Bees are in peril. It's a fact we can't ignore. Noticing fewer bees buzzing around the garden is one thing, but given that bees are the main way flowers are pollinated and fruit induced, it's also serious.
About a year ago there was a TV documentary about what had happened to all the bees and why it matters that they are no longer so prevalent. It's a worldwide phenomenon - not just one limited to the UK. Everywhere except Australia, bees aren't just declining in large numbers; they're dying out.
In the documentary, we saw hives of bees being transported across the breadth of the US in vast trucks. Pollination is big business, especially if you're in the fruit and veg business, as much of the fertile plains of California are. To successfully grow fruit and vegetables and, of course, grapes to make wine, your plants need pollinating.
Theories about why bee populations are in steep decline vary. The Bumble Bee Conservation Trust is hoping to establish the scale of the problem by getting volunteers around the country to take a monthly look around and record how many bees there are. Over the years, a picture of the bee population will be created.
I'm not sure how many such volunteers there are. I joined up this year thanks to a tweet requesting help. It's a useful cause, but of course it's a spectator role. It puts me in mind of the excellent William Boyd book Brazzaville Beach in which habitat changes and population shifts are monitored, but active involvement is frowned upon.
What's important is that we try and halt the decline. We need to grow bee-friendly plants to encourage bees into our gardens and on to our crops as much as possible. Pretty flowers and fragrant bushes are ideal. Often, such plants also attract butterflies, so you get a visual treat into the bargain.
You might have noticed Innocent Drinks offering a honey-based smoothie this summer with a free packet of bee-friendly seeds attached. Discarded plastic beakers and a handful of soil can be used as plant pots if you don't have any to hand.
Seeds (unlike smoothies), are dirt cheap. £3 or so will buy you a box of 'butterfly and bee-friendly' seeds containing wild flowers and flowers that will attract them. Scatter some in a plastic trough and you're off.
Saturday 31 July 2010
Bikes, bees and blogging
The summer has been a scorcher - a month after getting back from a blazing hot week in Greece I'm still pretty tanned. Considering I've often been asked in the past whether I'm Irish due to my fair skin, that's quite a change.
Much of the past three months have been spent outdoors, cycling, exploring London, but mainly enjoying our garden. There's been an awful lot of pulling up weeds, watering hedges and tending to the vegetables I've had a stab at growing and generally being out and about. No wonder the book-based blog I started up this spring has had so few entries. (I may revive BooksInBed come the autumn and winter nights. Don't be surprised if I don't.)
Sometimes there are just better things to do than sit in front of a computer crystalising your thoughts about a book into a few paragraphs. I'm sure the odd book recommendation will make its way on to this blog, but there are plenty of other people with well-established blogs and thousands of followers ploughing that particular furrow.
As the title of this blog suggests, on Rosiewriteshere, you'll find an assortment of things that interest me. Food, travel, local life, gadgets, wildlife, gardening, stuff to make and admire are likely to appear. Today, for example, should be all about bees.
Much of the past three months have been spent outdoors, cycling, exploring London, but mainly enjoying our garden. There's been an awful lot of pulling up weeds, watering hedges and tending to the vegetables I've had a stab at growing and generally being out and about. No wonder the book-based blog I started up this spring has had so few entries. (I may revive BooksInBed come the autumn and winter nights. Don't be surprised if I don't.)
Sometimes there are just better things to do than sit in front of a computer crystalising your thoughts about a book into a few paragraphs. I'm sure the odd book recommendation will make its way on to this blog, but there are plenty of other people with well-established blogs and thousands of followers ploughing that particular furrow.
As the title of this blog suggests, on Rosiewriteshere, you'll find an assortment of things that interest me. Food, travel, local life, gadgets, wildlife, gardening, stuff to make and admire are likely to appear. Today, for example, should be all about bees.
First earlies
It's been a great British summer. One I've managed to fill with more than the usual amount of activity even if efforts to create a cottage garden and grow my own have been rather stilted. It's our first summer in our own home so it's been fascinating to watch plants we didn't plant spring up and note how those we did have fared.
As much as anything, the exceptionally dry winter and spring have meant I've needed to spend big chunks of every weekend watering the hedges and lawn. I can't remember coming across mildew before and I've not yet defeated it. Time spent trailing around with a watering can have meant less time than I'd have liked tending to tomatoes and tidying up around the flower beds we inherited.
Still, we pulled our first ever potatoes at the start of July and despite taking our summer break the very week the tomatoes, peppers and aubergine most needed us, they have just about forgiven my neglect. At least one tiny green tomato has made an appearance. Given a bit more feed, I'm hoping the emerging flowers on the pepper and aubergine may even develop into something fruity.
Lesson learned though: plants don't just need good soil, the right amount of sun and water - they need shelter from the wind too. I'll know for next time.
There's still time to get some seeds in the ground before the end of the summer, so I'll be taking a look at the seedlings and plants that just haven't taken and replacing them with some hardier sorts that are more tolerant of my indifferent gardening skills.
Suggestions of what to try are very welcome.
As much as anything, the exceptionally dry winter and spring have meant I've needed to spend big chunks of every weekend watering the hedges and lawn. I can't remember coming across mildew before and I've not yet defeated it. Time spent trailing around with a watering can have meant less time than I'd have liked tending to tomatoes and tidying up around the flower beds we inherited.
Still, we pulled our first ever potatoes at the start of July and despite taking our summer break the very week the tomatoes, peppers and aubergine most needed us, they have just about forgiven my neglect. At least one tiny green tomato has made an appearance. Given a bit more feed, I'm hoping the emerging flowers on the pepper and aubergine may even develop into something fruity.
Lesson learned though: plants don't just need good soil, the right amount of sun and water - they need shelter from the wind too. I'll know for next time.
There's still time to get some seeds in the ground before the end of the summer, so I'll be taking a look at the seedlings and plants that just haven't taken and replacing them with some hardier sorts that are more tolerant of my indifferent gardening skills.
Suggestions of what to try are very welcome.
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