From My Backyard

Tomato Heaven Has Opened It’s Gates in My Backyard

May 10, 2013

Bishop Buzz Polination, Healthy Lifestyle, pollination, Tomato Growing, Vegetables asparagus, beans, cucumbers, gardening, Pineberry, strawberries, tomatoes 4 Comments

May 10^th 2013 I picked the season’s first red, ripe and redolent of traditional flavor – tomatoes – yes plural form of the word tomato, more than one – Yee Haw cowboy! The Sweet Million variety is the first to deliver the goods. My Celebrity plant will not be too far behind. My mouth will just have to wait a little longer to savor a BLT with one of MY red, ripe and redolent of traditional flavor – real tomatoes. I will have to admit that I am not so optimistic with my Mortgage Lifter tomatoes – at least so far this season. I have had blossoms, I put my bumblebee suit on and buzzed the flowers with the electric toothbrush but the blossoms close up and drop off! Another update – I have my wife to thank for having tomatoes to pick today….she was tempted yesterday…thank goodness they weren’t apples or margaritas!

(see- https://bishopsbackyardfarm.com/2012/10/02/a-vibrating-garden-visitor/ ) I also planted some grafted heirloom varieties purchased from Burpee so maybe I will have some better luck!

The May 10th tomatoes picked in the dark. Dark at 10:30 AM. Yes AM – today’s storm is very dark. 4 inches per hour of rain heading our way!

The asparagus bed gets better each year…I think it is on year 5 for the oldest root crowns. Sometimes the spears never make the kitchen……they are so good freshly cut! Last night I snacked on a few after my return from McAllen Texas, down in the Rio Grande River valley. I also savored a few Alpine strawberries and a few full sized berries off of my strawberry towers. The white Pineberries seem to be busy sending out runners…..I may have to snip that behavior and try to force it until later this summer.

Finger sized asparagus spear….flash photograph at 10:30 AM!!!!!

My friend John and I have cucumber seeds in the ground ready to start up the trellis. He is a bit more limited with space so he is only growing a slicing variety. Me, on the other hand have slicers, Armenian long style and “picklers” planted in my beds. I will promise my family….no more attempts at making dill pickle. I can’t compete with your favorites! So, sweet or bread and butter types will be my focus. Several years ago I made a spicy, mildly hot bread and butter recipe….I liked it! If I remember I will share that recipe later on this summer.

I am pleasantly surprised, my quiet strawberry beds, resting after an early spring burst of activity, are showing lots of blossoms….again, Yee Haw cowboy! I really don’t think a person can have too may strawberries! The arches over the garden entry I built with Crepe Myrtle pruning’s are supporting several varieties of pole beans. The blossoms are heavy on some of the supports indicating a potentially bountiful harvest. Once the vines are filled in a little better I will share a photo. I have a mix of red, purple and white pole bean blossoms showing. Fingers crossed that the vision in my head is reflected in the end result of the planting.

The pole bean arches with some red blossoms.

Chard, Brussels Sprouts and some tomatoes

My Dwarf Meyer Lemon tree has set a good number of lemons, some are approaching egg size right now. What is interesting though is that there is evidence of many new blossom forming on the tree now. Not sure if this is in the realm of normal behavior but I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth….I will certainly take and enjoy any extra efforts by my little lemon tree!

Weather update….nearly 2000 lightning strike per hour in some areas just east of Houston. Flooding, hail and dark, dark skies! we are bracing for some very wet weather.

TTFN

Bishop

Kayaking On A Beautiful Day – With A Surprise

May 5, 2013

Bishop Photography, Travel ducks, Herons, kayaking, wild hogs, wild pigs 3 Comments

Decided to take a day off from the garden and paddle on the river and lake by the house. I took my big lens, 80-400mm zoom and the Nikon D200. Just to be safe I brought it along in a water tight roll-up sack. I launched at Kings Harbor, right in the middle of our development in Kingwood, TX, 25 mile NE of Downtown Houston. There are an abundance of water birds of all types so my primary objectives were, 1. To paddle for a bit and 2. Take some photos.

