Gardening to Distraction

What do you think when you're told you have to retrain someone?

You can imagine what I was thinking when I was told I'm going to have to retrain my bees.

Not all of them, just the ones that keep sneaking into the hive from the back side under the lid top.

It all started last winter, when a mouse family moved into the bottom super - or floor - of Gertrude hive, the hive that struggled most of last year after loosing the queen bee.

Each colony only has one queen but she sets the tone for the hive, and the bees since her only job is to lay eggs - as many as 1,200 a day.

Using the shiny silver insulation from the styrofoam I wrapped around the hive around Christmas, the mice took over 2/3rs of the hive floor with their beautifully decorated nest.

I removed the mouse nest early March and replaced the damaged hive frames with new ones.

A few weeks later, I found wax moths had moved into a frame with dappled cells - the girls were raising drones, or male bees. They'll raise about 1,000, then kick them out of the hive this fall before winter sets in.

To get rid of the wax moths, I had to destroy the whole frame, including drones, which are male bees, don't sting and have large black eyes - by placing the frames in a bag in the freezer for a day.

The bees clean out the frames once I return them to the hive.

Bees are very fastidious about their home, they like - and keep it - very clean.

I was sure this was the end of this one bee colony but they still seem to be surviving, only now they're used to coming into the hive from the back side - "Baptist bees," someone said at the last beekeeping meeting.

Not an issue now when the colony is small. When the hive is at its peak mid-summer, there will be 75,000 bees coming in and out of the hive and they will definitely need a bigger doorway.

I was told to wait until dark, after they're all settled in, and quietly remove the stick that holds the hive top open for ventilation. Then I'm to "tape" the top edge shut, at least until the bees fly around the hive and locate the original entrance. I have to wait for several clear days because it may take a couple of days for them to find the front door, and bees can't fly in rain so I don't want to drown them.

Come to think about it, those itty bitty little circus hoops may be easier...














Charlotte Ekker Wiggins shares gardening and beekeeping adventures from her limestone MO hill.

Copyright 2012 all rights reserved.




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I lost my father March 30, 2012.

Charles Ekker was the first US generation from Hungarian strawberry farmer immigrants who settled in Louisiana in the early 1920s.

Father joined the Army at 18; married Mom in Germany when he was 22 and by 25 yrs old was dragging Mom and I around the world on his State Department job.

I was 1 1/2 years old in the picture - Mom wrote on the back this was one of her favorite pictures of Dad. Feeding animals apparently started early in my life.

I can still remember being 3 yrs old in Lima, Peru, moving my red rocking chair to a wall of green at dusk. We all sat there waiting for white moon flowers to open and share their intoxicating aroma.

When I was 7, Dad took me on an almost week-long train ride into the Andes.

He was working with a native tribe and wanted to show me a teeny tiny flower he said could possibly  "cure" many diseases but would be gone during my lifetime. He told me that after I had picked a sprig. Talk about feeling guilty  picking a flower without first asking permission!

I love this picture, we're at our home in Mexico City. Can you see my Dad is actually sitting in my little chair?

We learned Spanish, Portuguese, French; when we moved back to US, finally English. Father used to dismiss teachers who complained about my accent. In my father's world, it was ok to be different, and there was no such thing as failure as long as you tried.

During his trips, father always brought back fascinating gifts: coffee beans; cacao fruit pods; bags of orchids, which we were then responsible for nailing to trees and watering, and a variety of animals and birds.

In Brazil, it was my job to climb the huge backyard avocado tree and snip off baby avocados before a formal function so that parrots - actually my father's favorite but jealous parrot - would not move through the tree dropping tiny avocados on guests and causing an international incident.

That Amazon parrot still loves to hide, only now its in boxes under newspapers.

One Easter, after we had settled in an old farm house in southern Ilinois, I can still remember my Dad's laughter when I found my yellow daffodils had bloomed with purple and green stripes. One of my brothers had injected food die and forgotten to tell me my flowers were now his 'show and tell' science experiment.

When I think of my father's legacy, I think of my brothers - one doing cutting edge genetic research at Mayor Clinic, the other one blazing trails in risk management theory.

