Finally some produce!

Now I know I have a reader - posts for Suzi!
So, have been locked out of my allotment for the past 3 weeks so haven't been able to check anything.  Finally got a new key today and popped in to discover a bountiful harvest of tomatoes. Got some peppers from my brother and a couple of "supermarket" standard heads of broccoli - very pleased. Add to that some refined beeswax, small tub of honey and some eggs and I must admit I'm feeling rather pleased with my efforts :)

The honey and beeswax came from some wild comb my bees constructed in their hive in some space next to a feeder. Inconvenient but a lovely little unexpected treat. 

Bee update

We've had our bees now for just I've four weeks. They seem to have settled well and numbers are increasing well. They were a bit jumpy (literally jumping from the hive onto me) during a hive inspection the other week. I discovered that they had been raided by a couple of stupid bumble bees - they were being killed on the bottom of a couple of frames, so I guess they were feeling a bit more defensive than normal. Otherwise they have proved to be very docile bees, we haven't noticed any extra in the garden - which is good, I didn't want a garden full of bees!!

So now we just have to hope they find enough forage to make honey to see them through the winter, and we have to patiently wait until next year for our share!

Here are some workers on a frame of foundation, with their nasonov glands exposed, fanning any strays home! 

Finally ..... SPRING!

Well finally it seems that spring has sprung in lovely Oxfordshire.  The ground is warming up, the trees are finally getting some leaves and the cherry trees are nearly finished blossoming.
My chickens are very happy with this improvement in the weather; still have one not laying (and don't have the time to study them to work out which one it is...), but they are pottering around the garden all day, enjoying the new freedom of complete free-ranging. Bingo continues her fierce hunting, and was seen with a mouse in her beak last week, while Ginny has taken an alternative approach to finding food, and is harassing the blackbirds that visit the garden every time they get a worm out of the ground.  She has discovered that if chased around enough, they will drop the worm - I do feel sorry for the blackbirds though as I'm sure they have young to feed.
My allotment, although slightly unkempt looking, is perking up too.  Leeks planted out last autumn are finally starting to look more like leeks and less like blades of grass, and the gooseberry bush has flowered and has tiny gooseberries on - can't wait for them to be ready.  I've planted a good deal of brassicas and leeks in my polytunnel to bring them on out of harms way of slugs and pigeons, and have started to rotivate the outside beds.
Yesterday I had my first beekeeping practical lesson with the Oxfordshire Beekeepers Association www.oxfordshirebeekeepers.com.  A group of us visited their teaching apiary, donned beekeeping suits, feeling like astronauts and got to inspect some hives, pulling out the frames and identifying what we could see. We then learnt the art of smoker lighting, and putting together frames.  It was really interesting and I can't wait now until my bees arrive for my hive at home, all of whom will be called Derek!