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Not many bees this year?

 
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cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 06 1:24 pm    Post subject: Not many bees this year? Reply with quote
    

Less bees this year than last round here. So less squashes and courgettes getting pollinated (taken to helping some of them out a bit...) and the runner beans are still not really very productive.

So, for next year I'd like to make sure of getting more pollinating insects where I want them. Whats the best way of doing this? How do I attract some bumblebees to nest?

tahir



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45389
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 06 1:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've planted a fair few bee plants in the vicinity:

Lemon balm
rosemary
verbascum nigrum
thyme
etc,

plenty of bees

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 06 1:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've never seen as many bees about as this year, garden's been buzzing since spring and plenty of fruit set all over the place.

Northern_Lad



Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 06 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Lots of them round my way. There's a bumble bee next near next-door's pond and a small bee nest in my house wall next to my bedroom window.
Loads of them on next-door's Russian vine.

Mary-Jane



Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 18397
Location: The Fishing Strumpet is from Ceredigion in West Wales
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 06 1:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We have a Buddleia at one end of the kitchen garden, which the previous occupants of our house had left to die in a pile of rubbled soil at the front of the yard. I dug it out (with the help of a mechanical digger) and replanted in the now kitchen garden where it's going great guns.

And the bees love it. It's always filled with bees buzzing away...a lovely sound, especially in the evening.

mochyn



Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 06 2:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Plenty here, but that couls be due to my new hive I wish I could tell if they were my bees or wild ones. Lots of bumbles &c as well: all different types. Hardly a nicer sound than buzzing of bees in the lavender.

Cab: couldn't you have a hive or two of your own bees?

Jb



Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 06 2:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Vastly more than usual this year. Main things that seem to attract them are the long row of foxgloves next to the fruit garden and the herbs that have bolted (oh and petunias in the hanging baskets).

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 06 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

mochyn wrote:

Cab: couldn't you have a hive or two of your own bees?


I'd love to, but due to one or two 'swarming accidents' I gather our allotment committee doesn't like the idea.

I wonder why we're seeing fewer bumbles round these parts than in some other areas.

bernie-woman



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7824
Location: shropshire
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 06 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

So what is going on in Cambridge then as we have had more bees than ever this year in Shropshire - the lavender has liuterally been groaning with the weight of them all

deanom



Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 93
Location: Lincolnshire
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 06 7:28 pm    Post subject: Plenty here in Lincolnshire Reply with quote
    

Plenty of bees here too, and masses of hoverflies too. Really good to see so many, seems to be more than last year.

wellington womble



Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 06 7:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

lots here - seem to love campanulas of all kinds - if the builders haven't killed mine, I'll send you a cutting, if you'd like.

culpepper



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 638
Location: Kent
PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 06 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We had them 'nesting' in the old bird box(cats here so no birds).
There were foxgloves just under it and they spent most of the day going from the box to the foxgloves.
The flowers died and OH cut the dead stalks down.Havent seen the bees since!
I daren't look in the box incase they are still there.

We've had more lady birds than I've ever seen before though.
I think we have the big ones that have come over from the US.
Harlequins https://www.harlequin-survey.org/

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