...we've got birds...
We've got bean-plants in flower...
...but, worryingly...where are the bees?
We've seen the odd Bumblebee - and Buff-tailed bee, a wasp or two and even two Hornets (we seem to get one or two Hornets every year, and not yet, thankfully, the Asian variety...) but we have seen NO Honeybees AT ALL - and I am very concerned.
Maybe a local bee-keeper has moved their hives? Maybe the dreaded Varoa has struck? Or maybe, because of this drought, they are just not getting the flowers that they need to sustain them?
Parched, dried up Catmint, normally laden and humming with bees
I don't know. If it is the latter - I wonder if this will help? Two tablespoonsful of brown sugar in a jug of water, poured over some stones in a dish, so that any hungry bees or anything else (especially pollinators, please!) can 'fill up their tanks' and keep going.
In other respects, the garden is surviving - just - in this heat...
The Vegetable garden is looking rather different to how it was just a couple of months ago - thanks, in large part, to the man on his knees attacking the weeds! I couldn't keep on top of this garden without his help. The oil tank fracture 18 months ago put areas of the garden back a huge chunk; we could not but neglect parts of it in order to get other areas under control. But it is - and we are - slowly getting there.
April 2018
July 2018
We now have Runner beans, Broccoli, Rhubarb, Pumpkins and Mange-tout Peas all coming along; next year it will all be much better! (The perennial thought in the minds of all gardeners).
But still, I worry about the bees. If any of you, dear readers, have any thoughts or ideas - I would be more than happy to hear them. And - as always in the garden - you can find a glimmer of hope where you thought none existed. This is one of a pair of 20 year old Calamondin orange trees, which I foolishly left without enough protection over the winter. I thought they were completely dead, but did not give up on them. I watered them, and fed them and now, look - they are bursting from the base!
Miracles can sometimes happen - in the garden, I find they often do!
We have lots of bees - more than usual I would say - in spite of the weather. So maybe yours is just a local problem. I'm not as good as you at identifying the different sorts, but there seem to be all shapes, sizes and colours. At the moment . . .
Posted by: Mad Englishwoman | Sunday, July 08, 2018 at 14:19