We had a really huge bumble bee blundering against the panes of our bedroom
windows this morning. The day dawned sunny but has clouded over and it's
still pretty chilly. However, I did wonder if this poor chap had emerged
too soon or whether he's one of the weather prophets. I hope it's the
latter, because I don't see how we can get one more millilitre of rain onto
the land!
About a week ago or whenever we last had a sunny day, honey bees were very
busy on the Lonicera purpusii.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

Sacha wrote:

We had a really huge bumble bee blundering against the panes of our bedroom
windows this morning. The day dawned sunny but has clouded over and it's
still pretty chilly. However, I did wonder if this poor chap had emerged
too soon or whether he's one of the weather prophets. I hope it's the
latter, because I don't see how we can get one more millilitre of rain onto
the land!

delurk

If it was particularly large it was probably a queen, looking for a
likely nest site.

I hope she hasn't got out from under her duvet too soon, poor thing.

About a week ago or whenever we last had a sunny day, honey bees were very
busy on the Lonicera purpusii.

Haven't seen any bees around here yet (just south of Derby) but the
miniature daffodils are out in the back garden already and the cabbages
have germinated under cloches on my allotment.

--
Carol
"Never trust a man wearing leather shorts and a plastic dressing gown"
- Spray, "The Dangerous Sports Club"

Sacha wrote:

We had a really huge bumble bee blundering against the panes of our bedroom
windows this morning. The day dawned sunny but has clouded over and it's
still pretty chilly. However, I did wonder if this poor chap had emerged
too soon or whether he's one of the weather prophets.

Bumble bees can come out at any time of year on a sunny day in a
sheltered spot. They take the opportunity for a quick snack and go back
to sleep with no harm done. Unlike most of the poor frosted flower buds
of my Rhododendron.

I hope it's the latter, because I don't see how we can get one more
millilitre of rain onto the land!

I know I will be praying for rain before too long!

Regards,

Peter

On 24/2/07 17:24, in article , "Carol
Hague" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

We had a really huge bumble bee blundering against the panes of our bedroom
windows this morning. The day dawned sunny but has clouded over and it's
still pretty chilly. However, I did wonder if this poor chap had emerged
too soon or whether he's one of the weather prophets. I hope it's the
latter, because I don't see how we can get one more millilitre of rain onto
the land!

delurk

If it was particularly large it was probably a queen, looking for a
likely nest site.

That would do it. Yes, she was very large so I'm glad our bedroom window
had been shut just before her exploration! She was sort of holding onto
the window leads fluttering her wings.

I hope she hasn't got out from under her duvet too soon, poor thing.

That worries me, too. OTOH, if she has been up in the eaves of the house, I
hope she's gone back up there. We've had a day of intermittent rain and
very little watery sun though it hasn't been horribly cold, just a bit
dreary.

About a week ago or whenever we last had a sunny day, honey bees were very
busy on the Lonicera purpusii.

Haven't seen any bees around here yet (just south of Derby) but the
miniature daffodils are out in the back garden already and the cabbages
have germinated under cloches on my allotment.

Tète a tète aren't out yet though they're not far off but other varieties
are blazing away, the snowdrops are still going strong, plenty of Camellias
are in flower, so are Mahonias, Hellebores and a variety of other things
which seem to me to be overlapping each other much more than usual. The
Chaenomeles on the house wall is dripping with flowers.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

On 24/2/07 17:37, in article ,
"Peter Robinson" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

We had a really huge bumble bee blundering against the panes of our bedroom
windows this morning. The day dawned sunny but has clouded over and it's
still pretty chilly. However, I did wonder if this poor chap had emerged
too soon or whether he's one of the weather prophets.

Bumble bees can come out at any time of year on a sunny day in a
sheltered spot. They take the opportunity for a quick snack and go back
to sleep with no harm done. Unlike most of the poor frosted flower buds
of my Rhododendron.

I'm glad to hear that about the bee. I used to keep honey bees, so knew
they'd retreat back to their hives but wasn't too sure at all about bumbles.
Sorry about the Rhodie, though.

I hope it's the latter, because I don't see how we can get one more
millilitre of rain onto the land!

I know I will be praying for rain before too long!

Good grief, where are you?! The water is running off the fields and down
the sides of our lanes as if they were stream beds. And yesterday we drove
up to Dulverton which is Exmoor way and acres and acres of land are under
water.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

Sacha wrote:

On 24/2/07 17:24, in article , "Carol
Hague" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

We had a really huge bumble bee blundering against the panes of our bedroom
windows this morning.

snip
I hope she hasn't got out from under her duvet too soon, poor thing.

