May 2022 Garden Gallery

… and Bee Happy thoughts!

May we Bee Happy!

” In the last five years the bee population has dropped by a third.

If bees were to disappear from the face of the Earth, humans would have just four years left to live.

No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”

‘Life of the Bee’, by the Belgian playwright, poet & essayist, Maurice Maeterlinck, 1901

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At the end of last year, we started propagating several flowers for their attraction to bees. The varieties we chose also had to be ‘rabbit and deer proof’. Always an added challenge here. All have done well, but Knapweed is a revelation to me. It’s been like a total magnet to our winged friends – when in flower, the beautiful, shaggy pink / purple blooms never have less than two bees on each cushioned head.

Now grown into slim tall spikes, with attractive serrated leaves, they have proved to be both beautiful and an absolute honey pot to the bees. Enchanting to watch – multiple bees perch, seemingly for hours, transfixed on each flower head in a way that I’ve never seen before!

“A quarter of all known bee species have not been seen since 1990, and (there is) a clear global trend likely to indicate global declines in bees and other pollinators.” … 

“Waiting for further data to more precisely confirm the type of bee and other pollinator declines could leave it too late to save them.” 

Guardian Newspaper, July 2021

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Four key factors are contributing to the global decline in the bee population (justbeehoney.co.uk click here for link):

1. Habitat loss though commercial development

“We are replacing the natural habitat of bees with houses, business parks, shopping complexes and farms. All commercial developments on wild areas will have a negative effect on the local bee population but it’s something we can’t avoid completely…

It’s a sad reality that bees are losing the natural habitats (natural meadows and countryside) they directly helped to create. These natural habitats are essential for bees to find a balanced diet of food and have safe nesting areas. Bees are usually relying on protected wildlife areas to live in now, which is why we don’t see them buzzing around all summer like we may have done in the past.

It’s not surprising that bees don’t want to live in a man-made concrete jungle! It also won’t be a surprise to see that our native wild bee populations fall further if we continue to build on our countryside and common land…”

Having said that,

“Planting wildflowers and other plants which are native to a bees natural environment, even if in an urban area, can also help provide bees with desperately needed food and shelter.”

2. Climate change

“Climate change is something we’ve known about for a long time… It’s a fact that relatively rapid changes in climate around the world are having an affect on wildlife.

Changes in weather patterns can alter our typical seasonal temperatures, which in turn can affect plants and flowers that will contribute to the disruption of a bees natural yearly cycle of nesting and pollinating.

Unlike birds, bees are not known to migrate, if an areas plant biodiversity is significantly altered by climate change then it would likely have devastating effects on the bee population in that area. Many beekeepers believe that climate change is directly linked to bee colony losses around the world.

Only time will tell if government policy and our actions will do anything to reverse the situation we find ourselves in. We can only hope that as one of the most important creatures on the planet, our bee populations will be part of any considerations going forward.”

Information from justbehoney.co.uk

3. Pesticides

“Pesticides have an extremely negative effect on our bee populations. Pesticides can impair a bees’ ability to navigate, cause infertility and damage their immune system making it harder to fight off diseases…

Pesticides are not only a problem in commercial farming but can also be damaging to bees in our own gardens ! Spraying our garden plants and flowers with commercially available products from our local garden centre or supermarkets, which often contain chemicals that are far from bee-friendly, is something we can all try to avoid and is a small way we can all help our local bee populations.

This is an area where we can all help a little by keeping our gardens free from pesticides and of course growing patches of bee-friendly flowers.”

Information from Justbeehoney.co.uk

4. Diseases

“Like all living creatures, bees are susceptible to diseases. If they are weaker because of pesticides, climate change and habitat loss, then it seems obvious that they will be more likely to suffer from illness and death…

While diseases can explain some heart-breaking loss of bees, alone it cannot explain the devastating fall in overall bee numbers. As we suggested in our introduction it’s likely to be a combination of factors that, while damaging on their own, only become truly a disaster when combined. Unfortunately that also means there is no single, simple answer.”

But we can all do our bit:

“It’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change.”

Queen Elizabeth II

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• “We can also make our gardens a sanctuary for our local bees by letting our lawns grow longer, our flowers grow a little wilder and refrain from using pesticides and weed killers.
• There are organic and natural pesticide alternatives which can easily be researched online.”

Information from justbeehoney.co.uk

No Mow May

We have implemented No Mow May in increased areas of the garden & field, with beautiful results and a visibly positive impact on the amount of visiting insects. So much so, that we will keep it going throughout the summer, not just for May! See the Plantlife website for details. Last year, an added benefit of leaving large areas of grass to grow was that we – and guests – enjoyed the ‘soft landscaping’ produced by paths cut through swathes of grass and wildflowers. And we were able to make all our own hay to see the Sheep through the winter…

The new greenhouse

Our big investment this year is a lovely greenhouse – delivered the day before Storm Eunice shook the UK in the spring. After a delayed start, whilst we waited for the winds to die down, and cleared the fallen trees, branches and other debris, it’s now up, looking as though it’s always nestled near the Annexe fruit garden. It’s been hugely valuable already. So much easier than the DIY cold frames we’ve used in the past!

All our vegetable, fruit and flower plants are grown from seed (much of it saved from the previous year’s crop), or cuttings. So the greenhouse is such a great resource, and will aid repeat sowing – much of which last year got washed away by the heavy summer rain we experienced! 😦

The vegetable garden

We’ve continued enjoying abundant crops of last year’s plantings – particularly leeks, chard and winter cabbage (some of which I left to go to seed for the wildlife).

All beds were emptied – their contents being enjoyed by us or the chickens before ending up on the compost heap. The slow cycle of nature continued as we emptied last year’s heaps to top dress each vegetable bed with a thick layer of rich, dark home made compost – still live with pink worms, ready to extend their work to the growing beds.

Garden views

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Grass cutting continues in the field, apace!

The sheep aren’t really interested in ‘no mow May”!!