Cori Warner

I am  considering bees, one other the things that has held me back is the apparent effort it takes to manage varroa and h
ive beetles. How is this done in a "natural" hive that is only visited a few times a year?

Thanks,
Cori

Hello.
Since this is an organism, I am wondering if it requires a lot of organic matter in the soil to work? Our soils are sandy clay, with very little organic matter so we are working on correcting this; will the EM help, or do we need to wait until the soil is somewhat improved?

Cori

Last year we removed four badly damaged, really large black walnuts. They all put up suckers, the largest sucker is about 3 inches around already. Will these bear fruit, or do I need to remove them? I have dozens of younger walnuts, so no concern about keeping walnuts on the property, but most of the younger trees aren't masting yet

Thanks!

Hey, Gavin. The Goumi berries I mentioned are not particular about soil at all. Aronia is supposedly fairly tolerant. I'm working on beds for blueberries, which are very pick about soil. I'm also planting ground cherries and garden huckleberries, whhich are annuals while I'm waiting on soil improvements so I can plant othere fruits and berries.

Hi, Gavin. I, too,am starting a new garden!  As you suggested, I'm working on soil improvement.  For a first year yield, I'm planting beans, peas, and peanuts along with a lot of annuals in raised beds. I'm also planting Goumi, a nitrogen-fixing berry shrub ; soil improvement is the first few years, and berries after that!

Hope you enjoy your new garden as much as I am enjoying mine!
Cori

Laurie, I always save the rings, too.

You can order weck jars in the US, and I did so, because, resuale seals and cute jars.
They are OK for water bath canning and absolutely suck for pressure canning. Even using 4 clips as recommended when pressure canning, the seals extrude and then no seal is made. Secondly, once you break the seal, you only have a lid that sits on top the jar . So when your kid flings the fridge door open, the lid on the jelly jar goes flying across the kitchen . Unless you keep clips on it, which are kind of a pain.

Mason jars are way cheaper, seal more reliably under pressure, and are easy to obtain locally.

Incidentally, you can reuse the Mason jar lids by boiling them. Once it's hot, the red sealant will melt back into the edges of the lid. As long as you don't bend up the lid, you can get 3 or 4 uses out of it.


Cori

Hi, Glenn.
I suppose if we could get through the hardpan, it would drain away. But it takes a jackhammer or heavy equipment to get through it.

Initally, I had thought to put a pond lower than the house, with drains in the yard that would send water to the pond. But that puts the pond in our unfenced front yard in a neighborhood full of kids. However, if we can clear some more scrub, we might be able to squeeze one on the side of the house, which is also a lower elevation & will be fenced.

Hi, Drew. Photos added to post. We discussed french drain, but where it would have to drain is where all utilities come into the house, so a pond sited there isnt feasible.

Thanks,
Cori