That worries me, too. OTOH, if she has been up in the eaves of the house, I
hope she's gone back up there.

Fingers crossed then :-) I like bumble bees.

We've had a day of intermittent rain and
very little watery sun though it hasn't been horribly cold, just a bit
dreary.

Similar here - but it was only the Thursday before last that we had a
fair bit of snow and on Wednesday morning there was thunder and
lightning so I'm not about to trust the weather much yet.

About a week ago or whenever we last had a sunny day, honey bees were very
busy on the Lonicera purpusii.

Haven't seen any bees around here yet (just south of Derby) but the
miniature daffodils are out in the back garden already and the cabbages
have germinated under cloches on my allotment.

Tète a tète aren't out yet though they're not far off but other varieties
are blazing away, the snowdrops are still going strong, plenty of Camellias
are in flower, so are Mahonias, Hellebores and a variety of other things
which seem to me to be overlapping each other much more than usual. The
Chaenomeles on the house wall is dripping with flowers.

Sounds lovely.

We haven't got an awful lot in the back garden yet - we've only been
here about a year and a half.

It's pretty small and a lot of it is taken up with a large pond housing
three goldfish that the previous owners left behind. Most of the rest is
paved, but we've built what amounts to a giant raised bed with a
three-brick high retaining wall at the from and two tons of topsoil in
it, which we had to carry through the house in buckets as there's no
rear access to the garden. That was fun.

There's a high brick wall at the back with tall trees behind (the area
behind the house is the village cricket club) so it's fairly shady.

Last month I was able to take over an allotment (complete with shed) and
am gleefully planning my fruit and veg growing thereon.

--
Carol
"Never trust a man wearing leather shorts and a plastic dressing gown"
- Spray, "The Dangerous Sports Club"

On 24/2/07 18:59, in article , "Carol
Hague" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

On 24/2/07 17:24, in article , "Carol
Hague" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

We had a really huge bumble bee blundering against the panes of our bedroom
windows this morning.

snip
I hope she hasn't got out from under her duvet too soon, poor thing.

That worries me, too. OTOH, if she has been up in the eaves of the house, I
hope she's gone back up there.

Fingers crossed then :-) I like bumble bees.

So do I. They just seem to go about their business without fussing about
anyone else. Honey bees can be tetchy and I think wasps are the bovver boys
of the insect world - nowadays that should probably be hoodies!


We've had a day of intermittent rain and
very little watery sun though it hasn't been horribly cold, just a bit
dreary.

Similar here - but it was only the Thursday before last that we had a
fair bit of snow and on Wednesday morning there was thunder and
lightning so I'm not about to trust the weather much yet.

Where are you, Carol? I'm sorry if I should remember but my memory on that
subject is awful which is why I put in the occasional plea for people to put
their general location into their sigfile!

About a week ago or whenever we last had a sunny day, honey bees were very
busy on the Lonicera purpusii.

Haven't seen any bees around here yet (just south of Derby) but the
miniature daffodils are out in the back garden already and the cabbages
have germinated under cloches on my allotment.

Tète a tète aren't out yet though they're not far off but other varieties
are blazing away, the snowdrops are still going strong, plenty of Camellias
are in flower, so are Mahonias, Hellebores and a variety of other things
which seem to me to be overlapping each other much more than usual. The
Chaenomeles on the house wall is dripping with flowers.

Sounds lovely.

Well, it's the balmy, if extremely wet, south west, so conditions are kind
on the whole. We don't live on Dartmoor, though we're close to it and it's
as if it attracts what bad weather there is cold and snow wise and we are
protected from it. We do get some horrible gales here from time to time and
there's always a bit of a hollow laugh when somebody says "of course, you're
so sheltered here"!

We haven't got an awful lot in the back garden yet - we've only been
here about a year and a half.

It's pretty small and a lot of it is taken up with a large pond housing
three goldfish that the previous owners left behind.

They sound a bit like me - my motto is that any garden problem can be solved
by digging a hole and filling it with water. Since Ray and I married 7
years ago we have two new, fairly large ponds to add to the much older one
established in the 50s by a previous owner. My excuse is that I miss being
near the sea, so this is a small way of compensating and in the gales we had
a few weeks ago we did actually have wavelets on two of the ponds!

