westbank community garden newsletter...2018/05/07 · westbank community garden newsletter may 2018...

WestbankCommunityGardenNewsletter

MAY 2018

WHAT TO PLANT IN MAY

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

From seed: Lima Beans, snap beans, chard, cucumber, okra,black-eyed peas, peppers, pumpkin, Malabar spinach, summersquash, winter squash, tomatillo (at least two!), cantaloupe,honeydew, watermelon

From plants: Chard, cucumber, eggplant, Malabar spinach,okra, peppers, summer squash, winter squash, sweet potatoslips, tomatillo, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon

Information courtesy of The Natural Gardener

GARDENER SPOTLIGHT

Westbank Community Garden Newsletter https://mailchi.mp/westbanklibrary/westbank-garden-newsletter

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Name: Elizabeth Campbell

Hometown: San Antonio, Texas

My favorite thing to grow is: string beans

If I were a vegetable, I would be: a sweet potato

My favorite drink is: Diet Coke

The most exciting place I have visited has been: Moscow

If I won the lottery, I would: still work at least part-timebecause I love my work in the medical field

My perfect day would include: being outdoors in the sunshine

My favorite movie is: Love Actually

One of my hidden talents is: being fluent in Spanish

HIVE NEWS

The queen is dead! Long live the queen!

It's been an interesting last few weeks in our bee yard. Duringone of my regular inspections in early April, I didn't see any neweggs, or ones that had been laid in the last three days. This isthe first and most important clue that a hive is not "queen-right".There also seemed to be many fewer bees than before, andmore than half of the bees were drones. (Usually drones makeup 5-15% of a colony.)

I also found several empty queen cells, those peanut-shell-looking cells that indicate that for one reason or another thehive saw fit to grow their own queen. (See second photo.) We'llnever know for sure, but what most likely happened is the hiveswarmed, which means that the hive grew a new queen andthen the old queen and half the hive flew off to find a new


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home. But for whatever reason, the new queen did not survive,and thus the absence of eggs. Sometimes when a hive is queenless for a few weeks, theworker bees will start laying eggs instead, but their eggs canonly turn into male drone bees, not more worker bees. That'swhy I had seen so many drones during that inspection. I got myhands on another queen and "requeened" the hive immediately.The photo below shows the queen and three of her attendantsin the queen cage.

Requeening is done by placing the queen cage into the hive;however, the cage isn't opened; one end of the cage is pluggedup with a stopper made of a sugar. The worker bees will starteating through the sugar, and by the time the candy is gone --usually a few days -- the new queen's pheromones will havehad a chance to permeate through the hive and the colony willhopefully accept the queen. (If you just dump a new queen intoa colony, the workers will kill her immediately.)

Once I confirmed the queen had been successfully released, Iwaited a week and then checked for signs of eggs being laid.


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And indeed, the new queen has been accepted and is doingher most important job!

The peanut-shaped things are queen cells, where several new queens were raised. (Toturn a regular egg into one that will develop into a queen, the worker bees will feed thelarvae royal jelly.) Note all the drones nearby, recognizable by their larger size and theirhuge eyes.

NAME THAT PLANT!


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This herb is sometimes recommended as a hot-weather-lovingalternative to cilantro, as it won't bolt as soon as temperaturesclimb into the 80s. However, to me their flavors are notextremely close. This herb is very commonly used in thecuisines of Southeast Asia.

Think you know? Be the first to email Alex with the correctanswer and win a $10 gift card to Barton Springs Nursery!

And for knowing that the above plant is Oklahoma Redbud(Cercis canadensis var. texensis 'Oklahoma') Deika Elmi (plot


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7) is April's winner!

FRIENDLY REMINDERS

To communicate with your fellow gardeners, email:[email protected] The garden maintains an Amazon wish list with items formaintenance and future projects. Feel free to donate, and letme know if you want something added to the list!

Newsletter contributions encouraged! (Recipes, growing tips,photos, articles, etc.) Send to [email protected] Please don't add weeds to our compost. It doesn't get hotenough to kill the seeds. Put them in a paper yard bag instead.

The big trash can near the compost is to store dry, or brown,compost material. Feel free to bring dry leaves, pine needles,ripped up cardboard, etc. and keep in the can so we can keepour compost properly balanced. (It has holes drilled on thebottom so if rain gets in, it won't stay there and rot our material.)

If you fill up a yard bag, you can either bring it home (if yourneighborhood has yard waste pickup), or leave it by the frontgate and Alex will take it. Please only leave waste for Alex totake in paper bags, not plastic. Thank you!


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westbank community garden newsletter...2018/05/07 · westbank community garden newsletter may 2018...

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