songbird wrote:
Ross@home wrote:
Without going out and actually counting them, we have roughly 50
fruit trees on our property. Mostly apples, some pears, a few
peaches, a few sweet cherries, a couple of plum varieties and one
apricot tree. We've had off years in the past and that's to be
expected but, this year, there is a total of no more than a dozen
fruit to be seen out of all those trees.
I spend a lot of time outdoors and I can honestly say I have not seen
more than two or three honeybees so far this year.
Rachel Carson was right. All these damn sprays being indiscriminately
used are taking their toll.
Also, this time of year, when our alfalfa fields are in bloom, they
would normally be alive with Monarch Butterflies. This year, none so
far.
A pox on Monsanto and their ilk.

sadly it's not just the big companies
and big-ag that use these poisons, there's
also the regular consumer which also
spreads them around. (read the lawn care
group and you'll see that most requests
there are how to kill off which weed or
how to restart a grassy lawn)

the other thing is that many people with
orchards do not usually leave flowering
understory plants which will attract and
feed bees during the times when the trees
are not in bloom.

our season started slow but picked up
after the honeysuckle started blooming.
now there are plenty of bees around (with
most of the gardens now in bloom it's
humming out there). we put in crocus,
early iris, daffodils and some other real
early bloomers to keep the bees fed in
the early spring when not much else is
blooming.

as for encouraging wild or native bee
species you can do so even in the 'burbs
because the types of places they like to
nest are not commonly seen as such so
the HOA's eyeballs probably won't notice
an odd contraption of hollow odd sized
sticks and mud if it is placed out back.

there are certain plants which seem to
really attract bees: cosmos, mints,
oregano, thymes. the mints and oregano
may be invasives, but i'd much rather
have them around than grasses so it's
no problem with me to have them replace
the mowed lawn areas. the cosmoes need
disturbed soils to keep going, so i harvest
and replant those seeds, but the bees love
'em so much and they are an excellent later
summer flower.

whatever else you can do is to make sure
there is clean water available to the bees
on the hot days.


songbird

I just received an order of seeds from eBay seller GroCo and it was
mostly plants for the our honey bees ... including yellow clover , bee
balm , penstemon , lavender , and sweeyt alyssum . Now I just gotta figure
out where to plant 'em ! I have some locations in mind , but need to do a
bit more looking before I commit .
We have a LOT of wildflowers out here in the woods , and I have counted at
least 4 species of bee and a couple other pollinators I'm not sure what they
are . Our Ladies of the Hive have greatly increased their numbers in the six
weeks or so we've had the hive , and are storing both honey and pollen .
Last night I finished the refurb on the first medium super , will be adding
it tomorrow evening .
And the garden is exploding ...
--
Snag