Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 18, May 4, 2012

Friday, May 4, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[Petruchio]

We have had 3 inches of rain in the last 5 days. Today was the first partly sunny day. I went out & spread the compost. The raised beds are still too wet to till, I want to mix the soil - not make mud bricks.

Maybe tomorrow.

[tillacum]

Is that a queen the bees are covering? Are they eliminating the weaker queens? Are they thinking of swarming with a queen?

[tillacum]

That is great news...no grasshoppers?

[ApplegateRanch]

We’ll see; at least the predators are coming in time to feast on the early hatchings.

[tillacum]

There are some things eating my plants, especially those plants in pots..I’ve sprayed with pepper and garlic, so now I’m going to just put pepper all over the soil.

[wm25burke]

>>Is that a queen the bees are covering?

I do beelieve so.

>>Are they eliminating the weaker queens?

Yep. I saw at least one stung queen ejected from the hive.

>>Are they thinking of swarming with a queen?

Well, the bees I acquired were from a fellow who removes swarms. Evidently this was a secondary swarm that contained multiple queens and they were still in the process of fighting for dominance.

Things have settled down and the hive is happy and busy now. Haven't inspected the brood chamber yet, but this peek at the ladies building out the comb in the honey supper is a good sign.

[tdscpa]

I used a Gamo pellet gun for years on bunnies, but last year it wore out to the point that it would not maintain aiming precision. Also, it was not a constant solution. (Only effective while I was out there to use it.)

I bought a “sonic, or electronic” pest control device that repels animal pests, called “Bird-X Yard Guard”.

It has repelled the bunnies that previously mowed down my newly sprouted corn seedlings, and the birds that pulled up my newly planted onion plants.

It is still working this year, but I am not convinced it has a long useful life. It can also be very annoying to you or pets, though I thought it was supposed to be inaudible to humans. Sometimes I hear it, sometimes I don't. When I hear it, I unplug it while I am in the garden.