My bees have had a hard time putting up enough honey to get through the winter, let alone excess honey for us.
We’ve only been able to get honey from 2 – 3 hives out of 4 – 6 hives and even then, I would have to feed them like crazy in October just to see them through winter. The only time we had a huge crop of honey, was 2 years ago when the black locust were blooming hot and heavy.
But we can’t rely on black locust bloom every year.
Here in Verona, KY there once were lots of big farms – mostly tobacco, but there were gardens, etc.,.
Now we are slowly turning into suburbia, and those that have large lots, or acreage, only have manicured lawns. Some do hay with their huge parcels of grass, but there really isn’t much for my bees to forage on.
As a result, we are planting about 1/2 acre of white sweet, yellow sweet and dutch clover this year. We are also going to plant lots of Anise Hyssop along one side of the driveway.
From what we have read, the sweet lover is a great nectar source for the bees, but even better is…
The Anise Hyssop!
According to what I have read, 1 acre of hyssop will support 100 beehives, each producing about 100 pounds of surplus honey. I could use that shot in the arm!
We also intend to grow a lot of bee-friendly flowers by the hives, plant some bee-friendly trees (tulip poplar, sourwood) and we planted black locust trees over the past couple of years.
We really got a surplus of honey 2 years ago, when the black locust bloomed. But we can’t rely on a strong yearly bloom and honey yield from the black locust.
So we’re betting the bees on the Hyssop.
Hope it turns out well…