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South Carolina, United States
Vetsy is my nickname that my family have fondly called me since my childhood. My blog reflects my personal views about the world around me. My topics may be anything that interest me but the majority of it is about my favorite past times...nature and gardening. Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment or becoming a follower.

Monday, March 8, 2010

" Please help the bees help us!

Bumble Bee head-on
Bumble Bee head-on,
originally uploaded by Jim Nicholson.

Spring is on it's way and I have been reminiscing about my garden and a alarming issue that I first learned about two summers ago.

That issue was about and still is about, our nations bee crisis.. It is one that is wide spread, effecting both the U.S and Europe. These vital pollinators are disappearing! and scientist are scrambling to figure out why... Some of their findings in my opinion are well founded and make a lot of sense, although those who are responsible for this crisis I'm sure, would deny it.

I'm a amateur gardener...I like to grow vegetables and flowers and little did I know that a bee crisis was happening in my neck of the woods....

after reading some articles on this issue in a couple of garden magazines, I decided that I could help play a part in helping out these little creatures by choosing flowers that they would enjoy the most..such as...
Hyssop, Red Clover, Bee balm, Lavender, Purple Coneflowers, Sun flowers and Cosmos to name a few.

Squash, tomatoes, peppers, chives, radish, and a few carrots shared a place in a couple of containers. I was excited as I often am when I plant something and wait for it's turn out...

But my excitement turned in to disappointment...It would be a bad year for gardening, for the weather took forever to warm up here in Michigan and when it finally did.. there were No.. Honeybees to be found!

Bumble bees frequent the Honeysuckle and Wiegela shrubs.. showing little interest in anything else...
once and a while one or two would fly over to the other areas in the yard and I thought perhaps that just maybe there was some hope for my pathetic little garden, but I saw no changes in my vegetable production.

My squash would not flower and the buds fell off.. My cucumbers were nubs and the peppers, radish and carrots were stunted.

Every day when I found the opportunity I would sit for hours watching different areas of my garden for these Honeybees while taking notes in my garden journal.

It was mid summer when I begin to see a few and by a few I mean about Six!....Six Honey bees and about four native ( Mason bees). These numbers did not increase through out the whole summer! and neither did the plant population in my garden.

The only veggies that did fair well were my tomatoes.. Sweet 100's and Early girl.

It is possible that the weather and missing bees both played a part in my garden disaster..However if the weather had turned out perfect..I was still going to have a garden flop!.. evident by the lack of bees!

I had my first experience with our Honey bee crisis! and I'm currently studying once again what plants to grow in my garden this year to help out these VITAL little creatures..they are CRUCIAL to our SURVIVAL and our PLANET and I have included a few links so that you may learn more about this serious crisis! and how you can help because... They Need Us and We Need Them! ...

The web is full of helpful information on this subject... Here's a few that I found quite interesting and informative:  please visit the web pages below......

Why the Bees are Dying:

Why Make yours a bee Garden?
http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens

Bee Pollinator Partnership:
http://www.pollinator.org

Jessica of a Girl Growing Southern supplied this information:
Plant Diversity helps bees:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8467746.stm

Diana of the voice in the garden..http://voiceinthegarden.blogspot.com )  has some awesome photos of a Honey bee colony rescue from a fallen oak tree on her property.

9 comments:

  1. Great post Vetsy .. I think some people think the crisis is over but it is STILL HERE !
    I have so many plants that honey bees as well as the other bees are supposed to love and I do have a lot of bees .. but I am not sure "who is who?" .. I have waited for ages to have butterflies born in my garden and I don't think that has happened yet .. but I will keep trying with all the plants to entice them with !
    Joy : )

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  2. Joy that sounds like so much fun! I would love to have butterflies born in my garden..Maybe you'll have some luck with it this year..I'll cross my fingers.

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  3. Molly does look like Panini and she was a beautiful" kitty.

    I sure you miss both Molly and Lucy they were both gorgeous!

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  4. Thanks for stopping by our blog. Hope you see lots of hummingbirds this season.

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  5. Vetsy, I've noticed a decrease in the number of bees and butterflies in my yard over the last two years.

    I admire your passion about this subject and the time you took to post about it. Thanks.

    donna

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  6. Hi again Vetsy .. I commented back on my blog but had to say thank you for the laugh this morning girl ! That image of you chasing Panini's boyfriends was too cute : )
    Have you been able to get in your garden at all ? we have had good weather and I am almost done with the clean up .. aches and pains galore but a lot of satisfaction with the garden tidied up phew !

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  7. Nope...i can't do anything because the ground is soggy, muddy and wet... The weather has been mild for a chance, I do like that we have been in the low 40's and 50's at least.

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  8. Donna glad you stopped by and read my post on the bees. Thank you.

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