Little Blue Heron….I did an internet search. Did I get it right?

Great Blue Heron

I was drifting up a little bayou on the southside of Kingwood Country club not 300 yards from the fairway bordered by some very nice homes. My friend John Hazle lives about a very healthy dive with a Big Bertha from where these photos were taken. I was following a Great Blue Heron and a Little Blue Heron when I spotted something odd!

I saw a tan lump, looked a bit hairy with black spots. I lowered the camera and drifted a little closer to determine what it was. Then it moved and attached to the lump was a pig snout. Oh boy! The wild hogs are creeping into the neighborhood! A moment later a big hog steps into the picture. He was big, he was ugly and he is way too close to home….albeit closer to Mr. Hazle’s home than mine. Yuk, yuk! My first thought to be honest with you was to figure out where I could set up a tree blind and put an arrow into one of the hogs….I also have to admit that seeing them active like this during mid-daylight hours is a bit odd.

The little tan lump I first spotted had friends!

Oh Yeah….A big ugly – could be a boar but my guess, based on size, would be a sow with a couple of juveniles.

Anybody seeing sausage? Probably 40 plus yards away…too far for me to shoot. I need about a 20-25 yard shot to feel comfortable.

I paddled around to the back side of the island to see if there was evidence of more hogs but didn’t have any luck. I need to check with TPWD to see if bow hunting would be allowed in this area. If yes, I see a pig roast in the near future! I managed a few more keeper shots. I really need to do this more often. There so much to see along the river and lake shore!

Coming in to land.

Exploding up off the water. One of these days I will catch this in focus……it was close to being in focus!

Cruising and skimming across the water – another Great Blue Heron.

A Killdeer and some young out of focus in the foreground.

TTFN

Bishop

Jams and Curds

May 1, 2013

Bishop berrries, Canning, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, jam and jelly, Making Jam, Strawberry kale, smoothie 3 Comments

My pantry shelves a pretty well loaded with jams, jellies but, unfortunately the lemon curd has vanished. The last jar of the Meyer Lemon curd went to my daughter in California and shared with my grandkids. My granddaughter sent me a text message this morning after the gift package arrived – “Please send more liquid gold….AKA lemon curd… It is amazing and I want to eat the whole jar but am required to share”. I shared with her a comment from one of my readers, Claire, a blogger from the UK. Claire’s favorite way to use and enjoy lemon curd is by the spoonful directly from the jar! I second that advice! See what Claire has to say and share. http://promenadeplantings.com/

On my shelf I do have some jars of rose petal jelly, beautiful in color but short on “rose” flavor. I made two batches of Pomegranate jelly, one from store bought juice and the other by extracting the juice myself….both were good but the home extracted juice gave the jelly a little more of a robust flavor. One jar remains of my Serrano Pepper jelly and one small jar of the Port Wine jelly with Rosemary. The Mother Lode is this year’s strawberry harvest. It is so good!

The last batch I chose to make in a chunky style. Chunky meaning I did not fully, completely, energetically mash and destroy the body of the berries. I like the results! My son does not appear to like it as well as the abused berry crushing approach! Why do I like it? It is more like enjoying the fruit as well as the jam. I always make the low sugar recipe version, i.e., 4 cups of sugar vs. the 6 or 7 called for in the full sugar recipes. I think the low sugar recipe allows more of the base fruit flavor to come through in the process. I can’t wait until the blackberries kick in.

Gently mashing the berries for the “chunky” jam.

The results. I the bowl is the foam scraped off before canning. My wife adds it to her oatmeal & egg white breakfast frittata.

The results. In the bowl is the foam scraped off before canning. My wife adds it to her oatmeal & egg white breakfast frittata.

My biggest berry of the season – a double butterfly strawberry.