Although my father gave us an unforgettable childhood, I am most grateful the hospital clerk could not spell the original family name they were going to give me and talked Mom into naming me after "Papai."

Sure beats being named after great, great, great Aunt Barcilona!













Charlotte Ekker Wiggins shares gardening and beekeeping adventures from her limestone MO hill.

Copyright 2012 all rights reserved.




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Over the years, I have developed a gardening calendar based on holidays. Here's my calendar for 2012:

St. Patrick's Day May 17: Plant potatoes, peas, brussell sprouts and broccoli in garden; start tomato and pepper seedlings inside.

First Day of Spring March 20: Work more compost into raised garden beds. Plant more lettuce, spinach, radishes, onions. Prune roses.

Easter April 8: Plant tree seedlings and native wildflowers. Update garden diary for bulbs I need to divide and move this fall; mark locations so I can find them this fall.

Earth Day April 22: Planting last of my spinach, peas and lettuce in the garden. Time to cover the garden with tulle to keep deer out.

Mother's Day May 13: Last day of frost so everything can get moved outside. I'll leave seedlings in their containers outside for a few days before moving them permanently into the garden.

Memorial Day May 28: Last day to plant anything from seed in the garden for this year, which means pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchini go in. Compact fruit trees, bushes and perennials also get planted so they can benefit from June showers.

Father's Day June 17: Last weekend to plant perennials. Check garden centers for end of season plant sales.

Independence Day July 4: Last day for planting beans for the season. It's also the last weekend for pinching back Mums so they bloom bushy this fall. There's little planted past this point that will survive Missouri's hot summer. Update garden diary.

Labor Day Sept. 3: Harvest fall crops; check for bugs; add compost, and start getting raised garden beds ready for winter. Also time to offer sugar water to my honeybees since little pollen is available.

Columbus Day Oct. 8: Trim deck plants. Start moving them inside house for winter. Give them a good hose bath first to discourage hitch-hiking bugs. Trade plants with friends for holiday gifts.

Halloween Oct. 31; First fall hard frost. All plants that are going to winter over should be settled inside. Halloween weekend is also a good time to add compost to raised bed gardens and make sure bird feeders are mended and ready for winter.

Veterans Day Nov. 11: Clean and store pots, garden implements; toss out torn gardening gloves; mark envelopes with saved seeds; update garden diary on what worked well this year and what I want to do differently or try next year. If there's been a hard frost, good time to
mulch plant beds so soil temperature doesn't fluctuate.

Thanksgiving Nov. 22: Buy bulbs on discount. Make bulb gardens for winter gifts; store in basement refrigerator.

Winter, Dec. 21: Look for first gardening catalogs in the mail!

New Years Jan. 1:  Check inside plants for hitchhiking bugs; trim dead leaves. Check bulb gardens. Pour over garden catalogs.

Jan. 17 Martin Luther King Day: Make sure inside plants are all getting sunlight needs met. If not, move them around. Review garden diary from last year for what worked and what didn't. Trade garden catalogs with other gardening friends.

Valentine's Day February 14: A time when mid-Missouri usually has a few warmer days mid-winter and soil can be worked without using a pick ax.

Good time to check check birdhouses for repairs; clean garden implements; wash flower pots; order local shrubs and trees from George O. White Nursery. Prune fruit trees.

President's Day February 20: Plant onion sets in the garden. (I pop a few into the deck containers, too!) Plant my deck containers with lettuce, spinach, radishes...it's almost spring!











Charlotte Ekker Wiggins shares gardening and beekeeping adventures from her Missouri limestone MO hill.

Copyright 2012 all rights reserved.




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It's been a busy winter for honeybees.

Scientists have confirmed bees have distinct personalities; distinguish between human faces; can find the shortest distance between two points faster than any computer; have moods, and now have a parasitic fly that leaves them like zombies.

Even though a lot of money is being invested in research, bees continue to die in record numbers. Between immigrant European honeybees and local wild bees, 70-80% of our food is produced through their pollination.
 
