Plans for planting

[Nannysbees]

Made a start today getting my trays ready to sew seeds, thought if i prepare early it'll be easier at sewing time if I'm more organised. Have quite an array of flowers,few veg but mostly flowers geared up for the bees. So my fellow beeks, do you grow flowers from seed, if so what?buy plugs?more of a veg grower and if so,what do you grow? Or do you just allow your bees to go and find what forage is in the area?

 

[elainemary]

Made a start today getting my trays ready to sew seeds, thought if i prepare early it'll be easier at sewing time if I'm more organised. Have quite an array of flowers,few veg but mostly flowers geared up for the bees. So my fellow beeks, do you grow flowers from seed, if so what?buy plugs?more of a veg grower and if so,what do you grow? Or do you just allow yoIur bees to go and find what forage is in the area?

I grow about 1000 plugs of wildflowers every year, I collect the seed in the autumn and get the seeds going in the Spring then plant out after the meadow has been cut in August. For the garden I prefer perennials but I do grow some annuals for bees - nasturtiums, borage and calendula. Find once you've grown a couple of seasons providing you're not too tidy late summer, the seeds will germinate in the ground the following year, so I don't start seed from scratch each Spring. Here’s some pics of my efforts. I was a gardener long before a beekeeper.
Hope your propagation goes well this Spring! Looks a nice set up

 

[Nannysbees]

I grow about 1000 plugs of wildflowers every year, I collect the seed in the autumn and get the seeds going in the Spring then plant out after the meadow has been cut in August. For the garden I prefer perennials but I do grow some annuals for bees - nasturtiums, borage and calendula. Find once you've grown a couple of seasons providing you're not too tidy late summer, the seeds will germinate in the ground the following year, so I don't start seed from scratch each Spring.
Hope your propagation goes well this Spring! Looks a nice set up

That's interesting, do you have a picture of your meadow in full flower? Id love to have a meadow. Borage nasturtium and calendula on the list, I collected seed last year but bought quite a lot of annuals as well. I just love gardening.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Or do you just allow your bees to go and find what forage is in the area?

the bees will hardly take any notice of the stuff in the immediate vicinity of the hives (apart from maybe around now when the only thing around is snowdrops and crocus) so doesn't really matter what you sow

 

[Nannysbees]

Saw a lot on our campanula, cosmos, scabious,anemones, loved the borage last year also and the list goes on.

 

[Nannysbees]

And loved the sedum

 

[Erichalfbee]

Nothing gets planted that isn’t bee friendly and I get lots of solitary bees and bumbles in the garden and these are what I concentrate on. The only time I see honey bees is during natural forage gaps so I try to plant some near the hives. Stan and I have planted Bee trees on the apiary pond island for late autumn and thousands of crocus in the apiary for early forage. I have a Eucryphia tree, sedum and aster all of which bloom in august. The fields are full of Knapweed, birds foot trefoil, rattle, and all sorts but by and large it’s the solitary bees that use them.

 

[JamezF]

Much more of a veggie/fruit grower than flowers, myself.

This weekend we've eaten lettuce, purple sprouting broccoli, sprouts, parsnips and carrots from the garden and there are cabbages, leeks and curly kale still in the ground from last year as well as some spring onions.

For this year I already have garlic sprouting and it will soon be time to sow the broad beans, onions, tomatoes and peppers. I should probably get on with the broad beans and onions this week, really. I might sow some radish and peas (just for the shoots) for salads, too. Lots of other stuff to come. (The garlic situation amuses me. I grew it for the first time in ages last year. I'd guess we used to get through perhaps one or at most two bulbs a month, but for some reason last year's harvest of fifty to sixty bulbs probably isn't going to last us until the next harvest.)

I will hopefully have some asparagus plants arriving soon and last weekend I planted some gooseberries, a redcurrant and blackcurrant.

If I sow flowers, generally they're edible ones. It always adds interest to a salad to have some flower petals mixed in with the leaves I think.

In terms of what's good for the bees though, we have a fair bit of hawthorn and blackthorn in the hedges and quite a variety of apples, cherries, plums and pears. And there's far too much sycamore if they're interested in it.

James

 

[Nannysbees]

Much more of a veggie/fruit grower than flowers, myself.

This weekend we've eaten lettuce, purple sprouting broccoli, sprouts, parsnips and carrots from the garden and there are cabbages, leeks and curly kale still in the ground from last year as well as some spring onions.

For this year I already have garlic sprouting and it will soon be time to sow the broad beans, onions, tomatoes and peppers. I should probably get on with the broad beans and onions this week, really. I might sow some radish and peas (just for the shoots) for salads, too. Lots of other stuff to come. (The garlic situation amuses me. I grew it for the first time in ages last year. I'd guess we used to get through perhaps one or at most two bulbs a month, but for some reason last year's harvest of fifty to sixty bulbs probably isn't going to last us until the next harvest.)