Most of the rest is
paved, but we've built what amounts to a giant raised bed with a
three-brick high retaining wall at the from and two tons of topsoil in
it, which we had to carry through the house in buckets as there's no
rear access to the garden. That was fun.

Think of it as 'fit'!

There's a high brick wall at the back with tall trees behind (the area
behind the house is the village cricket club) so it's fairly shady.

Oh, that sounds a really lovely setting - very villagey and friendly - glad
it's a *high* brick wall, though. Will you make, perhaps, a fernery there
or won't it be damp enough?

Last month I was able to take over an allotment (complete with shed) and
am gleefully planning my fruit and veg growing thereon.

Glutton for punishment. ;-)

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

Sacha wrote:

On 24/2/07 18:59, in article , "Carol
Hague" wrote:

Fingers crossed then :-) I like bumble bees.

So do I. They just seem to go about their business without fussing about
anyone else. Honey bees can be tetchy and I think wasps are the bovver boys
of the insect world - nowadays that should probably be hoodies!

Yes - I've been stung once by a bee (when I was quite young) and twice
by wasps (the first time when I was sitting on a bus, minding me own
business!) but never by a bumble bee.


We've had a day of intermittent rain and
very little watery sun though it hasn't been horribly cold, just a bit
dreary.

Similar here - but it was only the Thursday before last that we had a
fair bit of snow and on Wednesday morning there was thunder and
lightning so I'm not about to trust the weather much yet.

Where are you, Carol? I'm sorry if I should remember but my memory on that
subject is awful which is why I put in the occasional plea for people to put
their general location into their sigfile!

Sorry - I'm in Melbourne, just south of Derby.

My newsreader (which I otherwise love to bits) can only cope with one
sig at a time, but I'll try to remember to alter it manually when I
post here - I may forget from time to time though, I have a memory like
a....wossname....use it to make small bits of earth for the garden......

Sounds lovely.

Well, it's the balmy, if extremely wet, south west, so conditions are kind
on the whole. We don't live on Dartmoor, though we're close to it and it's
as if it attracts what bad weather there is cold and snow wise and we are
protected from it. We do get some horrible gales here from time to time and
there's always a bit of a hollow laugh when somebody says "of course, you're
so sheltered here"!

grin We used to live in Bishops Lydeard in Somerset, which was lovely,
but when we had thunderstorms they'd go on for hours as they'd get
trapped between the three ranges of hills (Quantocks, Bredons and
Blackdowns).

We haven't got an awful lot in the back garden yet - we've only been
here about a year and a half.

It's pretty small and a lot of it is taken up with a large pond housing
three goldfish that the previous owners left behind.

They sound a bit like me - my motto is that any garden problem can be solved
by digging a hole and filling it with water.

They didn't quite manage that :-) It's a raised pond built of old
railway sleepers and lined with butyl. Quite sturdy though.

Since Ray and I married 7
years ago we have two new, fairly large ponds to add to the much older one
established in the 50s by a previous owner. My excuse is that I miss being
near the sea, so this is a small way of compensating and in the gales we had
a few weeks ago we did actually have wavelets on two of the ponds!

I like ponds, but this one takes up a disproportionate amount of the
garden. It's staying though, cos I'm a total softy and couldn't bear to
evict the fish and their umpty dozen water snail pals.

Most of the rest is
paved, but we've built what amounts to a giant raised bed with a
three-brick high retaining wall at the from and two tons of topsoil in
it, which we had to carry through the house in buckets as there's no
rear access to the garden. That was fun.

Think of it as 'fit'!

:-)


There's a high brick wall at the back with tall trees behind (the area
behind the house is the village cricket club) so it's fairly shady.

Oh, that sounds a really lovely setting - very villagey and friendly - glad
it's a *high* brick wall, though. Will you make, perhaps, a fernery there
or won't it be damp enough?

I imagine the trees are there to protect from stray cricket nballs as
much as for pretty. Not had any landing in the pond yet though.

Last winter we sat in the lounge and watched the squirrels jumping about
in the trees, but they've been hiding so far this year.

Still not sure what to plant yet. There's a fair bit of mature ivy
coming over the wall, which I don't want to disturb as it's good insect
hiding territory. I need to unearth my gardening books from the spare
room and look up what plants will like the shde :-)


Last month I was able to take over an allotment (complete with shed) and
am gleefully planning my fruit and veg growing thereon.

