bee food
Trev was complaining of there being no bees at the allotments. And he's right, there are very few around.Early flowering plants like broad beans need pollinating insects - or we have no beans! One third of our food comes from flowers pollinated by insects.
But as I looked across the allotments, the consistent colour was green. What are we doing to attract and support bees at the monent. Not enough, is the answer.
I have a whole range of plants that will provide food for bees later this month and well into the autumn.
But after the primroses, cowslips , apples and plums there is a 'hungry gap' for bees and pollinating insects on our allotment that stretches through April and May. What can fill this gap?
Here's one candidiate, photographed at the Hope Farm RSPB reserve in Bedfordshire, England. It is the overwintering phacelia.
This can be sown as a green manure, but the advice when planting green manures is to dig them in or chop them down before the flower. Little use to bees!
This phacelia crop was considered highly attractive to bees and I will seriously consider planting areas that will host broad beans next year with phacelia in the autumn.
2 comments:
The much larger issue for honey bees is actually the use of agricultural chemicals. Except during cold or drought there's a host of plants with pollen and nectar to feed them. Nonetheless wildflowers, meadows and weedy areas host all kinds of beneficial insects including honey bees.
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If you really do have a shortage of pollinators consider doing what I've done - get a hive of bees and learn to be a bee Keeper.
David - I agree that agricultural chemicals are probably one of the key factors in honey bee population decline. But I can't do much about that individually, just as I can't change the other agro-industrial practices I see on the fields around me in Nottinghamshire. I can 'think global and act local' by making my garden as friendly to bees and other wildlife as possible.
Cheers
Rob
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