Growing Great Crafter's Gourds

By Lindsay del Carlo, Trial Garden Manager

Growing Crafter’s Gourds is both easy and rewarding if you follow some simple guidelines. Gourds need full sun and fertile soil, hot weather and a long growing season to reach full maturity. They are vining plants that look great twining up structures or strongly supported fences and arbors to hold their vigorous leafy vines.

You can also allow the vines to ramble along the ground given enough space. Once harvested, gourds are easy to cure and dry and fun to use for a variety of crafts, making into birdhouses or traditional drinking vessels. They can be left unfinished, painted, or stained different colors.

Organic fertilizers (L-R):
Liquid kelp, Sustane granular,
earthworm castings, fish emulsion

Soil Prep and Fertilizer Needs
Good soil amendment is essential for these large, heavy-feeding plants.  Prepare the soil with plenty of compost (to help retain moisture, add nutrients and improve soil condition for better growth) and a good granular organic fertilizer.

In the Renee’s Garden trial garden, we like to use a slow release, organic granular fertilizer called Sustane, which has an N-P-K of 4-6-4. This will give the large gourd plants plenty of nitrogen (N) for healthy vegetative growth, and enough Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) for growing healthy roots and setting fruit. There are many good certified organic fertilizers on the market with a similar N-P-K ratio.

We also add earthworm castings which contain essential nutrients for healthy growth. (Earthworm castings are the end product of worms digesting organic material.)

We also recommend supplemental feeding for gourds every 2 weeks with liquid fish emulsion and kelp at a rate of 2 tablespoons of each per gallon of water. Liquid fertilizer will work quickly to give plants a boost while the granular fertilizer breaks down over time and becomes available for the plants.

The Crafter’s Gourd seeds in the Renee’s Garden packets are color coded with food grade colors to mark which variety they are. Pink seeds are Birdhouse Gourds, undyed seeds are Dipper Gourds, and green seeds are Corsican Gourds. Before planting, separate the varieties so that you can keep track of each one and eliminate the chance of thinning out all of one variety.

Seeds are color-coded to easily differentiate varieties

Sowing and Growing the Seeds
In hot summer areas with a long growing season:
Where summers are long and hot, you can easily start your gourd seeds directly in the garden in full sun once night temperatures in spring stay comfortably above 50ºF (10ºC). Sow the seeds 1 inch deep in a group of 2-3 seeds, with each group spaced at least 12 inches apart and 4 inches away from the base of your vertical supports, fence or arbor.

Sow groups of 2-3 seeds of each variety
1 inch deep, space groups 12 inches apart

Place berry baskets over each
group of seeds to protect from birds

Plastic berry baskets work great to protect germinating seedlings from birds, and also to mark the space where they are planted. Place a basket over the seeds once they are planted.

Once the seeds germinate and they are large enough to handle, remove the strawberry baskets and carefully thin the group of seedlings, leaving just 1 strong seedling to grow to maturity. It’s really important to thin the plants to the one best seedling, because you want to give your gourd plant plenty of room to grow a large root system and ramble without any competition for sun and nutrients.

Remove basket and thin to strongest seedling

Starting Early Indoors in Areas with a Short Growing Season
If you want to get a head start on the growing season, you can start gourd seeds indoors several weeks before the last expected spring frost. Sow 1 seed 1 inch deep per individual 3-4 inch container, and keep them evenly moist while they germinate.

Sow seeds in 3-4" pots several weeks before
last spring frost. Sow 1 seed per pot 1" deep

Once gourds have a few sets of true leaves, and the roots have fully established in the container, and all danger of frost is past, they should be acclimated to outside conditions, then they can be transplanted out in their permanent location in a warm, sunny location. Space each plant 12 inches apart if you are planting in rows on a vertical structure. If you are planning in a hill, allow 3-4 plants per hill, spaced 12 inches apart in a triangle or a square.

After acclimating to outdoors, transplant seedlings 12" apart
in rows to grow vertically, or in hills to ramble along the ground

Training Your Young Gourd Vines to Climb Up
Gourd plants ramble out many feet over the growing season, and you can easily train these luxuriant vines to grow vertically, but they need substantial supports. A wire fence or a sturdy metal or wooden trellis or arbor works well; the vines can also be used to cover unsightly structures.