Strawberries are still showing up in the garden, none of them make it into the house! I love to putter in the garden and snack on the fresh stuff. The sugar snaps, small asparagus, a carrot that escaped the clean-up of the beds. I had a couple of the miniscule Alpine berries this morning, two Pineberries and a few sugar snap pea pods. I also chopped up a cup of kale and added it to the blender with 6 oz. of orange juice, 1 cup of frozen pineapple, 1/2 cup of plain Greek Yogurt, a tbsp. of ground flax and a dash of nutmeg. Very tasty for such a healthy smoothie. PS, I used 50% less calorie orange juice….still had a great taste.

TTFN

Bishop

Tomato, Tomato Regardless of How You Say it – They Both Taste Yummy

April 30, 2013

Bishop berrries, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, Potato Growing, Strawberry, Tomato Growing, Vermicoposting Alpine Strawberry, asparagus, blackberries, Pineberry, potatoes, strawberries, tomatoes, vegetables, worms 3 Comments

I should be rewarded with my first ripe tomatoes in less than two weeks and they will not be the commercial hothouse or worse varieties. There is just something special about YOUR tomatoes, picked at the peak of ripeness, sliced and savored! Granted, my first ones will be of the cherry variety so probably not sliced but nonetheless, savored.

Cherry type, Sweet Million – just love those clusters

Years ago I worked at a produce warehouse loading and unloading trucks at night while trying obtain a degree during the daylight hours. It was a bit of a challenge. I did learn quite a bit about produce! Some lessons were painful, i.e., thoroughly was your hands after handling Seranno or Jalapeno peppers! Apples had to be my favorite – the apple room was kept quite cold, a real blessing in the hot weather and because I was the tall guy, I stayed in the room to stack the boxes. The hand trucks carried boxes stacked 5 high, I had the job of adding 3 more boxes after the lads dropped them off. Crisp cool air and the wonderful scent of apples.

Here were other rooms at the warehouse that were not as pleasant. Tomatoes were shipped to us as “breakers”, meaning the shoulder of the tomatoes were just beginning to show color. The rest of the tomato was green and extremely firm! The tomato boxes are designed for air circulation for a reason. We stacked boxes in the tomato room “loosely” – each stack stood independently a few inches apart from the others. Once the room was full we shut and sealed the door, turned up the warmth, humidity and added ethylene gas. From Wikpedia –

“ Commercial ripening rooms use “catalytic generators” to make ethylene gas from a liquid supply of ethanol. Typically, a gassing level of 500 to 2,000 ppm is used, for 24 to 48 hours. Care must be taken to control carbon dioxide levels in ripening rooms when gassing, as high temperature ripening (68F) has been seen to produce CO₂ levels of 10% in 24 hours.” http://ne-postharvest.com/ripening.htm#controlledatmosphereripening

It was a similar process in the banana room and once the fruit had been gassed and gasses evacuated, well mostly evacuated, then we moved them out and loaded the local delivery trucks. I would guess that we walked over 15 miles during an 8 hour shift, excepting the Friday night shift, which was typically 14 hours and more. The Saturday local runs were huge!

I have a diverse mix of tomatoes this year, two types of Cherry, Celebrity, Mortgage Lifter (standard and a grafted variety, Brandywine Red and Pink –both grafted varieties, Patio varieties – determinate, most of what I grow are the indeterminate types, Cherokee, Juliet and a volunteer of some sort. The volunteer is starting to set fruit and it appears to be a smaller cluster variety. I had great luck with a volunteer plant last year….it was prolific!!!!

Celebrity Variety – 4-5 inch size and does well when it is hot.

The newest tomato on the patio plant.

One of the Patio varieties.

Other garden notes, the barrel and in ground potatoes are kicking butt! I have not had such vigorous and tall growth in my limited potato growing experience. The pole beans are reaching skyward on the arches made from the Crepe Myrtle cuttings, Snap Peas are in their last week of production, asparagus is coming up, I have Chard and more Chard…. I will use some Chard in a smoothie today and may even try some of the kale in a smoothie.

Some of my Swiss Chard

The Yukon Gold Potatoes as of the middle of April. They are much bigger now!

