Gardener's Group discussion

I saw this on one of the other message boards I frequent and I instantly thought of everyone here. http://www.greatsunflower.org/en The loss of bees is/could be a real problem for us. I am glad to see people taking steps to remedy it before it gets too big. I believe they are taking sign-ups until mid July. Cool thing imo

I've heard of this too! Thanks for the link Tera!

I signed up but since I did so so late, they won't be sending me seeds until next year BUT I did get a potted sunflower this week! I plan on doing the 'sample' this wkend since I'm under dr's orders to rest (consists on watching the sunflower for a half hour & recording the date, time, weather, temp and how many bees visit the sunflower in the half hour).

I did get some of my own sunflower seeds but forgot to sprinkle the spot I planted them in w/cayenne pepper, so not 2 days later, this morning I found a bunch of sunflower seed shells in the pot! (Dang squirrels! One of them had a good bfast this morning!) So, in my only outting for bfast down town tomorrow, I'm picking up some more seeds!

I'd never heard of this. Thanks for the link. And thanks, also for the suggestion of sprinkling cayenne pepper when planting the seeds. I planted some sunflower seeds yesterday, armed with my bottle of cayenne.

Your welcome Anne! Once our heat wave ends later this evening, I'm going to be out there planting seeds in my containers w/cayenne pepper at my side too!

I posted my 1st 'sample' for the sunflower bee experiment on sunday! not one bee to be seen! (strange since we had lots of bees 'round here in the beginning of spring!)

I'm coming to this discussion very late, and I don't know about the bee project, but I have heard on the news about the decline in bee populations. Probably because of this I have been much more aware of how many bees were around this summer and I am happy to report in my area there were plenty. They were especially busy in the asters, hyssop, monarda, phlox, holly hocks, and delphiniums. I also noticed there were several different varieties. I'm hoping this is a sign the population is on the increase again.

I think it's got a lot to do with weed killers for lawns too! No dandelions, no bees!

Also disturbing is that they've now said that lightning bug populations are decreasing and they're not staying around as long! Here there weren't many once August hit ~ usually we'd have them up until Halloween unless it got very cold! I love watching lightning bugs come up out of the grass at dusk in the summer ~ it's one of those amazing moments that never ceases to awe me no matter how many times I see it!

This one makes me sad. I haven't seen a lightning bug in years. As a kid we caught them in bottles and watching them as we let them go was part of the magic of a summer night. I live in town and even though I don't use them myself I assume all the chemicals is what keeps them away. I wish I could say the same for boxelder bugs.

Yeah, it seems that the annoying bugs are thriving and the beneficial ones are dying! Not fair in the least!

I also heard about the decline of the bee population on the news and thought how sad that we are killing our beautiful earth. It has such a perfect system and then we come along and try to "make it better".....really makes me sad to think about the damage we have done. The collective "we" anyway. Thanks for posting that link Tera!

I did it last year and I'm doing it again this year. The site provides a lot of great info.

(Big one: Stop using crap to kill the dandelions on your lawn! Let them bee so the bees can be!)

I recently read about this on a garden blog. I think its a great idea and I am going to plant Vanilla Dreams and Teddy Bear seeds today. I have lots of dandelions in my lawn, they are edible and actually quite good for you. You can tempura the flowers and they taste like mushrooms. Plant sedums for fall blooms, the bees love these.

I saved a page from a magazine which lists an entire garden of flowers to plant to attract bees & I'm going to post that here hopefully tomorrow. I've got dandelions in the back yard and have no intentions on using anything to get rid of them. They've been my favorite flower since I was a little girl! (They're also good in salads (the greens) and for making wine!)

I'd be interested in that list Jo. Hopefully they will be attractive to the hummingbirds too. They are my favorite amusement in the garden. What kind do you have in your gardens?

This ad is from http://helpthehoneybees.com and Haagen-Daz Ice Cream:

Honey Bee Gardening Tips
~Choose flowers that produce nectar and pollen such as Sunflowers, Daisies, Cosmos, Zinnias, Dahlias, Asters, Marigolds, Hyacinths, Hollyhocks, Crocuses, Foxgloves and Geraniums. (*I have all but crocuses and geraniums!)

~Select an assortment of flowers that bloom successively over the spring, summer and fall in order to provide food through all seasons. (*You can also start seeds in stages throughout the seasons to keep your flowers going thru the first frost whic usually works great for me!)

