Friends
We had incredible bees this year. Our garden devoted a considerable amount
of space to flowers, along the exterior fence and at the heads and tails of
row crops, and along bridges and paths that connected the interior of the
garden. Every little blossom had one, two, or more bees in it. I found
squash blossoms with four bees at once. Although we don't have a hive, the
county extension office said we could have. We also allowed several plants
to bolt and flower, whereas in the past we would had nipped that in the bud,
literally. These included broccoli, cilantro, tatsoi, bok choi, and a few of
last year's root crops which escaped harvest, such as carrots and parsnips.
I expect we had the highest concentration of flowers for 5 miles around. In
turn, we had almost no aphids, even though we were bracing for the worst
year ever, and many other local gardens reported a very bad year of them. We
used some neem oil early in the season, and some garlic spray later on, but
it is also possible that the flowers attracted the right predators, as
several people on this list said they would when I asked for aphid advice in
late spring.
Anyway, I just wanted to offer a more hopeful picture of bee life, and the
potential role of community gardens to support it.
Jama Crawford
Shared Harvest Community Garden
Durango Colorado
----- Original Message -----
From: <jhain...@comcast.net>
To: <community_garden@list.communitygarden.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 4:45 PM
Subject: [Community_garden] Bees Dying
A good report but, like most others, it focuses on commercial beekeepers.
Neighborhood beekeepers are having better luck with their bees, especially
those, like me, who use no chemicals whatsoever. There's an interesting
group in California called "The Backwards Beekeepers" who believe in only
getting their swarms through capture and the use of no chemicals. They've
done some very entertaining and informative videos on youtube.
Judy in Michigan
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