The latest scientific theory is that besides loss of habitat and a range of different pollen sources, clothianidin pesticides have been partially responsible for their continued demise.

This nerve agent is widely used in commercial crops and insecticides. Some scientists believe prolonged exposure to the pesticide is weakening bee DNA and making them more susceptible to factors that normally wouldn't affect them if they were strong and healthy.
 
Any beekeeper will tell you how different a healthy hive responds to challenges compared to a weak one.

One of my hives went into winter with low colony numbers and not enough stashed honey.

Even though I wrapped both hives in styrofoam, set up top feeders and winter was mild, bees can starve if they can't use their delicate wings to move to a food supply - or, in the case of an early spring, if they can't find pollen.

Gertrude hive had quite a year last year. Three times it lost its one, and only, queen.  The loss meant no eggs were laid so bee numbers went down - a worker bee in summer lives for only 6 weeks producing 1/12th of a tsp of honey. With less bees, there was less honey stored to make it through winter.

This hive also went through a hail storm killing off returning bees; the assault of several spiders catching bees in their web; an infestation of wax moths - imagine tons of miniature Jabba the Huts - and over this past winter, a mouse moved into the bottom floor and destroyed four frames, or about half the hive section, to create a snug nest.
The colony, however, appears to be persevering.
 
When I opened the hive top to check on the level of sugar water in the feeder, I was greeted by a healthy guard bee entourage actively  fussing around me. They may make it yet!

When I opened the other healthy hive, bees were too busy cleaning the hive and tending to eggs to be distracted with my presence. I was able to quietly add sugar water mixed in equal parts to the top feeder and leave.

Actually I could have saved science money years ago.

My skeptical, scientist brother will attest to the wild bee in Minnesota who dogged me after I inadvertently moved rocks from around her ground hive. Other family members could go outside undisturbed but the minute I stepped outside, Miss Mary Jane Bee was buzzing around my head.

There's no scientific proof yet but mark my words, bees are also landscaping critics.

















Charlotte Ekker Wiggins shares gardening and beekeeping adventures from her Missouri limestone MO hill.

Copyright 2012 all rights reserved.

Before things go all green on us, let's talk plants; BAD plants.

Hoaky, huh, but it's true.

When I started recycling a couple of years ago, I was amazed that more than half my daily garbage was reusable paper refuse.

When I then removed items that could be composted, I went from one of those hungamunga green garbage cans I could hardly wrestle down my driveway to a dainty one almost a third of that size - and my little toy kitchen raised bed garden started to have healthier plants, too.

Compost is nothing more than organic matter that's been allowed, and encouraged, to break down into humus or what gardeners call "black gold." Compost is how farmers return nutrients to the soil and make sure their ground is ready to grow specific crops

If you're gardening around here, you can get a soil test through University of Missouri Extension offices so you know what kind of amendments you need to add to your soil. Since we're lucky to have 2-4 inches of good top soil in this area, I figure anything I add to my hilly garden has to be good.

The first concern I hear about compost is smell. There are several ways to easily manage that:

1. Keep a plastic bag in a freezer bin and toss compost-bound materials in there. When the bag is full, take it out to the composter.

2. Get a self-enclosed composter. I like the ones that have a handle on the side so they can easily be turned. Closed composters keep wildlife out and manage odors. Or try the Dr. Stevie black bag composting technique, named after my youngest brother who one summer had a gold mine of composted leaves when he forgot he had bagged them the fall before and piled them behind his gardening shed.

 If you have wildlife or neighborhood pets,  don't expect them to respect plastic. My brother's cucumber-ravaging bunny rabbits chewed a hole in one of his black bags after we tossed watermelon rinds in
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3. Use odors to tell you when you don't have the right combination of brown materials and green materials. If you have the right combination, the compost mixture should not smell. You basically need equal parts of brown leaves, grass clippings and kitchen scraps sprinkled with water and regularly mixed or tumbled.

Compost needs warm weather to work but I still drag my buckets of material to my composters through winter. Although nothing is breaking down when it's cold, the composters are all set when weather does start warming up.

