chillardbee
Well-Known Member
This year I will not be growing in my yard. I may however use some edges as a 'flower bed' for growing some oriental varieties like izmir, bursa, and prelip. I'm hoping to talk to some friends of mine who had recently cut down their entire hazel nut orchard due to the eastern filbert blight (not one orchard escaped the scourge in our valley). our friends are wanting to plant a garden and I help them where I can but I'm hoping they will rent me a 50' x 50' area (which is twice the size of my regular grow area) so I can grow a good size crop this year. I'm not sure how it's going to pan out but we'll see.
Going into this year, We just recently had our cat of 20 years put down, it was a sad and tough time for us but she was old and had tumors and heart murmurs, I'll miss that kitten.
On the bee front we are at over 200+ colonies. After my preliminary check, we've lost 8% which ain't bad considering the sickness I had last fall with giardia. I'm keeping it rather simple this year and selling 600 nucs to one fella so I have time to set up my queen rearing part of our operation and breeding program. we also have the Olympics coming up in the next few weeks and Fifa world cup this summer. All this also so I can have time to be in my tobacco patch too. the most time consuming part though is at the end of the year when harvesting, so i'll try to have everything else pretty much accomplished by then.
I have given thought to the varieties this year. I believe I would like to grow a 50/50 mix this year half fluecured varieties and the other half burley (on top of the orientals I'll grow at home). I haven't given much thought yet to the types of each but just off the top of my head i'd say Del gold, African red, white mammoth, and VBL. For burleys I'm certian to grow anly two types, YTB and Barnette special. I will probably do a row or two of some marylands too because they are a fantastic producer.
Anyway, lets hope for a better grow year this year and may our crops reach bumper crop proportions.
Going into this year, We just recently had our cat of 20 years put down, it was a sad and tough time for us but she was old and had tumors and heart murmurs, I'll miss that kitten.
On the bee front we are at over 200+ colonies. After my preliminary check, we've lost 8% which ain't bad considering the sickness I had last fall with giardia. I'm keeping it rather simple this year and selling 600 nucs to one fella so I have time to set up my queen rearing part of our operation and breeding program. we also have the Olympics coming up in the next few weeks and Fifa world cup this summer. All this also so I can have time to be in my tobacco patch too. the most time consuming part though is at the end of the year when harvesting, so i'll try to have everything else pretty much accomplished by then.
I have given thought to the varieties this year. I believe I would like to grow a 50/50 mix this year half fluecured varieties and the other half burley (on top of the orientals I'll grow at home). I haven't given much thought yet to the types of each but just off the top of my head i'd say Del gold, African red, white mammoth, and VBL. For burleys I'm certian to grow anly two types, YTB and Barnette special. I will probably do a row or two of some marylands too because they are a fantastic producer.
Anyway, lets hope for a better grow year this year and may our crops reach bumper crop proportions.