Gourds trained on a wire fence. Plants are spaced
12" apart along the fence line.

Initially as plants start to stretch and grow, they will need a little initial training to get them to grow onto the support. After that, their tendrils will do the rest of the work. Keep an eye on them throughout the season for any additional training they might need.

Gourds need initial training to grow onto supports

Gourds are very attractive growing on garden
arbors. They can also be used to cover structures.

Gourds growing on a metal arbor

Growing Your Gourd Vines to Ramble on the Ground

Groups of 2-3 seedlings are sown
1" deep & 12" apart in a hill.

If you have a lot of garden space and want to let the plants ramble on the ground, try growing them in hills. To prepare the hills, put down a few large buckets of compost and a generous helping of organic fertilizer and a few cups of worm castings, and mix it thoroughly with the existing soil. Then heap it up into a nice big pile and flatten the top so that it is about 8-10 inches tall and 2-3 ft wide.

Each hill should be about 6-8 feet apart to provide ample space. Plant a group of 2 or 3 seeds of each variety 1 inch deep, with each

Once large enough to handle,
thin to 1 strong seedling per group,
leaving 3-4 plants in each hill

group spaced 12 inches apart a triangle or a square, and place a strawberry basket over the seeds.

Once the seeds germinate and they are large enough to handle, remove the basket and thin the group of seedlings to just 1 strong seedling, leaving 3-4 plants per hill. Hill planting allows the roots to spread out and gather more nutrients. To encourage vigorous feed every 2 weeks with liquid kelp and fish emulsion. When the gourds form, you may want to elevate onto a plastic flat a piece of wood to avoid damage from soil dwelling critters that may create holes in the gourds causing them to rot.


Harvesting Your Gourds
Begin to harvest your gourds when the stems and tendrils start to dry out and turn brown and the gourd rinds are tough. Cut each gourd with several inches of stem intact. Be sure to harvest your mature gourds before a hard frost to avoid damage. If you have any immature gourds left on the vines, they are best composted, because they cannot be cured and will only decay in storage.

Harvest gourds when the stem and tendrils
start to turn brown and the rind is tough,
leaving a few inches of stem intact.

Curing Gourds For Practical and Decorative Uses
To cure gourds, put them in a cool, well-ventilated area, elevated to allow good air circulation from all sides. As they dry, mold will form on gourd exteriors in the form of dark-colored dusty splotches. Don't let this concern you; gourds are about 90% water, so it is normal for natural mold to appear on their surfaces as they dry from the inside. You can easily brush or wash off the mold when the courts are completely dried and ready to use. It will actually make a pretty pattern on the gourd rinds.

Gourds are dry and ready to use for crafts when they
are lightweight and the seeds rattle inside. Note the
pretty mottled patterns that result from the drying process.

During the drying process, which can take 3 to 6 months depending on your climate, your gourds should remain completely hard, and any that begin to soften should be discarded. When gourds are very light weight, sound and feel hollow and their dried seeds rattle inside, they are completely dried up and ready to wipe off and use. Gourds are useful for many crafts; let your imagination be your guide in decorating and painting them.

Painted in bright colors these large Crafter's Gourds
make a handsome garden display

Beth’s Guide for Growing the Cucurbit Family: Cucumbers, Summer & Winter Squashes, Pumpkins, Melons & Gourds

We get many questions from gardeners about members of the cucurbit family, so our expert Garden Advisor, Beth Benjamin, has summarized her advice for successfully growing these mainstay garden vegetables. I am very pleased to add Beth’s knowledgeable and experienced voice to our blog.

Seedlings growing under a berry basket

Gourd seedlings sown 3 weeks before last frost

Ornamental Gourds

Planting: When you plant is important: all members of the cucurbit family simply won’t grow happily in the garden until the nights are staying at least 50ºF (10°C). Wait until then to start seeds in the garden to get successful germination and good growth.

