May sky

Several days this month had the feeling of summer but there was just enough cloud to keep frosts away. This has been the warmest May that Angus has recorded (recording since 2000). However recorded hours of Sunshine were way below nomal at 125 hours. The previous lowest sunshine for May was 170 hours (in our 10 year records) Last May had 232 hours.
Also, this has been the wettest May for 9 years

May polytunnels

May 10th

The Winterkiefe peas on the right are towering over everything.

The flower of Winterkiefe pea. A hardy over wintering variety from Irish Seedsavers. It is very hardy and doesn't need to be grown under cover but does provide an early crop of mangetout in the polytunnel. The flowers have a wonderful scent.

 

 Winterkiefe mangetout.

 The first summer Raspberries in the small tunnel are ripe. They fill in the corners of the tunnel, growing under the peach and grapes, with a very welcome early crop. The only maintenance is cutting down the old stems when they have finished fruiting and a bit of string to hold them back.

 Shield bugs LOVE raspberries plants. They are harmless creatures with an odd charm. 

Here a pair share the joys of spring.

 The Apricots continue to fill out.

 This bed in the big tunnel is suffering neglect, although it looks none the worse for it. (I would much rather see a jumble of plants and flowers than bare soil).

There is a row of lettuce hiding in the middle.

Sweet pea mowing the garden

 Our new grass management method involves bringing Sweet pea in from the field (for just one hour a day) to eat the grass and the Hogweed coming up in the meadow.

 

  Tivon is rubbing off some of Sweet pea's winter coat.
One shaggy tail and one shaggy mane!

Angus grooming, Alfie sitting up, Sweet Pea eating and Kim photographing....  This grass mowing is a family affair.

Sweet Pea gets a really good groom from Zoe, while the grass continues to be mowed. Rich spring green grass is best in small doses hence limiting Sweet Pea to 1 hour a day. She also gets some hay for roughage.

May garden

May 1st

The beds of bright green are Poached Egg Plant with the very first flowers opening.

May 1st

Forget-me-nots growing in the runner bean-to-be bed. The honey bees and bumble bees all enjoyed the Forget-me-nots and they make good ground cover.

May 9th

May 9th

Swiss Chard has been planted in the garlic bed. with Crimson clover seed planted along the edges.

May 12th

The yellow flowers are kale plants in flower. They grew to about 6 foot tall or more.

  I grew 3 varieties last year, a red Russian, a curly Irish and Cavolo nero Italian kale, about 6 plants of each. The Italian flowered first, they are 3 shades of yellow and the honey bees are on the Russian the most, bumbles more on the others.

May 21st

  Crimson clover and poached egg plant are growing among the potatoes and peas. Or perhaps I should say, the potatoes and peas are growing among the Crimson clover and Poached Egg plant!

May 21st

 Looking down the path in the vegetable garden.

May 21st

 Some of the Poached Egg Plant is cleared for sweet corn and squash.

May 25th

 Early potatoes, Poached Egg Plant and Purple Sprouting Broccoli in flower for the bees.


We have had no significant frosts this spring. This year I did not have to cover the Early Potatoes (seen here in the foreground) as I usually do.

The vegetable garden is filled with the buzz and hum of bees, but the Poached Egg Plant is the greatest honey bee magnet of all.
 In a few weeks I will need to clear gaps in this bed to plant Cauliflowers.

Honey bees on Poached Eggplant, Crimson Clover, Embothrium, Ceanothus....

May 21st

 Limnanthes douglasii, commonly known here as Poached Egg Plant is in flower, It is a real favourite of the bees.

Poached Egg Plant is native to California and Oregon but It has happily self-sowed and overwintered every year since I first planted it in our Irish garden in 1998, where it enjoys our damp clay soil.

May 9th

  Big pollen sac on this honeybee.

 I was delighted to see the honey bees on the Crimson Clover.  The bumble bees love it too.

Phacelia is in flower in the vegetable garden and the honey bees love it.

 The other main temptation for bees in the vegetable garden is the purple sprouting broccoli which is in flower. 

(Kales are finished now).

A snapshot across the vegetable garden. In the foreground, Borage and Forget-me-nots, Crimson Clover in the middle, Poached Egg-Plant beyond.

 I usually see wasps and bumble bees pollinating the Raspberries but the honeybees like them too.

The Ceanothus continues to be a hive of activity.

The Chilean Flame tree (Embothrium) is 20 feet tall and 12 feet wide. It is covered in flowers and the buzzing of honey bees and bumble bees. Most of the activity takes place out of my reach but a couple of honeybees came down briefly to grace the camera.

Embothrium flowers.

The bees are also enjoying the Borage flowers. The honey bees have finally finished feasting on the Rosemary, it is almost finished flowering. While the flowers of the forget-me-nots continue to linger, they are abandoned by the bees in favour of the Poached Egg Plant, Phacelia and Clover.

No honey bees in this picture, these are the berries, or grapes, of the Mahonia, also known as Oregon Grape. The bees enjoyed the Mahonia flowers all winter and now the birds will enjoy the berries, the bush is dripping with bunches. They are edible (although they have pips and taste a bit sour), they can be made into jelly or wine, but I am busy planting now and still have lots of preserves left from last summer.

Polytunnel helpers.

Alfie finding the first Alpine strawberries of the year.

Protected growing spaces are great for Irish rainy days.

Another day in the big tunnel Alfie continues to play in the middle of the plants, A few lettuces have been flattened and I am not complaining as I get to play too, weeding and planting. 

(Where play = love what I do).

There was a lot of thinning required this year on all the indoor fruit trees. While I was thinning the nectarine Alfie was busy shovelling soil.

Tivon helped to thin the Nectarine too, although he soon decided he would do something else!

Alfie took a photo of me thinning the Apricot.

Alfie playing in the small tunnel. I put some left over builders sand into a couple of old tyres to store it, I use a little sometimes while potting plants. Alfie has most of it on the path where it is scooped, loaded and dumped, meanwhile I am able catch up with potting on vegetable seedlings.

A swarm of bees in May...

....a new colony begins in the happiest way.

May 12th

The little swarm from June last year swarmed yesterday. This is the activity at the hive just before 2pm.

The photos do not capture all the bees in the air and the wonderful hum.

 

I cut the leaf and took this photo just before shaking the bees into the hive.

The colony from which this swarm came have a lovely temperament.

 

There were still lots of bees on the leaf, outside the hive and in the air, but the queen must have been in the hive as all the bees went into the hive with impressive efficiency.

The sun went in and dark clouds rolled over just as the last few bees went in. The heavens then opened with a torrential downpour of rain followed by..

  Hail! (This photo is of the hail on the deck, when the bees and I were safely homed).

By evening all is happy and calm, (yes, it is a temporary roof!)

 A new colony begins......