Dusko Bojic

I just bought a small farm and am thinking about what to do in my garden. Since I too have strong winds im leaning towards wood chip gardening aka Back To Eden gardening. No-dig permanent beds. Wind cant blow away wood chips.

I do have one small field surrounded by trees there I might start one hugelkultur bed.

Update;

The seeds planted indoors didnt sprout so I planted the rest of seeds I had into a cold frame outside 2-3 weeks ago without stratification but I did soak them in warm water (room temperature) and they started sprouting
I do have fleece over the cold frame to protect the seedling from sun. My Black Locust is also sprouting

Thanks Rebeca this is the reply i was waiting for

Thank you all for replying.

Im a bit confused one of you say warmed them up other say put them outin frozen weather

Which one should I do? Im keeping them now in a room that is around 12-15 degrees Celsius. I can place them in the room which is around 22 degrees if that will help.

I planted the seeds March 1st (after soaking them in warm water), the same day I planted the Black Locust seeds (which I collected this winter in February (lots of stratification) and they are starting to germinate.

Im aware this is an old thread but for those who come to read it I will add my favorites;

Books which helped me are
Top-bar Beekeeping by Les Crowder (/practical stuff great hive maintenance illustartions)
The Barefoot Beekeepr by Phil Candler (phylosophy on top bar beekeeping)
The Buzz About Bees by Jurgen Tautz (up to date bee biology)

You can also find lots of info on biobees.com and beesource.com (both forums)

On you tube I would highly recommend to watch the videos published by OutOfaBlueSky on you tube;
http://www.youtube.com/user/OutOfaBlueSky?feature=watch

I have 1 year experience with top bar hives and thousands of hours of spending time on biobees and beesource forum

Im going with the top entrance on all my hive so condensation is not an issue in winter. I use one entrance hole only which is 30mm so the bees can easily decide how much of hive atmosphere can be let out during the summer. Varroa doesnt prefer high temperature. I dont know if this is good dry climate but in my damp one it might help reduce the condensation levels keeping the hive dry. We have lots of water around here in form of lakes and ponds while in dry climate condensation is a great resource for the bees so bottom entrance is a better choice I think.

When it coems to placement I try to drill holes on one side of the hive to encourage bees to build in one dirrection. On some hives I have top entrance at the end and on some on the end of the sides;
http://cheguebeeapiary.blogspot.se/2013/02/landing-boards-and-new-apiary-location.html

Phil Chandler uses tree 20mm holes in the middle of the side walls (bottom entrance). In his design two follower boards are needed in mine only one.

Both seem to work fine.

Frank,

I am new to this forum and started keeping bees in hTBH (horizontal top bar hives) last year.

It is best to ask in your area when is the best time to set up swarm traps. I will do it in the middle of May because of the Swedish law, otherwise beeks in USA do it already in April.
I have build a few bait hives the same size as my long top bar hives just a 12 top bars lenght. Bees dont prefer cavities larger than 60 litres (Seeley) so I settled on 12 bars lenght. This is my first year to bait bees so will report how it went. Maybe there are no swarms in my area.

The entrance is a drilled hole 30mm, because Seeley's research shows that bees prefer it.

Place the bait hive on a tree, shed, or what ever 2-5 meters above the ground. Make sure to staple a piece of chicken wire at the entrance to keep away birds from nesting in it.

Dont forget to prime the top bars with wax stripes. Like this bees are encouraged to build streight comb.

I can assist you but as mentioned Im not an expert.

Books which helped me are
Top-bar Beekeeping by Les Crowder (/practical stuff great hive maintenance illustartions)
The Barefoot Beekeepr by Phil Candler (phylosophy on top bar beekeeping)
The Buzz About Bees by Jurgen Tautz (up to date bee biology)

You can also find lots of info on biobees.com and beesource.com (both forums)

On you tube I would highly recommend to watch the videos published by OutOfaBlueSky on you tube;
http://www.youtube.com/user/OutOfaBlueSky?feature=watch

My blog on beekeeping;
http://cheguebeeapiary.blogspot.se/

I saw a documentary called Back to Eden where the gardener uses wood chip to cover the soil instead of plowing. I like to try this method but before I do it I would love to hear if any of you did this and what are the results.

It seems to keep great balance in the soil food web, and it keeps the moisture in the soil. It aslo seems to keep weeds at bay and it breaks down with time. I was thinking to place a layer of hey first and then the wood chip.

My wood chip is grinded with a composter and wood is small Ash cuttings, Apple tree branches, Aspen, and Hazzel branches.

Thanks

I will recieve a few cuttings of a willow Salix Triandra Semperflorens. This willow flowers all the way from February until the frost hits. Such plant is of great benefit to the bees and I am planting alot of bee friendly plants, shrubs and trees this year.

Im asking since we still have snow in Sweden and not sure if I can simply stick the cutting into the cold ground or should I stick them into a pot and then place outdoors?

All help highly appreciated! I really want this willow to take off so I can help spread it.

Thanks

Hi all,

I acquired Siberian Peashrub seeds and would like to make sure I did it right. I soaked the seeds in water for 30 hours and then placed it on top of potting soil which I mixed with a bit of sand. I then covered the seeds with thin layer of sand. Im watering from underneath. The pot is placed into a dish filled with water so the soil can such it as much it needs. The pot is inddor beside a window. Temp in that room is around 12 degress Celsius.

I started keeping bees in top bar hives and would love to give them this nectar giving shrub.

Any suggestions? If so far is done correctly how do I proceed if it starts growing?

Thank you