When planting cucurbit seeds directly outdoors, it’s wise to cover them with netting or plastic berry baskets to keep birds or other critters from eating the seeds before you even see them.
If your growing season is very short or you have problems starting seeds outdoors (or if you are just eager) you can start cucumbers and squashes in individual pots and transplant them when it’s warm enough. They are fast growing seedlings, though, and will suffer if they get too crowded, so don’t sow them any earlier than 3 weeks before you expect to transplant them outside. (Remember that if they are grown too long in the pots, they’ll be so slow to recover from the move that you won’t have saved any time.)

Note: Unless you have a very long growing season, gourds do need to be started ahead as the fruit takes a very long time to mature. Most climates get cold weather too soon to allow enough time if the gourd seeds are sown directly.

Be careful when you are transplanting cucurbit seedlings. Don’t leave them in the containers too long to become root bound and stunted. The soil should be moist (but not soggy) in both the pots the seedlings are coming out of AND the ground they are going into. That way the roots will loosen up and lower nicely into the hole. Take care not to damage the roots, and plant them at the end of the day when they can rest after transplanting in the cool of the evening.

Seedlings growing in a mound

Planting in Depressions or Mounds: Enrich the soil in a 3 foot diameter planting circle which can either be raised up or depressed, depending on your climate. If you are trying to conserve water in a hot dry place, then scoop the circle down a little to collect water.

If it is more important to have good drainage, make a flat raised mound (only a couple of inches high).
Plant 2 or 3 plants in each circle. If you are planting the seeds directly into the garden, plant 5 or 6 and thin them out, leaving only the 3 best seedlings to grow to maturity. Properly thinned plants will be healthy and won’t need to compete for nutrients and light, so you’ll get much better results.

Vining squash growing in a bed

You can also plant squashes and cucumbers in a bed or a staggered row, leaving room for the vines to spread across the bed and a path beside it. Sow 2 or 3 seeds about 1½ feet apart, thinning to the best seedling in each group. All the cucurbits need rich soil and enough water - mulching is a good strategy to hold in soil moisture and keep down weeds at the same time.

Trellising: In a small space garden it’s a good idea to grow cucumbers up a trellis or fence. Growing the vines up also protects fruits from damage or disease from lying on moist ground. Gravity helps long cucumbers grow straighter as they are hanging down.

Gourds growing on a fence

Melons and mini-pumpkins can be trellised also, but the fruits need to be supported to keep them from tearing the vines as they get heavy. Gourd vines are very amenable to growing up wire fencing, as they are sturdy plants with strong tendrils that twine well. Vining winter squash and larger pumpkins do best left to trail on the ground with plenty of space for the vigorous vines.

Gourds growing on a metal arbor

Pollination: I get a lot of questions from gardeners concerned that they are getting flowers but no fruit.

Male & female squash flowers

Cucurbits have both male and female flowers. The female flower has a small embryonic fruit between the stem and the blossom that will fall off if it isn’t pollinated. The male has no little fruit; the flower joins the stem; and it has the pollen. Both must be blooming at the same time for the insects (bees or other little winged pollinators) to carry the pollen from the male to the female. Very often one type will bloom before the other, so if it is early in the plant’s life, I usually advise patience.

Hand-pollinating squash blossoms

If there are no flying insects to do the pollination, you can hand-pollinate in the early morning after the dew has dried but before it gets too hot, either by picking off the male flower and kissing the female flower with it, or by using a small watercolor type paintbrush and dabbing pollen from male to female flower.
 
Harvesting: It is important to harvest cucumbers, especially lemon and Armenian, before they get too big and mature. Lemon cucumbers should be a very pale yellow – when they get fully yellow colored, they are overripe and usually seedy with tough skins. If your cucumbers are bitter, it is probably because they didn’t get enough consistent watering. They need to be watered regularly; if you put your finger in the soil and it is dry beyond the first joint, the plants need water. If the fruits are misshapen, they probably didn’t get fertilized well, or are stressed from not enough water.

