Fence from scrap wood installed

I finally got the side of the shed waterproofed so that I could install the trellis I made.  The trellis is made from strapping lumber and then painted. I made a little raised bed with that box that's at the foot of the trellis.  I will grow Hyacinth Bean vine there this year. 

The little fence is made from scrap wood I had left over from other projects.  I decided to keep the uneven top.  It's purpose is to hide the compost bin behind the shed.

Spring projects list

There are plenty of other projects I'm working on. I find I have a lot of energy in the spring with lots of ideas pent up from my winter musings.  Here is this year's list.  We'll see how many I end up completing.

1.  I move the compost bin  behind the shed so it's not an eyesore when you drive into the driveway - this is completed already. One down!

2. I am building a short fence to hide from view the compost bin..  I had seen on a TV project where someone used up old boards that were kicking around and made a fence out of them and I loved that idea so that's what I am currently building. You can see it in progress below.  On the TV show, they rounded the top.  I am not sure that I will. I sort of like the straight line right now, but will decide once it's in place. Cost is $0.00.

Fence in progress. Will show again when installed.

3.  I will be expanding my patio this spring so that I can add a lounge chair out there.  It's small so if I try adding the lounge chair to the existing size, it will just be too crowded.  I have wood chips left from last year so will use them with the landscape fabric.

4.  Build a fire pit out next to the patio.  I'm still trying to figure out the best place for this.  Not sure I'll get to it this year or not.  But it's on the list.  I also am considering just buying one with a cover.  Not sure yet.  There's a lot of stone in the area so a stone one would be nice too.

5.  I'm trying to clear out the invasive Japanese Barberry from the area along the driveway.  If I can get that cleared, I will cover it with a tarp and let everything die in there this year.  Then next year, I will plant it with native plants and perennials.

6.  Add a trellis I built to the side of the wood shed and will plant Moon Flowers and Hyacinth Bean Vines to grow up there, for this season.  At the same time, I may pick up a Clematis fine so that over time, the Clematis will take over the space in the summer.. Any choice I make will change the view from just a solid wood to a white trellis with climbing plants and flowers.  And the piece of fence will also give it some interest and that will attach to the back left side of the shed and hide the compost bin.

Did I remove insulation too soon?

April 15, 2013,

A week or so ago, I removed the plywood from the top of the hives and also removed the roofing paper from around it.  Then I removed the piece of insulation under the hive cover.  Then we had some cold nights so I'm worried that I removed things too early.  Later today should be over 60 degrees so I hope to see bees flying around.  If I don't...it will be very sad.

Note: Two days later, I'm reporting that the bees are just fine.  The last few days, as predicted, were warm, so the bees were flying all around.  Now we need something to bloom so they can eat.  Soon.

I also checked to see when I should start a new Nuc to replace the one I had started in the fall.  I am told I should wait for dandelions to be flowering and then start the new Nuc.  So that's my plan.

Once the Nuc gets established and they have made a new queen, I will move them into their new hive.  I am trying a color this time. Some people say to keep the hive white. One beekeeper I know who was very successful had black hives. So we'll see if my bees are happy in a blue hive.

Year two: The fence is up to protect beehives from bear

It's April 2, 2013.  It's my second year at beekeeping.  The large hive made it through the winter although the number of bees has lessened.  I scraped out a lot of dead bees from the bottom of the hive last week, but I'm told that's to be expected.  I'm just glad they overwintered at all.

If you recall earlier posts, here's how I winterized the hives:

• surrounded my hives with bales of hay. 
• wrapped roofing paper around hives for insulation leaving about 6 inch gap between hive and hay
• added a piece of 1 inch insulation to the top of the hive, under the top cover 
• Topped it all with a piece of plywood
• Lastly, added rocks and bricks to top of plywood, as added precaution

2012-2013 winterized beehives before adding the plywood which covered half of the bales of hay and all of the hive, for further protection

The small hive, the Nuc, didn't winter over at all.  I've seen no life there for months.  I think the hive was too small.  I had added two frames to the Nuc in the fall and hoped to build a new hive to start off the spring.  But that isn't going to happen.

New hive plan

Since I can't start off with my Nuc, as I had hoped, my plan is to take some bees out of my existing hive and do exactly what I did before....if there are enough bees to take from the existing hive.  If not, I'll wait until the hive is large enough to take some of the bees for the new hive...hopefully later this spring. 

Then I'll take a few frames, add them to the Nuc, and move the nuc to somewhere about 5 miles away for two weeks.  By then, they should have made a new queen and then I'll have a new hive, ready to go. 

I'll then bring the nuc back home.  At that point, I'd like to move them into a new hive I have bought and painted for them (photo to come).  I want to get them into the new hive and let the colony expand well before winter so that they'll survive it.