Thread: In the Garden 2016

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Anyone put in any thought into or maybe even using a BTE or modified BTE system

Has it worked for you ???

I watched the vids & read the articles out there and it seems to almost too easy


Thoughts Ideas Negatives ?????

I couldn't get the video to load well so only watched a few minutes but when I was younger we had a sawmill. I was warned about putting to many wood chips/sawdust on the ground to grow things in because as it rotted it took the nitrogen out of the soil. Does this get addressed in the video?

Last weekend and next I am helping a friend boil maple sap into syrup. He built a sugar shack with his neighbor last summer. Lots of fun learning the idiosyncrasies of his new stove. Based on watching the "old" guys of our youth and his experience with building manholes for a living. Maybe these trees aren't a traditional garden but

Back to the traditional garden I have the tobacco plants ordered and have to get off my rear to find some broom corn seed. I have to figure out where to grow enough on my small lot to make a broom! My son who tried gardening in the back corner of my lot wants to give it a go again this year. He didn't listen to me last year but I hope he does at least a little this year after the failures of last. Not that I know everything but I decided to offer what I know and let him fail. If I donate a small patch of my yard for him to dig up and he learns a lesson that is a small price to pay. My apple trees are getting bigger and this is the second year the rabbits didn't kill one. My cactus look terrible but then they always have this time of year.

As you can tell I don't rely on my garden for survival!

I forgot to add that I am going to try raising bees again this year after doing so in my youth. I wish that I could have a hive in town for my garden between the rules and my wife and the neighbor being allergic to them it is not an option. I will put them on my camping land and hope the can pollinate the neighbors gardens there!

I live in a neighborhood too , so not going to happen but my daughter lives in the country and has all the honey we could want, but if I could I would too, Tc

I never thought the BeeKeeping would happen up here with the wife

But we were at Big R the other day and as I walked out the door I found her looking at the Bee Kits in the entryway, reading the whole thing..
I didn't want to get to pushy so I just looked mildly interested hehehe

The first garden I put in years ago at my first place here in the city of Walla Walla had plenty of pollination as the neighbor had a colony living in an old unused chimney.

Every once in awhile the main colony would put out a swarm that would gather on nearby shrubs. We'd just call a local bee keeper and he'd come and collect them.

There's a colony somewhere near the Boars Nest as once things start to bloom they are busy as bees.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I never thought the BeeKeeping would happen up here with the wife

But we were at Big R the other day and as I walked out the door I found her looking at the Bee Kits in the entryway, reading the whole thing..
I didn't want to get to pushy so I just looked mildly interested hehehe

When my daughter started doing this she was concerned but their pretty tame, she doesn't wear any protection except the hood most times , now if she's allergic it might be a concern and always have an epi pen around, it's a little bit of work but not bad,mand the payoff is super sweet!!! Tc

I read there is a problem with the bees these days. As we know they are a must have. Doing our part for bee friendly home and garden. I have a bird bath that the bees dominate in the summer. Their numbers have been increasing the last three years. Hope that's a good sign. There were like 100 at a time all day last year. On watching them I see four main corridors (almost on compass) they come and go on. Got a couple Mason Bee houses and butterfly houses (teardrop shape on fence) around the garden that should be seasoned for occupancy this year.

There's been a lot of talk about bees up here. Everybody is recommending planting flowering plants that flower at different stages in the warm months. This way the bees have food for longer than a few weeks.