Summer squash like zucchini and patty pan can be picked when quite young, even before the flowers fall off, but I think the taste is best and yield is better when zucchinis are no more than 5 or 6 inches, and scallops about 3 inches. While you can pick them a little bigger, it’s important not to let them get so big that seeds develop and rinds are tough because both taste and texture will really suffer. If you check every day or two, you will rarely be trying to give away baseball bat size zucchinis. Now and again you miss picking one and you’ll have a giant to stuff or make into zucchini bread.

Hard-shelled winter squash is ready to pick when the stems are hard and the rind can’t be pierced with a thumbnail. They continue to get sweeter if they are left on the vine as long as possible, though. Before heavy frost, cut the stems about an inch above the fruit, and let them mature in the sun for 7-10 days to harden and toughen the skin. Then store in a cool dry place with good air circulation.

Do Make A Second Planting: Except in the very short season areas, it is really worth making a second planting of summer squash and cucumbers, both for salad and for pickles, in early to late June. These heat lovers grow so quickly with seed sown directly into warm summer soil and begin to ripen fruits around just six weeks! Why waste your precious garden space on old, declining squash plants, when you can plant new ones and have continuing delicious harvests to enjoy throughout the season.

Growing the Girls - My First Year with Backyard Chickens

by Sarah Renfro, Business Manager at Renee's Garden

The last year has seen 4 new additions to the family – my flock of backyard chickens. We decided to get chickens last winter after hearing so much about how delicious (and nutritious) home grown eggs are and admiring a friend’s large flock.

Last March the baby chicks arrived at our local feed store. We selected 4 different breeds of 3 day old chicks so we would have a variety of colors and egg shapes to enjoy. It has been interesting and fun to watch the baby chicks grow and mature into beautiful hens with distinct personalities and a definite pecking order! 

Our flock includes:

Speck (Speckled Sussex) – multi-colored, the most vocal and fearless. The leader of the pack.

Buffy (Buff Orpington) – yellow and fluffy. Gentle and friendly, a follower.

Rhoda (Rhode Island Red) – reddish brown. Very curious, she sometimes challenges Speck for the lead.

Blackie (Astrolorpe) – iridescent black. A bit aloof and always at the back of the pack.

We kept our chicks inside in a large cardboard box with heat lamps until the weather warmed up outside and the coop was ready. Each day we made sure to visit the chicks, picking them up and allowing our dog to see and sniff them so the chickens would be comfortable with us and the dog learned that these fluff balls were not for eating!

Although there are numerous chicken coop designs available online, we decided to buy a premade coop kit and modify it slightly to add on a larger chicken run. This was a do-able weekend project for my husband with the “help” of my toddler son.

After the girls moved into their new home we waited several weeks before allowing them to roam free around the backyard. I was nervous the first time the dog and the chickens were together in the same space but Rex seemed to know not to chase them - he happily trots along with the hens, sniffing the scratched up ground.

The chickens have access to their organic layer feed and fresh water at all times. We also supplement their diet with a daily bowl of food scraps - everything from carrot peels to bread crusts to greens. Basically any food scraps that can be composted, plus food that can't such as meat and dairy, can be fed to the chickens. There are certain things that they do not eat and we end up raking up and adding to the compost pile when cleaning the coop: onion/garlic skins and avocado or melon rinds and tough, woody stems. We do not feed them egg shells or leftover eggs.

Our girls began laying eggs reliably after about 6 months. It really is true that the eggs are tastier! The yolks are firm and are an amazing bright yellow color. It is always exciting to open up the coop and collect the fresh, still warm eggs. My son loves to know which chicken’s eggs are in his omelet (a regular menu item for breakfast, lunch and dinner)!

Now there are a few things that no one told us about keeping chickens:

Chickens are messy! Our freshly applied bark mulch stayed neatly on top of our flower beds for about one hour. As soon as the chickens got across the yard, the mulch started flying as they scratched it into the grass. So much for a tidy yard!

Dogs (at least my dog) love to eat chicken poop. Yes, this is very gross and it does cause intestinal distress. Yuck is all I can say about this.

Chickens can be loud (even hens). We always know when one of the girls is laying an egg due to the loud squawking coming from the nesting boxes.