~Pick blue, purple, orange and yellow flowers as these are most attractive to bees.

~Plant patches of Sunflowers in close proximity to one another. (*Goldfinches also love the seeds!)

~DO NOT USE PESTICIDES! (*Let your dandelions be! If you have a bug problem, try using 1 part dish soap with 10 parts water and spray only the affected area and this should kill the non-beneficial bugs you're having a problem with).

~Plan "BEE" - to create your own honey bee garden use:
-White Boltonia
-Jupiter's Beard
-Catmint
-Shasta Daisy
-Michaelmas Daisy
-Siberian Iris
-Snowdrop
-Blue Jacket Hyacinth
-Lily Flowered Tulip
-Fortissimo Daffodil

"You don't need a lot of space, just a lot of love."

*I'm sure many of most of these will also attract hummingbirds because they look for nectar.

Thank you Jo, I have most of these flowers. I think our frost is finally done so I can plant seeds out now. Happy gardening to you all this weekend!

If you're unsure of your last frost date, you can always do a G search for it (or Hardiness Zone for ) - I have to every year because I always forget, lol! Moving to the coast in 2005 screwed me up; I was so familiar with how things were inland. Amazing that 13 miles inland is so different than here!

Ever since I read the Secret Life of Bees I've wanted lots of bees. My dad and a friend of his started some new hives yesterday. I'm gonna sneak some honey from them. I have dandelions all over the yard. I think they are pretty. Clover too. Reminds me of my gran's yard. She always just let them go.
Jo wonderful tip on the cayenne. I planted sunflowers before I read it and the little booger squirrels had a feast. I think three plants is all that I have coming up!

Anytime I use the cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes on top of the soil I actually have the seeds & bulbs bloom! Like you Shelby, the little buggers had a sun flower seed feast the first go around last year, lol!

I love dandelions, always have and will not pull them from my back yard!

Here's a great book about bees: Keeping Bees And Making Honey

I'm a little nervous about the lack of bees around here this spring. Usually when my crab apples bloom you can hear the bees before you get near the trees. The only bee I have seen so far this spring was a bumble bee wandering around in my garage this morning. I never use pesticide and have lots of plants attractive to bees, so hope this is just a momentary oddity and they'll soon appear.

Our temps have been mostly cool with the exception of a few 90 degree days in April which brought them out - maybe they'll appear once it warms on a regular basis.

Anyone noticing that the lightning bugs/fire flies aren't around as long anymore either? (They don't know why with them either). Last year was the 1st year I haven't seen them thru the Summer into Fall. VERY alarming.

I'm not getting any bees here either. I had a few when the snow drops bloomed but since then just bumblebees and wasps. We don't have fireflies here, but I havent't been seeing very many insects at all. I did see one ladybug on the columbine yesterday. My mother-in-law has an organic pear orchard and she said it was too cold during bloom time for them to polinate. I'm a little nervous too Cheryl.

We have plenty of lady bugs though I don't remember seeing any preying mantis's last year in the garden and I'd been getting them every year.

Forgot to mention, I picked up a Nature PBS dvd at the Library called "Silence of the Bees" which I'm hoping to watch today or tomorrow.

Jo, you mentioned lightening bugs and that really made me think. When I was a kid they were all over the place, now it has been years since I have seen one. Maybe it's because I live in a town where they spray for mosquitos and lived in the country as a child. Whatever, I miss them.

I think we really need to look for our bugs and report what we see.

We have honey bees out back! Yay! I've seen many since putting out 2 more rose bushes this year.

I have seen a few bumblebees and a couple wasps and that's it.

We have many many many a bumble & wasp here, honey bees are few but at least I'm seeing them.

We have many many many a bumble & wasp here, honey bees are few but at least I'm seeing them.

I am seeing very few bees, lots of wasps and a good amount of bumbles. I now have a few ladybugs which is good 'cause I do have aphids.

This is a great project to be involved with and this will be my 3rd year!

Getting some borage soon, hope this will encourage bees! No experience of beekeeping but interested... ideas anyone?

One day I would like to as well but it's not possible where we live. Here are some great books on the subject Harvey:

Keeping Bees And Making Honey
The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden
Keeping Bees: A Complete Practical Guide
Keeping Bees

Thanks for the book list. In Mersa Matruh I will have more garden space to play with... this is a long-term goal!

This year's Bee College is mentioned in The Scientist

Beekeepers gather at the University of Florida this weekend to learn tricks of the trade.

more at http://www.the-scientist.com/news/dis...

