

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/male-midlife-crisis/ 

I was out in the garden earlier and managed to fill half the "garden waste" bin without really trying - everything's growing like mad due to the weather (not too hot or too cold, regular doses of rain, lots of sun). Mind you, much of that was one massive thistle... there's a "wild area" in the garden, where I let the nettles etc grow, but they've been a bit too enthusiastic and have started crowding an apple tree sapling I planted in the autumn. This particular specimen was a real monster - taller than me, around 6ft I'd say, and spreading out a good 3ft diameter with very sharp, spiny leaves... they went through my supposedly tough garden gloves without even trying. I ended up using a tree lopper to chop it down , and used some of the long grass to wrap it up to carry back...

Looking online it seems to be one of these... but a fair bit taller than 1.5m.

https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/spear-thistle 

Seems they're valued by the birds and the bees, so I'll let the remaining ones be - they're annual plants, so those particular ones won't be back next year (even if their descendants will be!)

 

Originally Posted by: Retron 

If anyone offers you some bargain-basement bean seeds, think twice about planting them Darren. Even if they are 'lucky' ones.
Sounds like you need to construct a compost bin too.

Originally Posted by: NMA 

If anyone offers you some bargain-basement bean seeds, think twice about planting them Darren. Even if they are 'lucky' ones.
Sounds like you need to construct a compost bin too.

Originally Posted by: NMA 

Are you guys growing any vegetables at all?
I am a proud of owner of 3 allotments so its a really big hoby of mine. I really miss the authentic food taste which I was brought up on.

Originally Posted by: Sasa