Bees on Australian mint, Speedwell, Chives, Trefoil...

May 25th

The Australian Mint, (Prostanthera Cuneata) is THE plant to visit in the garden.

 It is usually busy with honeybees, bumble bees, wasps and hoverflies.

 

Australian Mint in flower on May 25th.

There is a lovely spread of Speedwell in the meadow. Wonderful to see the honeybees like it as much as I do.

Honeybee on Speedwell with white pollen sac. June 9th.

I have seen just a few honeybees on the Chive flowers.

June 9th.

I planted this as green manure cover last year under the sweetcorn. It has overwintered and is now edging a bed of peas. I think it is a hop trefoil / yellow clover. I have been disappointed by by how little is attracted to it, but it does get a little honey bee traffic.

Yellow pollen sac on this honey bee. June 9th.

Borage is flowering. June 9th.

The Embothrium continues to flower. This photo May 25th.

 

 I have observed the honeybees searching for and finding the crack that runs the length of the long tubular flower to reach the nectar at the base.

The Poached Egg Plant,Limnanthes douglasii, continues too. June 9th.

Wild Orchid.

A wild Orchid has come up in the meadow again this year, May 30th.

May 3oth

May 31st

June 9th

 June 9th

Love Heart Swarm

Yesterday, June 3rd, another prime swarm, this one is heart shaped.
They settled more or less on the main trunk of a young plum tree.

  A couple of days ago I placed some old brood comb in a bait hive and on Monday there were several bees checking it out.

There was also a lot of bearding on the mother hive on Monday and I could see through the window how full the hive was becoming.
All possible indications of an impending swarm.

I shook the swarm down into a swarm-catching, light, plastic planter and tipped them into the bait hive which I moved down to the plum tree. I also picked handfuls of long grass to "sweep" the bees from the trunk into the plant pot. After the first lot were tipped in I closed up the roof and all the rest walked in though the hive entrance.

This spring I am observing rather than preventing the natural behaviour of the bees. (Although I have prevented the swarms from choosing their hive). I am keen to build a small apiary of several colonies so that I can compare the different options of working with bees. I am looking to find the best approach that will be bee-friendly while also yielding honey, without the conventional approach of sugar feeding the bees after the honey harvest.

A swarm of bees in June.....  Hum a very merry tune!

The sound of a swarm is so harmonious. The swarm has such a perfect cohesive sense of purpose and every bee is humming that same sweet song.

May sky

Several days this month had the feeling of summer but there was just enough cloud to keep frosts away. This has been the warmest May that Angus has recorded (recording since 2000). However recorded hours of Sunshine were way below nomal at 125 hours. The previous lowest sunshine for May was 170 hours (in our 10 year records) Last May had 232 hours.
Also, this has been the wettest May for 9 years

May polytunnels

May 10th

The Winterkiefe peas on the right are towering over everything.

The flower of Winterkiefe pea. A hardy over wintering variety from Irish Seedsavers. It is very hardy and doesn't need to be grown under cover but does provide an early crop of mangetout in the polytunnel. The flowers have a wonderful scent.

 

 Winterkiefe mangetout.

 The first summer Raspberries in the small tunnel are ripe. They fill in the corners of the tunnel, growing under the peach and grapes, with a very welcome early crop. The only maintenance is cutting down the old stems when they have finished fruiting and a bit of string to hold them back.

 Shield bugs LOVE raspberries plants. They are harmless creatures with an odd charm. 

Here a pair share the joys of spring.

 The Apricots continue to fill out.

 This bed in the big tunnel is suffering neglect, although it looks none the worse for it. (I would much rather see a jumble of plants and flowers than bare soil).

There is a row of lettuce hiding in the middle.

Sweet pea mowing the garden

 Our new grass management method involves bringing Sweet pea in from the field (for just one hour a day) to eat the grass and the Hogweed coming up in the meadow.

 

  Tivon is rubbing off some of Sweet pea's winter coat.
One shaggy tail and one shaggy mane!

Angus grooming, Alfie sitting up, Sweet Pea eating and Kim photographing....  This grass mowing is a family affair.

Sweet Pea gets a really good groom from Zoe, while the grass continues to be mowed. Rich spring green grass is best in small doses hence limiting Sweet Pea to 1 hour a day. She also gets some hay for roughage.

May garden

May 1st

The beds of bright green are Poached Egg Plant with the very first flowers opening.

May 1st

Forget-me-nots growing in the runner bean-to-be bed. The honey bees and bumble bees all enjoyed the Forget-me-nots and they make good ground cover.

May 9th

May 9th

Swiss Chard has been planted in the garlic bed. with Crimson clover seed planted along the edges.

May 12th

The yellow flowers are kale plants in flower. They grew to about 6 foot tall or more.

  I grew 3 varieties last year, a red Russian, a curly Irish and Cavolo nero Italian kale, about 6 plants of each. The Italian flowered first, they are 3 shades of yellow and the honey bees are on the Russian the most, bumbles more on the others.

May 21st

  Crimson clover and poached egg plant are growing among the potatoes and peas. Or perhaps I should say, the potatoes and peas are growing among the Crimson clover and Poached Egg plant!

May 21st

 Looking down the path in the vegetable garden.

May 21st

 Some of the Poached Egg Plant is cleared for sweet corn and squash.

May 25th

 Early potatoes, Poached Egg Plant and Purple Sprouting Broccoli in flower for the bees.


We have had no significant frosts this spring. This year I did not have to cover the Early Potatoes (seen here in the foreground) as I usually do.

The vegetable garden is filled with the buzz and hum of bees, but the Poached Egg Plant is the greatest honey bee magnet of all.
 In a few weeks I will need to clear gaps in this bed to plant Cauliflowers.