Chickens can be pushy. My son has learned to hold any food high above his head when the chickens are around because they will try to take it out of his hand! Speck has walked right through the open door into the house in search of food. And watch out when carrying the bowl of food scraps – my girls will try to fly up to the bowl to start digging in.

Keeping chickens has been a very rewarding experience. I appreciate their beauty, intelligence and the daily gift of eggs. They are fun to watch and relatively simple to care for. Now we are searching for a bigger coop so we can add more hens to the flock!

Exploring the SF Flower & Garden Show

By Laura Schaub, Marketing Manager

I’m an old friend of the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show; for the last ten years I’ve been a part of it in one way or another (it’s possible that I’ve never had to buy a ticket). First it was as a horticulture and design student, then as a display garden creator, and every year in between doing booth duty for various professional organizations. For the last three years I’ve also been the Social Media voice for the show, so yes, you could say we’re close…

Laura at the 2005 SF Garden Show

For me, as an avid gardener, landscape designer, plant geek, information junkie and social butterfly, the show is the place to see and be seen at the end of March. I like that it has become the ideal meeting spot for online friends from all over the country.

Being behind the scenes from concept to tear down every year has been a particular privilege, and I have great respect for the amount of work that goes into creating an event of this size and complexity. Renee has asked me to share my thoughts on this year’s Show, so here they are!
 

The Show Gardens are what make a Garden Show different from a Home & Garden Show. Up to 20 full-size gardens are custom designed and built by an elite group of designers, contractors, artists and students; and no two Shows are EVER alike.

Some gardens are practical, some are fanciful, and all combine to make a lovely village that exists for just a week. With luck they will live on (in whole or part) in private and public gardens, schools and parks for years to come. These are the handful of gardens that I found particularly noteworthy this year.

Darjit

I was very impressed by first-time creator Brent Sumner and the Darjit team. Their "Dragon Garden" was unique, passionate and a great interpretation of our Gardens for a Green Earth theme, as it was made entirely of cultural waste, including the special sculpting compound called (you guessed it) Darjit that was used to make the Dragon and other garden elements. It not only won a Gold Medal, but also the People’s Choice Award.

Savanna!

Grass Guru John Greenlee and designer Mike Boss created a lot of buzz with Savanna! winning a Gold Medal, the Pacific Horticulture Magazine award, and the Golden Gate Cup for Best in Show. 

What I liked about this deceptively simple garden (a meandering stroll through a waving, textural wonderland) was how it succeeded in transporting you, if just for a moment, to “somewhere else.” Not easy in a cavernous, indoor space, but its sophisticated sight lines, a primitive soundtrack and strategically placed shiny objects (cool sculptures by Berkeley artist Marcia Donohue) worked their magic.

Another great thing about this garden was that all the plants were raffled off to benefit the San Francisco Botanical Society.

Dynamic Reflection

I’m a big fan of the distinctive stacked walls made by Andrea Hurd of Mariposing Gardening and Design, this year they were front and center in the Gold Medal garden she created with French's Waterscapes. I love the way she incorporates sculpture, pottery and even seat-size boulders into them. She trained over 40 volunteers at public stone-laying workshops this spring, and they turned out to help her build this garden.

La Vie en Vert

As a landscape designer, I look at details that others might not. My basic definition of design is “harmoniously arranging objects in space” and this Gold-Medal garden by Outdoor Environments does this so well; looking at those clean steps, neat walls, interesting plants and stylish details is so satisfying.

Windows

This small but intricate garden designed by McKenna Landscapes triggered my “ooh, I wish I had thought of that” reflex many times; such a satisfying combination of outdoor living spaces with so many thoughtful details, like this combination water feature/coffee table.

Next year's show is March 20-24 at the San Mateo Event Center. Maybe I'll see you there!

Protecting Your Young Seedlings with Bird Netting

By Lindsay Del Carlo, Trial Garden Manager
Growing from seed is exciting and rewarding, but care must be taken to protect young seedlings while they are small and vulnerable. It can be extremely frustrating to watch your seeds germinate and begin to grow, only to have birds come along when you are not looking and pluck them out of the ground one by one.  In our trial garden we are big fans of bird netting and use it extensively as a simple and effective way to protect seedlings from bird predation. In this blog post,Trial Garden Manager Lindsay Del Carlo shows you how to do it.