You can compost a variety of things including egg shells; fruit and vegetable peels and related left overs, but not seeds. Well, go ahead and toss seeds into a composter when its warm. I'm guessing that's how the Jack In the Bean Stalk fairy tale story got started!

You can also compost straw, grass, leaves, dryer lint, hair and shredded newspaper.
 
Do not compost meat, poop or bones.

If you're just starting to compost, invest in a pair of kitchen chicken-cutting scissors.  Mine live in the drying rack in my sink so I can easily access them when I'm cooking.

I save organic leftovers in a bowl; when I'm through cooking, part of the clean up is to use the scissors to cut all organic matter into small pieces. It takes up less storage space that way, and decomposes faster

When compost turns black and crumbly, it's ready to add to your garden soil.

Once you get into a routine, I'll bet you'll be surprised at how much less you have in your garbage,  and how much better your garden is growing.
















Charlotte Ekker Wiggins shares gardening and beekeeping adventures from her limestone MO hill. Copyright 2012 all rights reserved.




 

Gardening catalogs are starting to show up in my mailbox.  They're a good reminder that one of the advantages of being a gardener is that you don't really have to grow up.
By that I mean you're encouraged to try new seeds and plants, and to test new techniques and toys - oops tools, I meant tools.

Unfortunately for gadget manufacturers, I'm not too drawn to newfangled gardening accessories, probably because gardening on a Missouri limestone hill means a pick ax is the main, and sometimes only, gardening tool that will work.

The following is my list of top things to try this year:

1. Composting. I like the tumbler-type plastic composters with a side handle for easy turning. I also have a table top Nature Mill composter in my garage. I collect compost material in a bag in my freezer, then move it outside when the bag is full. It's amazing to me how composting reduces the amount of garbage. Colleagues in my business office also have been kind enough to help save coffee grounds and fruit peelings. In return, I bring in fresh flowers for our coffee break room and amend my raised bed kitchen garden.

2. Start vegetable garden seeds a little earlier than end February. I'm still trying to decide how to protect lettuce seedlings in my deck pots, maybe plastic over the top will work.

3. Conserve water. I'm amazed at how much my rain barrels collect during rain storms; and then how happier my plants seem to be when watered with
rain water.

4. Use  soaker hoses to minimize water runoff; add a timer to your irrigation system so you don't forget to turn it off.

5. Make a concerted effort not to use pesticides. Today there are more earth-friendly and safe alternatives. take a little extra time to read labels and learn about non-traditional options like spraying plants with hot pepper-infused water. Being less critical of a less than perfect
flower also helps!

6. Create an inviting habitat for garden visitors by providing food, water and shelter for birds, butterflies and other pollinators like bees. Birds are natural predators, and pollinators will help your garden have more produce.

7. Mow less grass; expand flower beds.

8. Add fruit-bearing shrubs and compact fruit trees. They're not only pretty when in bloom but can provide you with fresh fruit.

9. Plant more low maintenance native flowers. Rolla area is in USDA zone 5B. Natives require less water and will adapt faster; some have long blooming seasons like black-eyed susans.

10. Don't toss out those green tomatoes you finally grew. Try ripening them by storing in a cool, dark place in a brown bag with an apple. They don't have as much flavor as vine-ripened
tomatoes but they are still better than winter, store bought ones!


Which one of these have you tried already?







Charlotte Ekker Wiggins is a master gardener sharing gardening adventures in and around her Missouri wildlife garden. 

Copyright 2012, all rights reserved.

Do you like to make New Year's resolutions?

I don't either so I don't make traditional ones. I like to think of the new year in terms of doing something new.

I've always loved corn in the cob so 1998 was the year I tried barbecued corn and developed my own favorite corn muffin recipe. Nothing personal but even though I tried several different combinations, there's something not quite right about grits.

That was also the year I tried to grow corn in a new, sloping plot in back of my house. Actually I did grow it, only to have raccoons decimate the whole crop the first night the corn was ripe. Raccoons and deer were amazingly efficient, the little plot looked like a tornado had ripped through it. I still want to know how they knew the corn was ready for picking.

