Every Garden Needs Bees

Gardens need bees and bees love flowers.  Sounds like a match made in heaven, right?  In the past, this may have been true, but for the past ten years, bee populations in the United States and Europe have declined by roughly 30%.  Although not everyone agrees on the reason this is happening, everyone does agree that this is very alarming and could lead to big trouble for farmers who depend on these small insects to pollinate their crops. 

Some people believe pesticides are the problem and some countries are placing bans on the most likely culprits.  Neonicitinoids are one of the main classes of pesticide believed to be negatively affecting bee populations and these are, unfortunately, one of the most widely used.

This is just one more reason to consider organic gardening.  Without our bee friends, we're going to be in trouble!  What else can we do to encourage healthy bee colonies?  Plant flowers that bees love!  Here is a link to some of their favorites:

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/gardening/garden-bugs/top-10-flowers-that-attract-bees/

Beside filling your yard and garden with beautiful, fragrant, bee attracting flowers, also be aware of the type of habitats that they look for.  If you have something like this on your property, consider leaving it there.  If you notice that a colony of bees has taken up residence on your property and you don't want it there, instead of killing it off, call a local beekeeper to see if they will move it for you.  Here is some information on habitats and nests:

http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/habitats/bumblebee-nests

Together, we can keep these great pollinators, in our area and around the country, thriving!

Raised Bed Gardening Infographic

Look at this great infographic on raised beds!  It includes information on ideal bed sizes and soil mixtures.  While I loved my double dug beds, and have plans to build a hugelkultur mound in the future, transitioning to raised beds for most of my garden has really streamlined the soil building process.  The black clay that my soil is made up of is extremely rich in minerals, but an absolute bear to work with.  It's notorious for compacting back down.  Every year saw me tilling it back up.  The benefits of the double digging didn't last beyond 2 seasons.  Making the switch to raised beds has made it a lot easier to create healthy, humus rich soil that doesn't need to be plowed up every year.

Click to Enlarge Image



Build The Benefits of Raised Beds
Infographic by CustomMade

Garden Goings On

Now that the black gumbo has firmed up bit, we're in the garden running damage control (picking cracked tomatoes and such).  We're also spraying neem oil, fertilizing with fish emulsion, harvesting what's ripe, and scouting for a good location for the rabbit hutch.

Seasonal - Watering Trees in Summer

Watering my trees. This is a baby fig tree. When the weather gets relentless in Texoma, you've got to get a little creative about water. A small hole drilled into the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket ensures that each tree gets plenty of water. The hole is small for a slow release. I give my trees 10 gallons of water each week in this way.  The bricks are there so that husband and son don't mow them over (again).

Peach Picking - Jenkins Farm

We had a great time yesterday picking peaches at Jenkins Farm in Ravenna.  Due to our crazy winter, peach season is short this year, and farmer Claude Jenkins doesn't expect it to last much beyond this week.  Call first, and then hurry over there if you want peaches.  Blackberries will come later, and corn after that.  He has such a great operation over there.  Lots to take note of if you're a gardener or mini-farmer.

Herb Season

We are deep into herb season in Texoma! Here pictured is rosemary, orange mint, parsley, and cilantro. Cilantro and basil are probably going to seed on you.  Parsley older than one year is too. In my experience only parsley loses flavor when it seeds, and that's just the stalks that are actually flowering, so don't be shy to keep clipping and eating your fresh herbs!

Quick Word on Roses

Roses love Texas. These are a mini rose called Happy Chappy. They are prolific blossomers. I don't fertilize them much, though I do spread new mulch around every couple of years (as it breaks down).  I also give them a biweekly Epsom spray and dead prune them through the growing season.  If they need a harder cutting back, I usually wait until late winter.  Grasshoppers have eaten my roses to bits, so I'm experimenting with neem oil this year to see if that helps.