Top 20 Plants by Plants for a Future http://www.pfaf.org/ who claim that it is one of the most exciting plants they are growing. I don't know if we have a female or male plant but the branches are horizontal like which apparently is an indication that it is female. Uses include food crop which are the seeds that are said to taste like a cross between chestnuts and potatoes. Other medicinal uses are sited particularly in chinese medicine. A good thing for me is that the leaves are supposed to be good for memory loss! Anyway we were determined to give this youngster a good start in life as the first addition to our forest garden. All being well it will grow up to 30 metres with a spread of 9 but it can take up to 35 years for them to be productive. Let's get planting these trees now for future generations.
The soil is quite compacted having not been cultivated for many years. It is well drained and appears to be loamy/sandy just what they like. There were quite a few stones unearthed in the digging process and it was a hot day!
We placed a fence of three more posts and chicken wire around it to deter deer and boar. It was a lot of work for one tree so let's hope it grows even if it is just around 30cm a year!I have my bees - I've had them for about three weeks now. I got a phone call one Saturday morning from 'Antonio de las abejas' only I heard 'Antonio de las ovejas' bees and sheep sound very similar the way some people say it. I soon cottoned on that we were talking bees and literally half an hour later Antonio and his wife turned up with two big colonies of bees. He helped me set up the hives in a suitable place and in the blistering heat I donned my bee suit and we transferred the angry bees into their new homes. I was very glad to be in charge of the smoker as they were not happy to have been shut in for so long. All is quiet around the hives now as they have settled in and gone about their business of making stores for winter. I have bought some strips to treat them for varoa which I will be inserting soon and some feeders to give them a bit extra before winter. Photographs to follow soon.
1 comment:
Have you given all the bees individual names yet? There was a big fuss a few months ago about a bee die off in the USA which I think was eventually pinned down to a virus, have you had any of that trouble in Spain? With all those wild flowers around they certainly won't be short of some nectar. I look forward to seeing 'Lowes Organic Honey' on every supermarket shelf in the world. Megan's so cute by the way, a trainee Kerry in every way.
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