I live in New York City and have only been beekeeping for three years, but we had a great harvest this year. Best honey (linden) I've every tasted. We're kinda in the middle of a large botanic garden, a huge old cemetery, a large city park and many, many backyard and community gardens. We feel very lucky to have so much, diverse forage available for the girls.
We are seeing, however, an increasing number of varroa mites in our hives. Although we've avoided using any chemicals until now, we will probably treat the hives with a new, relatively benign medicated strip to try to knock back this parasitic mite population. Jama...I love hearing about letting some of your plants go to flower and seed. It's a fabulous way to encourage a wide variety of insect predators. I'm sure that the carrots, etc. are greatly appreciated by some of your local butterflies, too, since that's one of the food sources for black swallowtail caterpillars. Jess On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 8:29 PM, Ken Hargesheimer <minifa...@gmail.com>wrote: > Wonderful info. I heard a year or two ago that organic beehives were not > having problems. The story was about commercial beehives but important to > all. Ken > > On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 6:36 PM, Jama Crawford <j...@frontier.net> wrote: > > > 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< > 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 > >> -------------- next part -------------- > >> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > >> URL: <http://list.communitygarden.**org/pipermail/community_** > >> garden_list.communitygarden.**org/attachments/20110927/** > >> 130e9c75/attachment.html< > http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20110927/130e9c75/attachment.html > > > >> > > >> ______________________________**_________________ > >> The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of > >> ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and > to > >> find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org > >> > >> To post an e-mail to the list: community_garden@list.** > >> communitygarden.org <community_garden@list.communitygarden.org> > >> > >> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: > >> http://list.communitygarden.**org/mailman/listinfo/** > >> community_garden_list.**communitygarden.org< > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > > > >> > >> > > > > ______________________________**_________________ > > The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of > > ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and > to > > find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org > > > > To post an e-mail to the list: community_garden@list.** > > communitygarden.org <community_garden@list.communitygarden.org> > > > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: > > http://list.communitygarden.**org/mailman/listinfo/** > > community_garden_list.**communitygarden.org< > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > > > > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20110927/c2f5783d/attachment.html > > > _______________________________________________ > The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of > ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to > find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org > > To post an e-mail to the list: community_garden@list.communitygarden.org > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > -- Jessica Katz Brooklyn, NY ************************************************************ "We must be the change we wish to see in the world." "To forget to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." - Mahatma Gandhi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20110927/8518bd36/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: community_garden@list.communitygarden.org To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
