growLively

Surprise!! I'm a new mom again!

Soooo...I got a call from the post office this morning that I had baby chicks waiting for me. WHAT??? This was a back order from 6 months ago that I'd cancelled a while back. For whatever reason, they shipped the chicks anyway. Yikes!! Well, what do you do...you can't ship them back...So, I ran back at lunch to pick them up and then set up a new brooder for them right quick.

 

I'll be raising these three little babies for a while. Two are Polish hens and I'm not sure what the other one is just yet (Just figured out it's probably a Cochin, either blue or black...which I MUST have! lol). I really only have room for one more chicken...two more would be pushing it. But, it's going to be really hard not to get attached to these little munchkins. So, I may have a couple of specialty breeds that will need a new home in a bit...I'll keep you posted!

Update on the Beehives...

It's been a tough spring/summer for growing beehives. We had a stint of unseasonably cool weather and rain in May, followed by an unseasonably HOT dry June. Thus, I have mixed rates of development among my four hives. Between the two I have in my home garden and the two I have up at the garden center, I have two hives that seem very close to right on schedule in terms of honey storage, and two that are very behind. In fact, it appears that I may only be able to harvest this year off the two more advanced hives. Generally, you should only harvest a full honey super. If your hive has only one super on it come harvest time (here it's early to mid-July) then you are best to leave that honey for your growing hive. Do to the almost complete lack of honey in the hive that is behind, and the fact that it isn't an issue with the queen at this point (the hive is queen-right) I've decided to go ahead and start feeding that hive again, something you would normall not do at this stage of honey production.

I had to re-queen two of the hives this spring. Interestingly enough, the one hive that is behind at my house, is one that had to be re-queened in the middle of spring. But the hive that is on schedule up at the garden center is one that I re-queened about a month ago. It's just goes to show how detrimental re-queening can be when it's done right in the middle of spring brood production.

That said, the two hives that are on schedule have done a bang up job and their supers are loaded with honey. It's amazing how heavy one super full of honey can be! We will most likely try to harvest next week or shortly thereafter. Can't wait!

Rose 'Easy Does It'

I have a ton of summer plant photos to share...just haven't had time to get anything posted! I'll try to get a few up in the next couple of days. Here is a shot of one of my 'Easy Does It' roses. This Floribunda is doing great and flowering right along even in 103F degree weather. I've been very impressed with it's performance.

The heat definitely impacts flower size and color for most plants, so you can expect the flowers on this rose to be much larger and more vibrant in the spring and fall. But considering the temps right now, the flowers are stil attractive. The bees have been enjoying them this morning...