I was left with a lovely supply of corn stalks and corn husks so I used them, and dried flowers, to decorate outside wreaths around my house. That is, until the morning I opened my front door and I found two deer standing several steps up on my deck calmly having breakfast as they took my wreath apart.

Over the years, several habits have developed from having yearly themes. Not that I need another reason but having a theme gives me a place to start when shopping for books.  I also go out of my way to watch theme-related TV shows and movies, sometimes traveling to a related place or event.

Last year, for example, started out as the year of honeybees and ended up being the year of honey.

When I adopted two bee hives two years ago, the idea was to have bees pollinate my flowers and vegetables with no intention of ever harvesting honey. Beginning beekeepers are forewarned it could take several years before their honeybees produce extra honey so I was counting on at least 2-3 years before having to decide what to do with any extra.

Bees need about 70 lbs of honey per hive to make it through winter. One of my hives this past year ended up producing several hundred pounds of extra honey so I not only taught myself how to harvest honey by hand, but I bottled it to sell and for gifts.

My brother, who received my first-ever harvested honey for his birthday, gave me a coupon for Christmas for an electric honey extractor so I will be shopping for one before the next honey harvesting season, assuming my bees have another good year.

Both hives seem to be doing fine so far. With the warm weather we've been having, it's easy to spot them moving around on the white styrofoam suits I have winterizing the hives. Bees don't hibernate; they bunch up inside the hive and keep it very warm while eating honey they've stored. If the hive gets too cold, bees can't use their delicate wings and can literally die millimeters from honey.

Starting the new year with something new doesn't have to be complicated.

Take parking my car in my garage. Years ago, I installed my old kitchen cabinets around my garage, including my old kitchen sink - to make gardening storage room. It was wonderful until the motor burned out in my VW and I had to shop for a new car - couldn't be more than 17 feet long or it wouldn't fit. My Honda Fastback fits like a glove, as long as I accurately "guess" the distance between the cabinet and closing garage door, and don't place anything in front of the cabinets.

My car and I are starting the new year with a tennis ball tied to a string at the point where I have to stop the car in the garage before I take out the cabinets.

Should also stop my having to explain the dents on the side of the hive boxes, my bees are not taking their hives out for a joy ride...happy new year!


Charlotte Ekker Wiggins is a master gardener and writes about gardening in and around her Missouri wildlife garden. 

Copyright 2012, all rights reserved

Bet you can guess what my family and friends are getting for Christmas this year.

It's not just any honey - it's my first batch, successfully harvested and bottled in spite of all I didn't know about what I was doing!

According to the IRS, harvesting honey officially makes me a "bee farmer" and, be still my heart, requires that I fill out a new tax schedule.

You'd think I would be a honey farmer since what I harvest is not bees but I'm not about to argue.

It does explain one of the comments I heard a couple of years ago at a Mid-Missouri Beekeepers Association meeting. The experienced backyard beekeeper said raising bees was "just like raising cattle only the guy who spends $10,000 on a bull is not as hurt as a beekeeper loosing a queen."

Can you find the queen in this photo? She's bigger than the rest....

The queen is the only egg-layer in the colony and without her, the colony is literally lost. Whereas a worker bee lives only for 45 days, a queen bee can live 4-5 years, assuming nothing untoward happens to her, and she sets the tone for the colony's production, and success.

I lost a couple of queens this past year; no one is sure why. My well-intentioned experiment of letting the bees raise their own queen after the first one disappeared resulted only in a wax moth infestation, which I had to try to manually clean out once a week. Wax moths are sold by the pound in bird food catalogs but they look like wriggling Jabba the Huts and are amazingly destructive for being so tiny.

I didn't have much luck with the second queen, she died on the way to the hive.
 
The third one, I hope, is wintering over nicely with the rest of the all-female colony. By now worker bees have found and tossed out the male bees, or drones, to reduce colony numbers so they can bunch up in the center of the hive and survive eating their own honey stores. The boy bees are escorted out because they do nothing more than wait to mate with the queen; the colony will grow new drones when spring comes.

I didn't cook or any way alter my honey; it's the way it came out of the hive, which means it may become cloudy from pollen.

