a fruity kiss

Yesterday the bees were swarming in the orchard, and had attached themselves to one of the pear trees. I called the beekeepers to come and collect the swarm, and taped the area off to stop people accidentally wandering into a bee frenzy. Today, with the new colony safely tucked up in a hive, I went to take the tape down and re-open the area. While I was there I thought I'd see how the soft fruit beds were coming along. The great news is -  the raspberries are ripening! Hooray!!!

the first real fruity kiss of the season,

there's nothing like a ripe raspberry warmed by the sun

not enough to sell, or worry about a recipe

just a little scrump for me...

..and a few for my colleagues

a couple of fruity favours in the bank!

meet you at the nectar bar

There's been a lot in the press recently about declining bee numbers, and how we all need to do everything we can to support the wild population.  As gardeners we are encouraged to help out by planting stuff that the bees will enjoy.

So - hands up who's doing their bit?

ME!

check these guys out

My previous attempts at photographing bees in the orchard have required a kind of 'swoop and snap' approach, as they only spend a few seconds on each flower. 
But this patch of welsh onion flowers clearly has some good stuff going on.
The bees are there for ages, just mooching around...

..DRUNK!
on nectar and heavy with pollen

 

they're mostly Bumblies and the patch was humming with them

I think the soundtrack would be some kind of smoky, lazy jazz

 

nice...

lazy weekend

Because I work half of my weekends, it's such a precious treat to have a weekend off with the sun shining and nothing planned. Yesterday we lounged around with breakfast in bed, then had a mooch to our fantastic local flea market. It's a proper old fashioned junkshop where the guy does house clearances and sells stuff cheap. I picked up this very sweet little jug for a pound - can't resist a bit of vintage metal/enamel kitchenalia. I try to restrict myself to practical items that are clean enough to use, (otherwise the house would be full of dented, rusting colanders).

But then the sun went to our heads and we bought a pair of these slightly wild, red vinyl and chrome chairs. Not sure what the hell we're going to do with them - but hey, they were only £10 each! If this was The Apprentice 'Buy Tat and Flog It For a Profit' task, we'd be off to Shoreditch now to sell them for £300 for the pair.

What ya thinking Mr Asparagus Pea?

Today we headed over to the other side of town  - where we used to live before Mr Asparagus Pea asked me to marry him. (Then I flogged his house out from underneath him and dragged him and the boys across to live in my old neighbourhood). There is a lovely Arts Centre there called Chapter, where I was part of a community garden project before we moved. Now I just help out occasionally with the odd bit of advice or pruning demo session. Today was their Big Lunch event so I wanted to call in and see how it's all progressing.

I'm so proud of how much they have achieved and I know the garden will continue to develop and improve as the permanent planting matures. In the meantime they are doing lots of great annual veg and bee/insect friendly stuff to fill the beds.

I even got a jar of honey from the Chapter bees to thank me for helping out.  Sweeeet!

Hope your weekend was lovely too...

pollination army

Blossom time is in full swing and the orchards are humming with activity.  It's a beautiful sunny day today, (hooray), and the bees are busy in the trees collecting pollen and nectar.  So I thought I'd show you a classic example of what 'pollination groups' mean in relation to fruit trees.

Most fruit trees can't pollinate themselves, they need a friend of the same species.*  (Yes, it's 'the birds and the bees' talk again!).  This friend is only good, in reproductive terms, if it has its flowers open at the same time.  In order to help you choose trees that are good pollination partners, some kindly scientists have split them into groups numbered 1-5. Number ones are first out of the blocks and number fives are the last to flower. Trees are good to get fruity with another individual from the same group, or one number either side.**

The bees that are busy visiting the flowers on this tree...

...can't transfer pollen to the flowers on this tree because its buds are still closed.

So if you're planning a backyard orchard, think about pollination groups when you choose your trees.
(The info will be on the back of the label).

Check out these previous posts for more fruit related blatherings

* We're talking apples with apples, and pears with pears etc.  None of that weird inter-species reproductive stuff on my watch, thank you very much!
** Some things need two other individuals to pollinate them - they're called triploids, (although I'm sure we can all think of a few other names for that kind of behaviour!). Bramley apples are probably the most well known example of this.