Washingtonians

[chickens4gramma]

Quote:
Wow that is beautiful! I was wondering how you all had veggies already, when mine are only about an inch high! Greenhouses! But I have a dumb question--how do they get pollinated in the greenhouse?

Or do you have your own bees too?

Susie

 

[ByN8ureHomstead]

Quote:
Wow that is beautiful! I was wondering how you all had veggies already, when mine are only about an inch high! Greenhouses! But I have a dumb question--how do they get pollinated in the greenhouse?

Or do you have your own bees too?

Susie

Peppers and tomatoes are self pollinates you just need to shake them or have a fan blowing on them to move them around. The cucumber, zucchini and melons I believe you would need bees or a q-tip.

 

[Cowgirlgrace]

Quote:
Wow that is beautiful! I was wondering how you all had veggies already, when mine are only about an inch high! Greenhouses! But I have a dumb question--how do they get pollinated in the greenhouse?

Or do you have your own bees too?

Susie

I open up my greenhouse for ventilation. It's very easy for bees to get in.

 

[WhySayWhat]

After seeing how well everyone's plants are doing and then looking at mine (which I thought were doing good)...I am going back to wanting a greenhouse again! I gave it up last year in favor of building my chicken coop and run because the chickens were cheaper, lol. I had priced out the materials for the greenhouse I want to build at around $500 for materials (mostly PVC). But dang it, I want big veggies! I do have a few green beans (actually the Golden Wax) growing, but they are about 3" long at the longest, I picked a pea pod yesterday that had a whopping 2 tiny peas in it! I have 2 varieties of cherry/grape tomato growing, but only one had a few tiny flowers on it!

Yep...I'm gonna start saving my pennies and buying PVC pipe when I can afford it. The pipe itself isn't the expensive part, it's the danged joints and fittings! I better get the leftover lumber out of the garage before I start paking it with PVC though...my SO is already upset by the quantity of building supplies I have in there! Anyone around the Spokane area want 6 or 7 pallets? I got too many back in February!

 

[VelvettFog]

Quote:
Is there any specific reason you are going top bar? If you harvest with a TB you force your bees to work harder to survive.

To me it seem more natural for the bees. Plus it looks easier for me to build, I will build mine out of 2x4 or 2x6 and 4 foot long. If I need to I could put a super on top.

Natural for the bees? Bee's natural hive location is most often a hollow tree. Their tendency is to build "up and down" not "side to side". Top bar hives force them to build 'side to side'. I agree they are cheaper and easier to build. I don't like how you are forced to destroy to the comb to harvest the honey. That's harder on the bees. I think the standard hive is the way to go, and is what I will end up with next spring.

Dave

 

[L0rraine]

Quote:

I was out working on one of my 4 x 8 x 4' high bantam 'safe' runs yesterday and thinking I needed to repair the gate and then got 'obsessed' with REALLY wanting an extra two feet on the 'high' part. Wondering if I can figure out how to add two feet to one side of the pen, which would give me some 'stand up' space without completely rebuilding. (just thinking out loud ...)

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
What a DAY! In all the years I lived and worked in Seattle, I never saw that! Which was more fun, the walk or the show?

Definitely the walk - well, at least until we saw the body paint men. I would have still gone had I known, but I would have left DD home! We would have missed the painted men though, as she was the one who noticed and pointed it out to us. Years ago, my friends and I used to go to Beths sometimes at 3 am just to people watch.

I bought some nice beads at the bead show and a little jewelry box shaped like a mother hen with 3 chicks.

Post pics of the jewelry box ???

 

[L0rraine]

Quote:
What are the GORGEOUS blue flowers in the foreground?!

 

[Chickielady]

We had a fun, fun, fun morning.
Went out first thing to open coops & feed/water...and I always have to say good morning & look over each bird...
And the Hav-a-Heart trap was sprung..covered by a hunk of pond liner we could not see what was in there...
Then DH says "SKUNK!!!"
Oh great !
A skunk!
So I grabbed a big piece of clear heavy plastic, held it up in front of me, and walked over there & laid it down on the trap.
Skunk made no smell at all.
Getting the wildlife cam, DH hooked it to the computer & we could see skunky walking around INSIDE 2 of the coop pens.
HOW THE?????????????
So we have since found the security breach, and DH had to shoot the skunk (through the plastic) and triple bag it to take to the dump tomorrow.
No way to set a skunk free~~~~~
As soon as it was shot, it blew it's wad, so-to-speak..and it is sooooooooo strong you can practically taste it.

GAK!!!!!!!!!!

OK I will stop asking for stray bee swarms.

It is nice to see a brand new bee hive sitting in the garden though...looks nice there.

Maybe I'll get some of those little 'toy' bees and hot glue them on the hive

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
Wow that is beautiful! I was wondering how you all had veggies already, when mine are only about an inch high! Greenhouses! But I have a dumb question--how do they get pollinated in the greenhouse?

Or do you have your own bees too?

Susie

Peppers and tomatoes are self pollinates you just need to shake them or have a fan blowing on them to move them around. The cucumber, zucchini and melons I believe you would need bees or a q-tip.

The green house type cucumbers are all female, and need no pollination.
The tomatoes I use a fan 24/7, the squash & pumpkins are outside, and anything else inside the green house I can dot each with a small paint brush.