If it's kept in temperatures below 70F, it may also crystalize on the bottom - proof that it's unpasteurized, real honey but a new concept for some people used to imported, diluted and processed honey.

Cooking removes all good enzymes.

I also added honey comb to my honey bottles. There's something intriguing about seeing a piece of the perfectly-created comb bees make floating in honey - and it's a delicious treat, too.

To help my bees make it through winter, I added hive top feeders so I can easily give them sugar water, or a little honey, every few weeks. This way they can move in and out of the feeders from inside the hive, which means less chance their little delicate wings will freeze from exposure.

I also added insulation to the hives, duct-taping 2-inch wide styrofoam pieces and leaving openings at the front, and at the top, of the back of the hives.

I was feeling pretty good about the insulation until my handyman said two scrappers had been in the neighborhood asking if I had two old refrigerators I wanted hauled off.

Reminded me of the days when I was on the City Council and the city would periodically get reports I was growing grass - the green, lawn kind - over the 12-inch maximum. It only took the city one visit to my garden to see I don't believe, nor do I grow grass - but it became an early warning system that one of my votes had ticked someone off.

Well, part of me hopes word does get around that besides bees, I'm now planting old kitchen appliances. It's a great way to keep the neighborhood watch on its toes!

Here's to you having an equally sweet holiday with family and friends - Merry Christmas!












Charlotte Ekker Wiggins is a master gardener and writes about gardening in and around her Missouri wildlife garden. 

Copyright 2011, all rights reserved.

PS the queen honeybee is the upper left hand corner of the photo, darker and bigger than the rest!

If you've always wanted to head a community garden effort, there's an area group trying to get another community garden started.

The idea, as presented to a recent Phelps County Master Gardener meeting, is to establish a community garden manned by volunteers that would benefit both low income families and church pantries.

This is Rolla, Missouri's third, maybe fourth attempt to get a public space set aside to plant, and to share, locally-grown fruits and vegetables.

It's a great idea; now let's figure out how to make this one a success.
 
Take water, for example. Rolla's Veteran's Park off Highway 72 didn't fare so well without easy to access, on-site regular watering. Rain barrels and ponds will work only as well as their easy access. With record hot  summer temperatures, there's also no guarantee there will be uphill pond water left when water is needed most.
I'm assuming the pond would be uphill; gravity would help more easily get water to garden beds. Bottom line is there needs to be a constant and reliable source of water.

Another critical element is well-preparing soil prior to planting. There's a good reason why Rolla originally was almost called "Hardscrabble," we're lucky to have 2" of good top soil. Getting real soil, and amending it so that it can support a vegetable garden, could easily take a year before a seed should be planted. Soil elements need time to break down and season before they are ready to grow anything.

When I recently was in Maplewood, Missouri, I happened to visit a charming
community garden with a ready water source.

The garden was part of a neighborhood watch with regular meetings and planned events.

It was also
at the corner of a busy intersection, which reminded me that around here,
any successful community garden will require fencing to keep wildlife, and others, from plundering.

Successful community gardens also have manpower who benefit from the hard work. Groups like Master Naturalists and Master Gardeners can provide training on how to garden; Boy Scouts may periodically help on a specific project but the garden itself needs a dedicated group of nearby volunteers who will regularly visit, work, and learn, from the garden.

Earlier this summer, I visited St. James' Community Garden, right off the downtown area. What struck me, besides the charming arbors, was the long list of contributors. A good community garden needs someone organized o tend the garden and to get not only volunteers but donations as well.

My thanks to Master Gardener Laura Lackey, who did some research on community gardens. There's a national association that holds workshops and offers assistance: American Community Garden Association | 1777 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43203-2040 http://communitygarden.org/index.php\

So how about it - are you interested in pulling together Rolla's community garden?

Contact Bruce Wade, Fit Helps Coordinator,The Community Partnership (wk) 573-368-2849 (cell) 573-578-4912.

 

Charlotte Ekker Wiggin is a master gardener and writes about gardening in and around her Missouri wildlife garden. 

Copyright 2011, all rights reserved.

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