Gauteng Smallholder August 2016 | Page 25

IN THE GARDEN Go for heirlooms ~ they taste better T hey may look funny, be smaller, and in some cases they are less convenient to prepare, but there's no doubt that heir- loom fruits and vegetables have a far superior taste, with more intense flavours and often better textures, than modern hybrid varieties. For, modern hybrids are bred with factors other than flavour in mind. Factors that are bred into modern hybrids which set them apart from their BEEKEEPING From page 22 excluder should there be one During this operation he may as the queens need to fight to come across a weak swarm kill the weaker one, place a with obviously an old and sheet of newspaper over the failing queen. It is futile to receiving super and invert the spring clean such a swarm. It weak brood chamber over is a waste of time and two the receiving hive. After a costly frames of foundation week return and remove the wax. The only answer is to inverted brood chamber and unite this swarm to another shake any bees into the hive ~ quite a simple receiving hive's super. procedure. Select a receiving Return to the honey house to hive, perhaps the one deal with all the brood frames immediately next to this weak collected from the hives. hive, smoke first, then remove Select the lighter combs and the lid and super off the weak cut out the honey from the hive, smoke the receiving frames and dump into a drum hive, remove the queen to be heated in a double o boiler not exceeding 70 C. Do not mix dark frames with light frames as all the honey will be dark and undesirable. The mixture will melt and after cooling the wax and muck will form a solid pack above the honey. The wax can be lifted off and melted and cast into moulds for trading for future foundation sheets. The honey is then tapped off and collected. The black combs can be returned to another apiary and p