I have a few books on bees too, but they are more stories about beekeepers, home and commercial. I don't think they would be a lot of help. I always wanted to keep bees but I am allergic to their stings so I can't.

I was with someone on a coach coming up from Jericho (lowest place on earth) and she got stung by a bee and stopped breathing. We gave her artificial respiration all the way up the mountains to Jerusalem where we were met by an ambulance. Saw her later in Intensive Care. Saw here a few days later. This is a Moroccan woman, head of a youth hostel, spoke Arabic, French and English. Now she can't speak any language, semi-vegetable existence. Perla her name was. So I can't risk that for myself. But I do like to hear of other people's beekeeping.

Petra X wrote: "I have a few books on bees too, but they are more stories about beekeepers, home and commercial. I don't think they would be a lot of help. I always wanted to keep bees but I am allergic to their ..."

What an incredible story--the poor woman!!

I have a small greenhouse where I overwinter various tender plants. Last year I had a rosemary plant, a pretty big one, which bloomed from January through the spring. On the very first warm days of that year my blooming rosemary was just buzzing with bees and it kept up all spring. This year the plant did not continue to bloom after February, and consequently I've seen very few bees in the greenhouse. I wish I knew why the rosemary stopped blooming, I was really looking forward to the bees.

How long have you had the rosemary? Rosemary tends to prefer 'poor' soil so if your soil is too 'rich' it may actually prevent flowering. If it's an upright rosemary, they tend to either flower right off the bat for a few years and take a break or don't flower at all for the first few years then they start flowering. Upright rosemary also likes full sun and good ventillation. Wild rosemary tends to be less fickle & blooms often regardless.

About two years, it's in a large pot, so the soil should be poorer this year than last :) I guess it's an upright plant, is Wild rosemary prostrate? I'll google it. Thanks!

Googling it is a good idea; I'm all out of info on rosemary, lol! :-) But if you've had it 2 years and it flowered, it could be taking a break so to speak as perennials of all kinds often do for no apparent reason!

here's a place where you can sign a petition encouraging governments and scientists to look into the disappearance of the bees:

Bees feed us: now they need our help : Slow Food USA

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/...

Thank you Sally. I have tried to grow cucumbers lately, and ended up with lots of flowers, but no cukes. No pollinators due to widespread pesticide use and diseases in bees. We will be in a world of hurt if this doesn't stop!

@Miriam Believe it or not the same thing happened with our zucchinis last year

Time to get out the little sable brush?

I've had the same problem with my zukes and believe it's because of the decline in bees. (They also need good air circulation Thank you for the link to that petition Sally!

Also, if you eat honey to help with your allergies, the usual "local" (within 100 miles) isn't good enough! "Local" honey for allergy relief needs to be from within your zip code Or within 10 miles of where you live so you can build a tolerance to the allergens in your area that affect you! And any good honey producer/seller will indicate exactly where the hives are located for each kind of honey they sell. We're lucky to have a local seller who has hives located 5 and 7 miles from where we live (as well as hives throughout the state and east coast). So we buy often from them.

Out in Idaho, we had 500 colonies of bees, and they also went to pollinate orchards. There is no way we could have told you where each or any jar came from. We didn't market the honey as specifically "clover" honey or "orange" honey. Honey is sold commercially by grades, which are determined by how white it is. Buckwheat honey is very dark, where radish honey is very white. We sold some to local buyers, mostly LDS for their five year food storage supplies. But could not have told you exactly where it came from. Unless someone has a very small business, they are using huge extractors and gigantic storage tanks, holding 1000 gallons of honey that all gets mixed up together.

They are a small business, a farm run by 2 (very nice) people, not some huge commercial production, which is why we deal with them in the first place for our local honey (along w/their hives being to close to where we live) - you can only get their honey online or in 2 independent food markets in this county.

http://www.emgoldbeekeepers.com/

I thought so. When we first moved to Idaho, we only had a small extractor, used it on the back porch, and could say where the honey came from. My house was always slick with honey during extracting season (in small amounts it is sticky, in larger amounts it is slick!). It only took four frames at a time (1/3 of one section of a hive). We later converted it to take more, than got the big equipment. Towards the end, we would sell about 60 55-gallon barrels of honey, plus numerous five gallon, gallon, and quart containers. Some years I did all the extracting (one or the other of us always did the whole year's crop, since the set up had to be for a right or left handed person, he was a lefty).