The blackberry vines have a heavy set going on and I hope I get to harvest before the birds find them. I also have my Pineberry – a white strawberry with red seeds and my Alpine strawberries producing. Hopefully I can propagate the Pineberries to make a bigger planting for next year and the Alpine berries…..so tasty but so tiny…fun, tasty but mostly ornamental! I had to stop typing and step outside to sample the Pineberries and the Alpine berries. Very yummy. It is tough to gauge the ripeness of the Pineberries. The color change is minimal, my best gauge is the firmness and it appears that when ripe they pull off of the stem easily. I have lots of Pineberry runners showing up so hopefully I have a bigger patch next year.

A ripe Pineberry. At this stage it is almost overripe. The best stage is just a blush of pink and the seeds are red. The flavor is similar to a pineapple with a hint of strawberry.

One of the many blackberry clusters.

My commercial vermicomposting bins are working very well. I have added the third box on the top, two more to go before I harvest the bottom box. The design of the bins has a liquid collecting pan and spigot. I pulled about a quart of worm poop water off the bottom yesterday. I mixed a pint with two gallons of water and fed some of my potted plants and the strawberry towers. Everything seems to be happy in the garden right now! The summer, or at least a real summer heat has not appeared yet. May is tomorrow and the heat wave can start at any time!

TTFN

Bishop

Updating My Blog – Just a Little

April 11, 2013

Bishop California, Photography, Travel 7 Comments

Freshening the look of my blog with a recent photo taken on the Central California Coast around Morro Bay and Los Osos t a couple of months ago. I have captured some sunset and evening images that I find pleasing to my eye and hope they are images that you can enjoy too! This area of California has always been one of my favorite areas to visit and wish that I could afford to plunk my “backyard farm” down in the vicinity….I can always dream can’t I?

Sunset and wildlife.

A mid day image looking out across the bay toward the dunes.

Wide angle look at the sunset.

As the sun fades the sky picks up the reds and softer colors as the light fades.

As the sun drops the sky picks up the reds and softer colors as the light fades.

From the Sweet Springs Preserve near Los Osos

Sunset and Hobie Cat Los Osos, CA

http://pappadecker.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Sunsets/Los-Osos-Baywood-Park-Sunset/26758276_7XD9CV

TTFN

Bishop

Carrots out the Wazoo – Now What?

April 11, 2013

Bishop Berry Preserves, Gardening, jam and jelly, Potato Growing, Strawberry, Vermicoposting blackberries, carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, strawberries, strawberry jam, worms 4 Comments

On the heels of last nights awesome rainstorm across the Houston area, close to 2 inches overnight, I decided it was time to pull up the carrots. Some have just exploded with growth. See photo below.

Exploded/split carrot….they taste OK but my wife refuses to let me cook them.

I am in the process of prepping for cucumbers and squash plantings in the next week. The sugar snap and snow peas are still producing but the heat that disables them is just around the corner. My early planting of Yukon Gold potatoes is off to an amazing start. I am using a barrel, a big tub and of course – some planted in the back bed.

Yukon Gold Plants needing to be hilled up a little deeper!

The Brussels Sprouts are still forming, I hope well enough to harvest before the heat sets in! Good looking plants, not sure what to expect as this is my first attempt at growing them. I found a good recipe and cooking advice over on – http://promenadeplantings.com/2013/04/11/brussels-sprout-cheddar-and-apple-salad/

The freezer is full of strawberries waiting to made into wonderful jam. As they fade in the garden I am loving the evidence of a potentially great blackberry harvest! I enjoy them fresh but he low sugar jam I make helps extend the enjoyment into the fall or if lucky….till 2014 arrives.

I added more strawberry scraps to the top level of my worm bins. I am now on level five and the migration up towards the top bin is underway. They seem to be a little chubbier than usual…..could it be the abundance of strawberries in their diet? – Quite possibly – they have been binge eating strawberries for many weeks now! I still recycle….lots of scraps going into my compost bins.

I need some variety in recipes for Swiss Chard – at the moment it is an abundant ornamental in the garden. I can only eat so much fresh in with salads or wilted like spinach….Help!