Our trial garden consists of raised beds that are 4 feet wide and anywhere from 16 to 60 feet long. We use ¾ inch black irrigation tubing made of soft polyethylene, commonly called “poly tubing”, cut to 6 foot long pieces to make structures to support the bird netting. Depending on the width of your bed, the tubing pieces should be at least 2 feet longer than the bed is wide so that the structure makes a tall arch over the top of the bed, but not be so long that they collapse in the middle. If you have a bed that is very wide, you may have to make several narrow sections of bird netting structures to cover the entire bed.

Polly tubing cut to 6 ft. lenths

Bird netting itself comes in different sizes and can be easily cut with scissors to whatever size you need. We recommend netting that is ¾ to 5/8 inch gauge which will exclude the smallest birds without danger to them. For a 4 ft. wide bed, we cut the netting to a width of about 7 feet, and leave it at full length.  If it is too long for your bed, it can be simply rolled.  Extra length at the sides will be gathered and held down with landscape staples.

Bird-X Netting - one brand of commercially available netting.  Bird netting comes in various lengths and can be cut with scissors to the size you need. It is available at garden centers or nurseries. Online and mail order sources include: Peaceful Valley Farm, Harmony Farm Supply or Gardeners Supply Co.

At each end of the bed, we criss-cross 2 pieces of tubing to make a sturdy frame. The ends of the tubing are simply stuck into the soil about 4 inches deep. Place single sections of tubing about 3-4 feet apart in the rest of the bed, close enough together so that the bird netting will not bow in the middle. Clever little birds here have been known to stand on top of the netting and pluck the seedlings out if it is not taut enough.

The ends of bird netting structure are crisscrossed poly tubing

Place single sections of tubing 3-4 ft. apart

After all of the tubing is in place, drape the bird netting over the top of the tubing and secure it on one end with landscape staples or rocks. You can also secure the netting to the top of the tubing with ¾ inch x 4 inch long “Snap Clamps” for extra stability. “Snap Clamps” are also used to join pieces of netting together on very long beds.

Landscape staples 4-6 in. long. Garden, hardware and building supply stores carry these inexpensive long staples to push into the ground and hold the netting taunt and flush to the ground 



"Snap Clamps" are used to secure the bird netting to the poly tubing and to join 2 pieces of netting together. They can be found at snapclamps.com or at charleysgreenhouse.com

 Pull the netting tight to the other end of the bed and secure the ends with 4-6 inch  staples. Use more landscape staples to secure the netting along the sides to the ground every 8-10 inches, close enough so that birds cannot slip under the netting.

Stretch the netting from the secured end to the other end

Secure netting along the sides with landscape staples every 8-10 in

The bird netting should stay in place until the seedlings are large enough to withstand damage from birds - they seem to lose interest in seedlings once they start to mature and are at least 6-8 inches tall. If you are at all concerned, there is nothing wrong with leaving the bird netting on until your young plants are fully grown and ready to eat as long as they have enough space. (Of course, you will have to open the netting once or twice to thin plants out to proper spacing, so they have enough room to mature and size up.)

The same irrigation tubing structure can also be used for supporting other kinds protective materials like shade cloth in very hot areas and row covers at the end of the season for frost protection.


A finished bird netting structure

Young seedlings growing under bird netting



How Sweet It Is: Lindsay's Adventures in Beekeeping

By Lindsay Del Carlo, Trial Garden Manager

Many gardeners have expressed interest about keeping bees recently, so I've asked our Trial Garden manager Lindsay Del Carlo to share her recent backyard beekeeping experiences. I've been the happy beneficiary of Lindsay's interest in beekeeping – the honey from her bees was absolutely delicious!
My beekeeping adventure started about 2 ½ years ago one September day when a small swarm of bees landed in my yard. At this point, my neighbors and I had been talking about getting bees, and then voila, here they came all on their own. It must have been fate.

