The content of the article:
Breeding bees is the latest squeak of fashion, so it is not surprising that most of the best-selling books on the Internet in the category "Household plots" are guides to beekeeping. If you already keep chickens at your farmstead, then it will be easy for you to move on to the next step in improving your farm - breeding bees. However, not everyone is ready to put on a special suit and start studying bee colony. In addition, money will be needed to purchase beehives and other necessary equipment, as well as time to care for bees and to collect honey.
Beekeeping is not the kind of occupation in which you can immerse yourself without special knowledge and sufficient experience. Anything can happen - dies of the uterus, in winter colonies can starve, bears often destroy hives in search of honey and so on.
It is an indisputable fact that now the population of bees is in danger. Their importance can not be overestimated, because without bees we can literally lose many food products - if trees and flowers are not pollinated, then fruits and vegetables will not appear. Excessive use of pesticides, treatment of lawns and lawns, the use of herbicides and other toxic substances - all this causes irreparable harm not only to bees, but to the whole surrounding nature. Due to the death of bee colonies over the past 25 years, the number of honey bees has decreased by more than half.
Wild bees
As it turned out, wild bees are much more enduring than domestic ones, in addition, they can be found everywhere - there are more than , 00 species of bees around the world.
So, if you have a desire to participate in the rescue of bees, and you want to see them often on your backyard, so why not pay attention to the local wild bees? Of course, they will not produce honey for you (it's a bit distressing), but they will pollinate the plants.
In addition, domestic bees can be aggressive when they protect their hives. Wild bees flying alone do not have a number of hives that they need to guard, so they are more accommodating - less likely to be stung. But do not forget that any bee will most likely sting you if you step on it, or it will fall into your clothes or hair.
Wild bees are much more effective pollinating plants than domestic ones. In addition, they are more hardy, so they can work even on cold and rainy days. To attract them to your site, you will need a special bee-house, which can be ordered from the online store. Or you can simply fasten a bunch of ordinary wide straws for drinks or tubular sticks, such as bamboo, and hang them in your garden so that the bees lay eggs there.
There are many simple and inexpensive ways to attract local wild bees to your garden. As a bonus for preserving the population of these bees in the region, you will be provided with a good harvest and create an enabling habitat for any bees, including those that contain your neighbors. Here are my useful tips that will help not only attract wild bees, but also to achieve their settlement in the territory of your garden. Believe me, you definitely will not need a beekeeper's suit!
Top 10 tips for attracting and retaining bees on your household plot
Grow wild flowers
It is logical that wild bees will attract wild flowers. Plant them not only in flower gardens, but also near the garden, as well as in other places throughout the area of your site. Thus, you will provide bees with a wide choice - a real "buffet".
Notice which plants are preferred by the bees, and plant them in larger quantities.
Do not use pesticides
Pesticides are harmful not only for plants, but also for your health. Besides pests, they kill useful insects, including insect pollinators, such as bees and butterflies. If you still need pesticides, use them at the root of the roots, and not near the flowers where the bees gather. And remember that even so-called natural pesticides are also harmful to bees. Therefore, weigh all the pros and cons before using these funds for pest control.
Do not use herbicides
Herbicides that you use on your lawn or in the garden to control weeds can also be harmful to bees. Instead of using widely advertised funds, try using natural nontoxic methods to control weeds.
The usual manual weeding is the easiest and free way to get rid of weeds, and it is completely safe for bees and the environment.
Set a house for bees
As mentioned above, wild bees are excellent helpers in the garden, and they can easily be attracted and kept on their own plot. Place the house for them in a shady place near the garden and wait until the bees find it. As soon as you see that some of the holes in the tubes are covered with hardened substance, then the bees laid eggs in them.
Provide bees with access to water
If you have a drinking bowl in the garden, put a stone in it so that the bees can drop on it and have a drink. Also, water sources for them can be a small saucer with several stones or dripping water from a tap.
Choose such plants that in the garden there were flowers three seasons in a year
Experienced beekeepers advise planting such plants that will attract bees, not only in the height of summer, but also in other seasons.
Your task is to provide bees with nectar and pollen sources practically all year round, especially in spring and autumn.
Here are some seasonal plants that bees prefer:
- in the spring - lilac, lavender, sage, verbena, wisteria;
- in summer - mint, cosme, zucchini, pumpkin, sunflower, poppy, rudbeckia "Black-eyed Susan honeysuckle;
- in the autumn - fuchsia, sunflower, sage, verbena.
Keep some areas free of mulch, plants and debris
Before70% of all wild bees nest in the earth.
They bury themselves underground and build their dwelling there. Such an embankment from the soil is somewhat like an anthill. Therefore, before you grab a dangerous ant, make sure that it is not a bee that builds a dwelling from the ground. But even if it's an ant, leave it alone - although they are unwanted guests in the kitchen or during picnics, in fact, ants are very useful for soil aeration, and they can pollinate plants like bees!
Add the herbs to the flowers in your garden
Thyme, dill, basil, oregano and rosemary not only improve the taste of your dishes, they can be an additional decoration of your garden. In addition, they are very fond of bees. But keep in mind that some herbs can become bitter tastes if you tear them off after they blossom. Therefore, harvest early, and then let the grass bloom.
Let some weeds grow on your lawns
Wild bees are excellent pollinators of clover. Still they very much like dandelions. Therefore, consider weeds not as "weeds but as an excellent source of pollen and nectar for bees!
Increase the area of open spaces or pastures where wildflowers and weeds can grow
You will greatly facilitate the life of yourself and your lawn mower if you reduce the area of lawns and increase the number of open spaces. Let the weeds and wildflowers take up everything except a small traditional courtyard around your house. Pollinators will be attracted to wild flowers, and birds - other insects, which will certainly appear on the untrodden territory. In search of a delicious food will appear wild turkeys, rabbits and deer.
And one more useful advice on weeds from experienced beekeepers.
Many weeds are very useful in the wild. Their foliage is used as a forage by many species of butterflies and caterpillars, their flowers give pollen and nectar, and wild bees that die for winter use to build their nests. So do not be too zealous during the autumn cleaning of your manor - leave some plants for the next offspring of bees!