Glutton for punishment. ;-)

Glutton for sweetcorn :-) And runner beans. And other things there's no
room to grow in my teeny garden :-)

I thought I was very lucky to get the allotment right away though - I
understand many places have quite long waiting lists.....
--
Carol (near Derby)
"Never trust a man wearing leather shorts and a plastic dressing gown"
- Spray, "The Dangerous Sports Club"

"Carol Hague" wrote
snip
Last winter we sat in the lounge and watched the squirrels jumping
about in the trees, but they've been hiding so far this year.

Still not sure what to plant yet. There's a fair bit of mature ivy
coming over the wall, which I don't want to disturb as it's good
insect hiding territory.

You may also get wrens roosting and nesting in the ivy; they seem to
love a good old tangle of mature ivy as a nesting site.

I need to unearth my gardening books from the spare room and look up
what plants will like the shde :-)

Ooh, hellebores. Definitely. Did anyone see CK on Gardeners' World last
night?

I have argutifolius and foetidus and a smokey plum coloured one with no
name, which are all doing well, but I covet that lovely lemon yellow one
she was planting.

Last month I was able to take over an allotment (complete with
shed) and am gleefully planning my fruit and veg growing thereon.

Happy allotmenteering.

--
Sue

On 24/2/07 21:35, in article , "Carol
Hague" wrote:

Sacha wrote:

On 24/2/07 18:59, in article , "Carol
Hague" wrote:

Fingers crossed then :-) I like bumble bees.

So do I. They just seem to go about their business without fussing about
anyone else. Honey bees can be tetchy and I think wasps are the bovver boys
of the insect world - nowadays that should probably be hoodies!

Yes - I've been stung once by a bee (when I was quite young) and twice
by wasps (the first time when I was sitting on a bus, minding me own
business!) but never by a bumble bee.

My own honey bees attacked me when someone else was manipulating the hive
and I wasn't wearing the proper gear. I received so many stings that from
being a bit resistant to them I've gone to 'don't get stung - ever'. But
while I do avoid weeding certain flower borders when the bees are really
busy, on the whole I find the old thing of 'leave them alone and they'll
leave you alone' does work with them.

snip

Where are you, Carol? I'm sorry if I should remember but my memory on that
subject is awful which is why I put in the occasional plea for people to put
their general location into their sigfile!

Sorry - I'm in Melbourne, just south of Derby.

My newsreader (which I otherwise love to bits) can only cope with one
sig at a time, but I'll try to remember to alter it manually when I
post here - I may forget from time to time though, I have a memory like
a....wossname....use it to make small bits of earth for the garden......

My memory comes from the same stock, obviously! It does help to know where
people are when it comes to swapping gardening experiences. Friends of ours
have just moved to Matlock where his mother came from originally. Now you
mention that wossname that made small bits of earth for the garden, I
remember my grandfather had one of those. What were they FOR, I now ask
myself? To grade soil? To add compost and soil together? And do you
*ever* see anyone use one now? No, IME. I'm assuming that back in those
days before proprietary compost, they were used to make ordinary garden soil
very fine for the growing of seeds and seedlings.

Sounds lovely.
snip
grin We used to live in Bishops Lydeard in Somerset, which was lovely,
but when we had thunderstorms they'd go on for hours as they'd get
trapped between the three ranges of hills (Quantocks, Bredons and
Blackdowns).

Practically an ex-neighbour, then!

We haven't got an awful lot in the back garden yet - we've only been
here about a year and a half.

It's pretty small and a lot of it is taken up with a large pond housing
three goldfish that the previous owners left behind.

They sound a bit like me - my motto is that any garden problem can be solved
by digging a hole and filling it with water.

They didn't quite manage that :-) It's a raised pond built of old
railway sleepers and lined with butyl. Quite sturdy though.
snip
I like ponds, but this one takes up a disproportionate amount of the
garden. It's staying though, cos I'm a total softy and couldn't bear to
evict the fish and their umpty dozen water snail pals.

Could you/would you alter the size of the pond, though?

snip
There's a high brick wall at the back with tall trees behind (the area
behind the house is the village cricket club) so it's fairly shady.

Oh, that sounds a really lovely setting - very villagey and friendly - glad
it's a *high* brick wall, though. Will you make, perhaps, a fernery there
or won't it be damp enough?