I will hopefully have some asparagus plants arriving soon and last weekend I planted some gooseberries, a redcurrant and blackcurrant.

If I sow flowers, generally they're edible ones. It always adds interest to a salad to have some flower petals mixed in with the leaves I think.

In terms of what's good for the bees though, we have a fair bit of hawthorn and blackthorn in the hedges and quite a variety of apples, cherries, plums and pears. And there's far too much sycamore if they're interested in it.

James

Gosh your garden must be big or do you have an allotment? We have a sycamore in the garden as well

 

[JamezF]

Gosh your garden must be big or do you have an allotment? We have a sycamore in the garden as well

When our first child was born we decided to run away to civilisation and ended up buying the remains of a farm after most of the land had been sold off some years previously, but it was left with about three and a half acres so there's room to stretch ones legs a little.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

When our first child was born we decided to run away to civilisation and ended up buying the remains of a farm

What did you buy with the next child?

 

[Nannysbees]

When our first child was born we decided to run away to civilisation and ended up buying the remains of a farm after most of the land had been sold off some years previously, but it was left with about three and a half acres so there's room to stretch ones legs a little.

James

How fab sounds amazing

 

[JamezF]

What did you buy with the next child?

Beehives

James

 

[JamezF]

How fab sounds amazing

I love it, though it's not a lifestyle that everyone finds suits them. Internet connectivity is poor, for example (it was only a couple of years ago that we were able to get more than 2.5Mb/s on ADSL, and only last week that we scraped over 5Mb/s for the first time), no mobile phone signal, no "delivery food", no public transport, and for us a fifteen and later twenty mile round trip to take the children to and from school.

On the other hand, but for the fact that I couldn't go swimming (I try to swim for around an hour four times a week), I mostly didn't notice the first Covid lockdown And often I can step out of the door to go and let the chickens out in the morning and hear no human-made sound at all other than my own footsteps.

James

 

[Nannysbees]

I love it, though it's not a lifestyle that everyone finds suits them. Internet connectivity is poor, for example (it was only a couple of years ago that we were able to get more than 2.5Mb/s on ADSL, and only last week that we scraped over 5Mb/s for the first time), no mobile phone signal, no "delivery food", no public transport, and for us a fifteen and later twenty mile round trip to take the children to and from school.

On the other hand, but for the fact that I couldn't go swimming (I try to swim for around an hour four times a week), I mostly didn't notice the first Covid lockdown And often I can step out of the door to go and let the chickens out in the morning and hear no human-made sound at all other than my own footsteps.

James

To me that sounds idyllic except for maybe the school drop off

 

[elainemary]

That's interesting, do you have a picture of your meadow in full flower? Id love to have a meadow. Borage nasturtium and calendula on the list, I collected seed last year but bought quite a lot of annuals as well. I just love gardening.

Meadow in flower is the last pic of the 3 pics I posted. 42 different species wildflowers and 21 grasses. Need lots of yellow rattle and fine meadow grasses for a meadow to flourish, plus lots of patience & removal of hay every year. Provides pollen even early in the season from the ribwort plantain. Devils bit scabious is the last to flower on the margins in September. My sister is making a cutting garden (for making hand tied bouquets) this year, so hoping to do lots of plant swops.

 

[drex]

the bees will hardly take any notice of the stuff in the immediate vicinity of the hives (apart from maybe around now when the only thing around is snowdrops and crocus) so doesn't really matter what you sow

I don't mind if it does not benefit my bees, it will be of some benefit to some pollinator.
Have already got 6 trays sown of veg for allotment. Am gradually getting my wild area under the trees filled with wild flowers - I take no notice of the council who keep telling me that area is too untidy. Laugh.

 

[Swn58]

I had this seasons seeds delivered over the weekend Mainly vegetables and herbs. My partner deals with the flower side of our growing operations. My main seed order comes from a company called Seed Parade.

 

[Swn58]

Just remembered this plan for a 'bee-garden.' I think it was in a box of books I bought at an auction years ago.
The other picture shows that Spring is just around the corner. My allotment bees are bringing in their first pollen of the year! I think it's possibly Yew tree pollen.

 

[Frizzaldo]

the bees will hardly take any notice of the stuff in the immediate vicinity of the hives (apart from maybe around now when the only thing around is snowdrops and crocus) so doesn't really matter what you sow

We filled in an old pond last year, probably 10x10m and about 15m from some hives, I planted one half with borage/phacelia the other with wild mustard, the bees were on the wild mustard daily all summer and they foraged the phacelia and borage as well but was more sporadic.

I suspect it depends on what you plant, one or two plants probably won't take their interest but anything that provides a decent amount of nectar will