Our little helpers: The bees - 20. April 2018
As we are all aware, there has been a big concern about the collapse of bees colonies in the recent years. This can be linked to many different environmental changes such as the use of pesticides, parasites, pollution and lanscape changes.
As gardeners this concerns us greatly as bees play a fundamental role in the pollination of many species of plants.
(You can find a full list of plants that need bees for pollination at the end of this post).
Aside from pollinating a great number of crops and being generally awesome creature bees contribute greatly to other aspects of the environment.
They play a key role in the pollination of wild plants, which represent the source of food and shelter for many wild animals, that would be unable to thrive if bees weren't present.
What can we do to help both domestic and wild bees?
- Bring biodiversity to the garden: the more species there are, the better! Also, do not clean your garden until it is sterile: for example a salad that bloom may no longer be consumed, but it will be very attractive to insects.
- Sow varieties of flowers that attract bees, for example the "Nectar Plus" mixture. It's ideal for areas of your garen that you don't use for crops, and it is very colourful!
- Favor wild bees, which are just as important. An "insect hotel" is a good start. More info here: http://www.biodivers.ch/en/index.php/Wildbears
- And last but not least: avoid the use of pesticides!
In order to guarantee an efficient pollination of our crops, we welcome a dozen hives from Carrupt Honey: https://www.facebook.com/carruptmielsuisse/
List of some of the food that depend on bees:
- Brussels sprouts