Carrots and more Carrots

A look down the garden path toward the back beds. The poles in the foreground arch up over the entrance and soon will be covered in 3 varieties of pole beans.

TTFN

Bishop

Strawberries, Strawberries, Blackberries, Dewberries and More Strawberries

April 2, 2013

Bishop Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, jam and jelly, Pest Control, Vermicoposting Alpine Strawberry, asparagus, blackberries, Dewberry, Pineberry, strawberries, worms 4 Comments

This has been a banner year in my strawberry patch and it appears to be heading in the right direction for all of my berries. I have made three batches of strawberry jam, have 2/3 of a bag of the frozen ugly berries (I freeze the ugly berries and try to share the pretty ones with my family), snack on them while puttering in the garden and still have some to give away. The very warm and humid Houston growing environment is a real challenge. The moist air and damp ground will rot a berry quickly. One of my regular tasks and one that my wife is good at helping with is to flip the berry up onto the plant leaves keeping them off the ground!

My composting worms are being spoiled with the wonderful spoils. All of the bad berries, berry parts trimmed off the ugly berries and those that went beyond ripe go to the worm bin. If you didn’t already know, worms eat their body weight in scraps every day. What a life, eating your body weight in super sweet, soft and juicy strawberries every single day. This has been going on for a month now and will probably extend for another month. I hope they don’t revolt when their diet changes!

The strawberry plants are so thick that they hide the ripening berries unless you are vigilant at combing through the leaves to find them before the bugs and rot set in! I really love how the plants fill in over time and make a beautiful and edible border to the yard. I did not keep good records on which variety is planted where….over time they run together on their own. I have Chandler which is well suited for the south, Seascape, Sweet Charlie and Sequoia….. Added Alpine Strawberries and the Pine berry, the white colored strawberry….

I have “ June Bearing” and” Everbearing”….I don’t think I have any Day-Neutral varieties…..yes I do Seascape! The link below is one of the better strawberry info websites I have found for US growers.

http://strawberryplants.org/2010/05/strawberry-varieties/

Which berries will develop next? Two years ago I saved some wild Dewberries I found in the woods nearby. I planted them in a big pot hoping for the best. Last year the birds robbed the few berries that tried to ripen. This year, for whatever reason, the vines are loaded with blossoms! Finger crossed and I rubbed my lucky rabbit’s foot in hopes of enough dewberries for more than just a garden snack.

Next I should be able to enjoy my Blackberries. I have thornless and thorny blackberries……I said thorny! They are beginning to bud out and a few brave blossoms are popping open. Last year was a disappointing blackberry season, both for me and for the local growers. I will double down on the good luck charms hoping for the Dewberry harvest to mirror the blackberry harvest.

I am hoping for a berry, berry good spring and early summer in the berry patch. FYI, April 2^nd and I munched on my first asparagus spear of the season. They are so sweet picking straight from the garden…..do not pass go, just straight into my mouth! Yum!

Gardening gift from my wife…..I am always in the learning mode!

Immature Strawberry

I smell jam cooking!!!

Blackberry blossom…..

Alpine Strawberry

Garden Helper – shifting between the brown to green phase.

Dewberry Blossom

He was so hard to spot….I first spotted him jumping from branch to branch.

TTFN

Bishop

Making Lemons – Headlong into the Process

March 23, 2013

Bishop Gardening 6 Comments

One of several bees diving headlong into the job of pollination!

I have been travelling too much but by unpaid farm laborers don’t seem to mind. When I walked into the backyard this morning I was greeted by the intoxicating scent of the lemon blossoms covering my Meyer Lemon tree. I had an immediate flashback to several late night rides on my motorcycle down Sunset Boulevard to the beach when the citrus trees were in blossom….such great memories!

The little dwarf tree is overwhelmed with blossoms and will be in serious need of thinning if even 10% of the fruit set. I put my macro lens on the Nikon D200 and stalked this guy. I wound up getting a number of him that I liked but this one illustrates the results of his deep rooting, headlong into the blossom. The number of active honeybees this spring has just been overwhelming. In the 8 springs living here in Kingwood I have never had the level of activity that I have seen this year!