Lindsay's Bee Hive

Not actually knowing what to do next, I asked around and ended up finding a mentor who was very helpful in getting me started. She set me up with a hive and helped me to get this tiny swarm of bees into it. They first landed on a garden pot and immediately started building honeycomb, so we had to act fast to introduce them into their new hive. We were worried that since the swarm was so small that there was not a queen, but upon close inspection, there was! They seemed to live happily in their hive for a few weeks. I would see lots of activity at the hive entrance with bees coming in and flying out during the day. But one day I came home and went to see what the bees were up to, and saw no activity in the hive. I opened it up to find that not one bee remained. Bees will do that - for one reason or another, they just abscond from the hive. I would just have to wait until spring and start again. My hive was all ready, so all I needed were some bees.

Bee Package

The next April, I bought a package of bees through the local bee guild here in Santa Cruz. Yes, you can actually buy bees - mine were packaged at a bee farm located in Morgan Hill, CA. They come in a wooden box with screened sides, with about 3 pounds of bees inside, and can of sugar water for them to eat while they are in there. There is also a queen in her own small cage, but she has to be gradually introduced since they are usually reared separately. The queen cage has a tiny cork in it which I removed and shoved a marshmallow in the hole so that she and the bees will eat their way through each side. This gives the bees time to get used to her scent before she enters the hive. 

Queen Cage

I had my hive all set up so that I would be ready to install them. I set an empty deep hive body (the box which holds the frames with wax foundation on which the bees build their comb) on my hive stand and then placed the box of bees inside. Then I removed the sugar water can (which lets the bees out) and  removed the queen cage. I should also mention that I am wearing a complete bee suit so that I don’t get stung. Then I set another deep hive body with 10 frames over the top of that, and fixed the queen cage to the top one of the frames, and put the inner cover and top cover on the hive. 

Removing the sugar syrup can and queen cage

The bees recognize the frames with the wax foundation right away. They will climb out of the wooden box up to the frames and orient themselves and rapidly start to build honey comb. Then the next day, I just took out the empty hive body and the wooden bee box, and let them do their thing. 

A frame full of busy bees

My first season of beekeeping was exciting and educational. My bees were vigorous throughout the season and my first honey harvest made about 1 gallon of honey. It is very important not to take too much, leaving enough honey for the bees to eat. As the weather starts to cool down, and the bees forage less, they need enough of their own honey to eat to make it through the winter. As the weather had gotten colder and the rains started, I noticed a ton of dead bees at the entrance of the hive. It is very common for there to be a big die off of bees as the weather turns cold, but I was still worried. Sadly, my entire colony did die, and very abruptly. It is still a mystery as to why, since I did not see any signs of disease or an infestation of mites. The general consensus was that after the weaker ones died off, they just could not keep warm enough, and perhaps they were finished off by any mites that remained in the hive. I decided to not be discouraged and try again the next season.

Swarm Catching - taking branch with clusters of bees and installing them in the hive

I had always wanted to catch a wild bee swarm. Unlike a package of bees that are taken from unknown hives from a completely different area, put into a box with an unfamiliar queen, wild swarms are more acclimated to the area and are likely to have built up better resistance to pests and diseases after multiple generations. On April 1, 2011 I got a call from my neighbor that my wish had indeed been granted! A very large bee swarm had landed on the hedge in my yard.  So I went home, got the hive out of storage, and suited up. I put an empty deep hive body onto the screened bottom board, and proceeded to clip off branches that clusters of bees were clustered onto. Then I carefully lowered each branch that I cut into the empty deep hive body. It took me about 30 minutes to get all of them, and I would estimate that it was about 10 pounds of bees - about 30,000 bees!

Filling jars with strained honey after extracting

This has been my most successful colony yet and they have survived through the winter so far, and that is a very good sign that they will build up in the spring again and continue to thrive. I decided to only harvest a small amount of honey this season and leave the rest to entice them to stay.

READ MORE:  HOW TO SET UP A HIVE, MAINTAIN YOUR BEES AND HARVEST HONEY

A lovely honey harvest