I’ll cut to the chase: It’s about $700 for the first hive and all the necessary bee keeping gear, including the bees to get the hive started, and $400 for every additional hive. Most bee keepers recommend starting with 2 hives — $1100 minimum start-up cost. That includes $200 for each nuc package to go with each full hive consisting of 2 brood boxes and 2 medium honey supers. I’m eager to get into bee keeping, but that $700 to $1100 price tag could certainly put the brakes on it for anyone with a modest income. I probably won’t be able to get any bees for the next couple months, anyway, so I might spend that time looking into building my own hives to cut down on the cost.
Skip to the end of this post for a detailed price list of everything I would need to start up a single hive.
Update: I got some quotes from another supplier in New Brunswick, but even with cheaper shipping, it would have cost more to get everything on my list from them. So the order was placed from a Manitoba supplier on April 26, 2010. The final total is slightly more than my original estimate, but it still comes to about $500 just for the gear and everything I need for one full hive.
Read on . . . »
We just finished drawing a map for our 8 x 8 foot raised garden bed and the 4 x 8 foot bed we plan to build. Stand back and prepare to be dazzled, because this is high tech stuff we’re talking about.
We decided to nearly double the amount of peas and carrots from last year because they’re the most fun to pick and eat right there on the spot. They’re delicious. We also doubled the space for our zucchinis (or summer squash) because it’s so impressive to watch it grow into a huge plant and continually produce zucchinis. We reduced the space for beans and we’re not growing garlic. New veggies for this year are celery and broccoli.
It took a while to decide what to plant and where to plant it because some vegetables get so big they grow over other plants and block their sun; certain parts of the 8 x 8 bed don’t get any morning sun; and some vegetables grow best in the corners or on the sides where they can fall outside the bed frame. So it took a bit of juggling, but we got it. (UPDATE: We didn’t even know it, but all that juggling is part of the practice of intercropping.) We’ll see how well we stick to the plan come early June when the last of the seedlings go in the ground after the last frost. (Last frost in St. John’s, Newfoundland, is June 2nd.)
We tried using the Online Garden Mapping Tool to create our map, but it doesn’t allow for an 8 x 8 configuration; some of its estimates were a bit optimistic; and it was quicker and easier to just map out the garden by hand. Still, it’s not bad for people starting up their first garden beds. This is only our second year, but we’re already relying mostly on our practical experience from last year.
We decided to pass on the potato tower this year, because filling it up with new good soil is too expensive; it requires more work than anything else; and it still might fail miserably. We plan to use its old frame to build two 3 x 3 raised beds instead. We’ll probably get twice as many potatoes that way. It’s a safer bet.
We might also build a small raised bed just for herbs, and of course we’ll grow as much as we can around the yard in various containers. I hope it’s a good year.
Next on the list: Start some of our indoor transplants so they’re ready for planting in about 10 weeks.
If you have a raised garden bed like we do, you probably map out on a grid everything you’re going to plant before you plant it. Maybe you draw it out on a piece of paper like we did last year. And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a simple low-tech method that works.
But if you’re a beginner and you want to get fancy and let a computer do all the calculations for you, check out this free online Garden Planner. It’s provided by a retail outfit that sells stuff you can build yourself for much less cost, but they offer all kinds of sensible advice for growing veggies in a raised garden bed, and they have this nifty little online garden mapping tool.
Read on . . . »
Latest Comments