Garter snakes- a gardener's best friend

Garter snakes are only mildly venomous, and even if they bite you they don't produce enough to harm a human. But they are very effective predators, eating slugs, insects, worms, frogs, minnows, and even rodents if the snake is large enough, all of which (except the worms, minnows and frogs) are generally bad for your garden. They have very distinctive markings- three yellow stripes run their length on a dark or black background. Garter snakes give birth to live young, unlike most reptiles. Adults can range in size from 45cm (18") to over a meter (over 45") at the very top end (but that would be a rare one, and probably wouldn't find enough food to stay in your back garden).

The bees are doing well

And I'm learning so much... There's only so much you can read before trying it for real. Experience is the best teacher.

And it's true what they say- To make a small fortune in beekeeping... start with a large one. Good thing these bees are my only pets right now!

Linden trees are extra-ordinarily useful

This tree is also commonly called basswood and lime wood (possible corruption of the Old English and Proto-Indo-European word lind (flexible). It is not related to citrus trees). The N. American version (Tilia americana) can be found from Mexico to Alaska, and there are two genus in Europe (little leaf- Tilia cordata, and large leaf- Tilia platyphyllos), which can be found in southern Norway and Sweden, down into Italy and as far east as the Black Sea. The little leaf genus is far more widespread, and can be found up into Russia and North-eastern Turkey as well as Spain.

Beekeeping pictures

The set up before adding bees.

My first inspection. I didn't take a picture of the second deep on top after.

I didn't get stung!! Woot!

More advanced topics- Soil pH

As I learned from my daughter's grade 8 science class notes pH stands for potential of Hydrogen, and it's determined by measuring the number of hydrogen ions. Water has a neutral pH with a balanced number of hydronium and hydroxide ions. This pH is measured as 7. Anything less is acidic and anything above is basic (or alkaline). Lemon juice is 2.2 pH, so it is highly acidic. The best range for plants is between 5.5 to 7.5 (so acidic is better than alkaline), although some plants have evolved to survive in soils outside of that range (like Arabian coffee and highbush blueberry).