I wish I could track these guys and find the hive…..my curiosity is just killing me.

Just a few minutes ago I walked out and spotted another garden helper….this one was lurking in the branches of the lemon tree…..Pretty cool! He would leap to a different branch and seemed to just disappear! Amazing. Then I would see a little movement and then try to zero in again.

He was so hard to spot….I first spotted him jumping from branch to branch.

TTFN

Bishop

A Walk on the Wild Side

March 8, 2013

Bishop Healthy Lifestyle, Memories, Photography, Relationships, Travel, Volunteerism Avon walk for Breast Cancer, Bald eagle, coyotes, hiking, Lake Houston Wilderness Park, wild pigs 5 Comments

The wild side of Houston could certainly be found , Downtown, Midtown, Montrose, Washington Avenue and Rice Village to names few. No, the wild side I am referring to is on the north end of Lake Houston and specifically up the East Fork of the San Jacinto River including Peach Creek and Caney Creek. I had visited the area several years ago and have followed the news of it’s transformation, an ongoing transformation. More on the transformation later. My daughter Lisa is prepping for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer here in Houston April 20th and 21st. It is a challenging trek and she has 5+ weeks to get ready for it. She lives near our home in Kingwood. Kingwood is blessed with an amazing maze of trails through the greenbelt and woods surrounding the community. I suggested we try branching out and explore the Lake Houston Wilderness Park. http://www.houstontx.gov/parks/ourparks/lakehoustonpark.html

Our first visit was late Sunday afternoon the third of March. We chose the Ameritrail, a 10 mile loop if done in it’s entirety. Due to waning sunlight we wanted to get a few miles in and explore a little. We followed the blue dots on the trees delineating the Ameritrail for about 2.5 miles then spun around and returned. It was a well maintained trail pretty much following Peach Creek. Peach Creek finally joins up with Caney Creek and becomes Caney Creek until it joins up with the East Fork of the San Jacinto River. Sunday’s walk was brief but whetted the appetite to do the entire loop. I carried my big heavy camera and lens, Nikon D-200 and the 80-400mm Nikon lens, a very heavy load …. I promised to better equipped to carry my gear when we returned. The park is home to a handful of wintering Bald eagles and I was hoping to be lucky enough to capture a shot or two.

A view along Peach Creek

Beautiful Peach Creek adjacent to the trail.

Yesterday, the 7th of March Lisa and I prepared to tackle the full loop. We gathered our gear, I took the big camera again but used my camera back pack. In the top pouch I included my Nikon J1 with telephoto zoom along with the standard lens. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to capture wildlife with the D-200 but I will share a shot that happened quite by chance. The only wildlife spotted on our previous jaunt was a single doe standing off in the shadows watching us. Our second trip was quite a bit more exciting.

Our first glimpse of the wild side was a single coyote the slowly meandered into the trail in front of us. Both cameras were safely tucked away in the back pack, darn! The coyote stopped in the trail, casually glanced our direction a went 0-60 in about 2.2 seconds. I decided that I needed to be better prepared so for the remainder of the hike I kept the J1 in hand with the telephoto in place. A bit later a very large shadow of a bird passed over us. I quickly looked up and there was a Bald eagle soaring by at a quick clip. The wing span is breathtaking – it appeared to be 6 or 7 feet across. The trees limited both picture taking and viewing but for that brief moment it was awesome!

the 5 mile bench where we ate our sandwiches Halfway through the loop.

We should have been more patient breaking for lunch….. a half mile or so along the path was a beautiful small lake ringed with Cypress trees.

The camp site on the bank of Lake Isabel

A wide angle look across the lake from the fishing dock.

One of the many large Cypress trees ringing Lake Isabel.

