Bee~ Journal of then...

[justusnak]

Good morning Bee...I hope you had a great new years eve. Hubby and I stayed home and snacked alot! LOL Woke to 12 degrees this morning..what a way to start a new year!

 

[Beekissed]

Great New Year here.....also have icy rain here, Just.....the snow is melting a little but we are supposed to get more.

I had always heard that snow was good for the following spring's crops but I didn't know the reason until I read Carrots Love Tomatoes. In this book it describes that snow has less heavy water and this is beneficial in some way...also has more beneficial minerals in it. Go figure!

Also read in there that one can grow more and bigger tomatoes by staking to a metal stake...something about the electromagnetics of the setup causing better growth. Anyone have any experience with this concept?

I will be using a sturdy metal fence staked with metal T-post for my tomato trellising this year, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

The house is a mess and I am too tired to do a thing about it....may have a snuggly nap, wake up and clean house and finally....finally organize and clean out my office!

Time to start fresh!

 

[Dace]

Happy New Year Bee!

A snuggly nap sounds decadent ...why don't I ever think to take a nap?

Enjoy.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Bee I have been reading a lot about gardening too this week,...maybe it's in the air? My mother and I were just talking yesterday about using metal posts to stake our tomatos,...I believe it will be benificial,....my dear old FIL, whom is passed away now, always use to say to take a rusty nail and put in the hole with the tomatos when you planted them,...some people used a copper penny. Could this be something like what you was reading?? Also a friend of ours says to put epsom salts into the hole before planting tomatos,....So many ideas!!!!,...What's your take??

 

[MorelCabin]

HAPPY NEW YEARS BEE!

 

[Beekissed]

Bee I have been reading a lot about gardening too this week,...maybe it's in the air? My mother and I were just talking yesterday about using metal posts to stake our tomatos,...I believe it will be benificial,....my dear old FIL, whom is passed away now, always use to say to take a rusty nail and put in the hole with the tomatos when you planted them,...some people used a copper penny. Could this be something like what you was reading?? Also a friend of ours says to put epsom salts into the hole before planting tomatos,....So many ideas!!!!,...What's your take??

I had heard about the rusty nail but never knew why. Sounds like the same concept. I couldn't find anything on this when I Googled it....not sure if the whole metal stake thingy is true, but I will be finding out this spring. Of course, since I'm using some other methods to increase growth and productivity, I guess I will never know which method was effective.

I've tried the epsom salts but didn't see a significant difference in rate or volume of growth. It did seem to help my green pepper plants a bit though.

When the new year flips, I generally shift gears into gardening mode....this is my research and planning time.

The grow stand I built last year has been dismantled. I will still start some seeds here but they will, hopefully, be in my greenhouse instead of in my room.

Today I've been reading the ABC and XYZ if Bee Culture and have been sadly disappointed in this book. For one, it's very outdated and it concentrates mainly on commercial practices of producing honey.....which have since been suspect in the possible cause of CCD.

This is one of the reasons that TBHs have become so attractive to me....I really want the bees to produce their honey as naturally as possible and I just want to share it. I don't want to make a living off it, nor produce more and more.

I just want the benefit of their pollination, the health benefit of ingesting their raw honey and I want to believe that I am contributing to the survival of the honeybees. I want to give them nonpoisoned flowers from which to eat, I want to let them build their own comb as they see fit, I want them to develop strong hives through natural selection.

This book has none of these concepts within it's pages. I'd dearly love to find a book, a comprehensive one that covers all aspects of beekeeping more naturally.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Try "The Hive and the Honey Bee" by Dadent & Sons publishing.

 

[Farmfresh]

The rusty nail is supposed to contribute iron to the soil and epsom salts contributes magnesium. Both are supposed boost the plants growth.

 

[Beekissed]

Thanks, C!

I will check it out and see if it's worth buying. I know my local library doesn't have it and they aren't on a sharing/lending system, so I'll have to buy it if I want one.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

This sounds interesting too,...
http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Beekeeping-Organic-Approaches-Apiculture/dp/1933392088