Ah, it’s Saturday and time for a lay in… well that was plan A.
The overnight rain put pay to that one.
At at 7.30 am, I received a text from one of my gardeners telling me that a flood warning had been issued on Bin Brook. Around 9.00 am I received a phone call from the same gardener, saying that Bin Brook had burst it’s banks and large parts of the garden was under water. But more worryingly, was this picture he sent me….
Time to call back up.
Three of us went to assess the situation. The water level was only a couple of inches below the entrance of the beehives…. more help was needed. So while waiting for the bee experts to arrive we decided to check out the rest of the garden…
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The Backs…
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Back to the Bees…
After awhile the bee people arrived (more gardeners), and the only way we could safely, save the bee’s was to raise the height of the hives. Which was not going to be easy as they were becoming more active and also, this would have to be done standing in approximately two feet of water. The one-thing that was on our side, we had noticed that the water level was beginning to slowly go down.
Three went in to lift the hives and placed extra height under the them, two done the lifting whilst the other placed the in the extra supports. While me and another gardener stood at the edge of the flood water slipping on our Nike running shoes, just in-case… well, you can’t be too careful.
Success….
With the flood water receding and a drier weather forecast for the next couple of days, it will give us time to re-assess the situation.
No bee’s were harmed in the making of this blog- but one gardener did receive three stings… the bee’s obviously did not appreciate what we were trying to do for them.
Having the floods in our gardens wasn’t all bad news, there was something that did put a big smile on my face… but unfortunately- I can’t tell you 😉
I thought I had problems, minor to the devastation water has wreaked on your wonderful gardens.. You have a fight on your hands, but I feel sure you will overcome. Your love for those gardens shows and will aid you to restore to its former glory
Thanks- this year has been a very tough year weather-wise for all us gardeners.
Well done all of you….fantastic write up and photos Den 🙂
Thanks Pauline 🙂
It sounds like it has been a horribly dreary summer on your side of the world. Keep us posted on the bees!
You could say that our weather has been very challenging since early April- I will do an update on the bees.
I hope you and the bees have since dried out? After reading this I will stop complaining about the odd drop of rain we’ve been having.
Everything is back to normal now- and the bees are now safe 🙂