One of the other critters spotted on the fishing dock

While hiking I kept pointing out to Lisa many of the patches of torn up ground due to the rooting nature of the wild hogs. I also told her not to worry, they are seldom seen during daylight hours, preferring to rototill the soil in the dark of night. Not long after our stop at the lake I spotted another coyote lurking in the brush off to the left of the trail. He spotted us but slinked away, not like he was running away. It looked more like he was trying to hide in the dense brush. A moment later I saw a wild pig step out in the broad trail in front of us. I managed a picture or two but really wish the other camera had been in my hands. It turned out to be a sow and she was followed by 8 or so piglets. I missed the shot as they were strung out chasing momma across the trail but got a little piece of them in one photo. Lisa said they were so cute! Not sure I agree. I think the coyote had a pulled pork meal on his mind.

The wild sow on her way across in front of us

The piglets emerging from the left in hot pursuit of momma

We finished the long walk tired, a little confused due to the lack of trail markings on the return loop and ready to sit for a bit. My app logged our trip at 11 miles. It was a good jaunt. I guessed correctly on the trail that diverges from a long section of two track back to the nature center. What I discovered when chatting with the young park ranger was that they are in the state of finishing a lot of work to finalize trails, facilities and markings. Campgrounds are not yet finished in some places and the archery range has been cleared but is planned for some time in the future.

We visited the Kingwood Farmer’s market on our return home but that will be another story…..

If you would like to help Lisa Decker and the Avon Breast Cancer Walk ….Follow the link….

http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/Houston?px=6400511&pg=personal&fr_id=2180

TTFN

Bishop

Bees and my Strawberries

March 6, 2013

Bishop berrries, Gardening, Mason bees, pollination, Strawberry broccoli, gardening, hand pollinating, honeybees, strawberries 3 Comments

It really started with my broccoli plants that took off and went to blossom. Theyhave beautiful yellow blossoms that are attracting honeybees and a small variety of bumblebee. I found this a real positive change from previous springs. In fact, the number of honeybees spotted in my garden area has been dismal and seemed to be getting worse. I actually employed some Mason Bees the past two years. There seems to be a steady crew working from mid-morning until late afternoon. My guess is that these are a wild variety that hang out in the woods nearby.

I put my macro lens of my Nikon D-200 and attempted to capture the guys at work. The yellow broccoli blossoms must be a bee magnet. I will try to remember that fact next year to draw bees in. I seem to be getting a little better handling this lens.

Bee and broccoli blossom

Carrying quite a load while working this blossom

Off to another one. Trying to improve my moving critter skills. My goal is get a crisp shot of the bee flying!

Strawberries grown outside seem to pollinate themselves pretty well but the fruit size may improve with help from the bees. If you are anal enough, you can take on the task yourself armed with a magnifying glass and an artist’s brush. I have used an electric toothbrush with my tomatoes with outstanding results. If I get frisky enough to crawl around the berry patch soon I will let you know!

Although small, strawberry blossoms have a delicate beauty about them. I caught some of the broccoli work crew sliding on over to the strawberry bed and working their magic. I may hire on tomorrow with my magnifying glass and brush….Love those strawberries! I will make jam in a couple of days and will hopefully put up a couple of dozen jars!

Do your magic little guy!

Very nice strawberry blossom

Now for the payoff –

Just starting to show!

Yes – developing nicely

The final payoff

Yum!!!!!

TTFN

Bishop

From My Backyard

Tomato Heaven Has Opened It’s Gates in My Backyard

Kayaking On A Beautiful Day – With A Surprise

Jams and Curds

Tomato, Tomato Regardless of How You Say it – They Both Taste Yummy

Updating My Blog – Just a Little

Carrots out the Wazoo – Now What?

Strawberries, Strawberries, Blackberries, Dewberries and More Strawberries

Making Lemons – Headlong into the Process

A Walk on the Wild Side

Bees and my Strawberries

Email Subscription

Category Drop Down

Bishop\’s Backyard Farm

My Secret Past

Calendar

My Most Used Tags

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Email Subscription

Category Drop Down

Bishop\’s Backyard Farm

My Secret Past

Calendar

My Most Used Tags