I imagine the trees are there to protect from stray cricket nballs as
much as for pretty. Not had any landing in the pond yet though.

I think those trees are a good idea! Last time I watched a cricket match
the ball landed, very hard, on the bonnet of someone's rather expensive car.
Not a popular shot....

Last winter we sat in the lounge and watched the squirrels jumping about
in the trees, but they've been hiding so far this year.

Still not sure what to plant yet. There's a fair bit of mature ivy
coming over the wall, which I don't want to disturb as it's good insect
hiding territory. I need to unearth my gardening books from the spare
room and look up what plants will like the shde :-)

People often want to get rid of ivy but we have lots of its around this
house and garden and birds and insects really do benefit from it.


Last month I was able to take over an allotment (complete with shed) and
am gleefully planning my fruit and veg growing thereon.

Glutton for punishment. ;-)

Glutton for sweetcorn :-) And runner beans. And other things there's no
room to grow in my teeny garden :-)

I thought I was very lucky to get the allotment right away though - I
understand many places have quite long waiting lists.....

And, from reading allotment holders here, they are disappearing fast, too,
in some areas?

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

On 24/2/07 22:54, in article
, "Sue"
wrote:


"Carol Hague" wrote
snip
Last winter we sat in the lounge and watched the squirrels jumping
about in the trees, but they've been hiding so far this year.

Still not sure what to plant yet. There's a fair bit of mature ivy
coming over the wall, which I don't want to disturb as it's good
insect hiding territory.

You may also get wrens roosting and nesting in the ivy; they seem to
love a good old tangle of mature ivy as a nesting site.

I need to unearth my gardening books from the spare room and look up
what plants will like the shde :-)

Ooh, hellebores. Definitely. Did anyone see CK on Gardeners' World last
night?

Yes and weren't they mouth watering? I just wish they weren't so
promiscuous!
snip
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

"Sacha" wrote:
snip
My own honey bees attacked me when someone else was manipulating the hive
and I wasn't wearing the proper gear. I received so many stings that from
being a bit resistant to them I've gone to 'don't get stung - ever'.
-----
I well remember a rambling holiday when I was viciously attacked by honey
bees. A bee keeping member of the group told me that bees can't stand the
colour blue, I was wearing a blue, short sleeved shirt at the time. He said
that no experienced apiarist would ever dream of wearing anything blue, the
very sight turns them into flying furies. The same applies to wasps. You
have been warned!

MikeCT

"MikeCT" wrote:
snip ... that no experienced apiarist would ever dream of wearing anything
blue, the very sight turns them into flying furies. The same applies to
wasps.
---
And honey bees. Smacked wrist! Next time I'll re-re-read any posting I
send.

MikeCT

On 25/2/07 10:23, in article ,
"MikeCT" wrote:


"MikeCT" wrote:
snip ... that no experienced apiarist would ever dream of wearing anything
blue, the very sight turns them into flying furies. The same applies to
wasps.
---
And honey bees. Smacked wrist! Next time I'll re-re-read any posting I
send.

I was taught that about blue, too. But in my case, the honey had been
extracted a couple of weeks before and the Apisan (sp?)strips were being put
in, so they were in a bad temper anyway! One got into my hair and instead
of doing the sensible thing and swatting it, I tried to extract it and got
stung. That immediately sent the battle pheromones to the colony and they
were after me, literally chasing me down the garden and into the house. My
son quick-wittedly shoved me into the shower, fully dressed but by then I'd
had several stings, mostly around my head and face and next day I looked as
if I'd gone 6 rounds with Mike Tyson. I could open one eye the merest
fraction only and even after treatment, it was three days before I dared
leave the house!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

Sacha wrote:

Sorry about the Rhodie, though.

It's still got a few flower buds, so there will be some at the proper
time, but at least two thirds were too eager and got frosted off.

I hope it's the latter, because I don't see how we can get one more
millilitre of rain onto the land!

I know I will be praying for rain before too long!

Good grief, where are you?! The water is running off the fields and down
the sides of our lanes as if they were stream beds. And yesterday we drove
up to Dulverton which is Exmoor way and acres and acres of land are under
water.

Sounds pretty dramatic! There's plenty of wetness around here (Herts)
too this weekend and half my back lawn has decided it would rather be a
pond for a few days. But it is the first time since January that it's
stopped me getting out at the weekend, so I can't complain too much. I
was thinking of May rather than next week when I said 'too long'.

Peter