As I started to grow more fruits and vegetables in my garden, I started to think about attracting more bees to my garden and I even went as far as renting a beehive. As I planted more flowers to attract bees to my garden, I started to notice lots of other insects being attracted to my garden as well. The most obvious of these were the bumblebees. I hadn't really considered the role bumblebees play until I started to notice that the honeybees seemed to frequently fly up and away to places … [Read more...]
A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees
When we think of pollinating garden plants most people think of honey bees, but there are lots of other insects that perform this valuable task. As I started to plant more flowers to attract honey bees, I noticed that the numbers of bumblebees had increased as well. At about that time my friend Michele recommended a book to read - about bumblebees. "A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees" by Dave Goulson is definitely worth a read. Dave is a Professor of Biology but this isn't … [Read more...]
“Home-made” Honey
In earlier posts, I have talked about planting flowers to attract bees to the garden, and my decision last spring to rent a beehive to make sure I was getting lots of good pollination for my increasing numbers of fruits and vegetables. Over the summer I enjoyed watching the hard work of my bees (and the beekeeper) in my garden. I really started to appreciate the amazing process of making honey and the wonderful symbiotic relationship that humans have with bees when I read Manuka: the … [Read more...]
The Manuka Honey Story
Since I got a beehive in my garden I have become fascinated with bees and have been reading up more about them. "Manuka, the biography of an extraordinary Honey" is well worth a read. Manuka honey is a New Zealand 'rags to riches' success story and this book is written by a New Zealand beekeeper who has observed the story unfold; it was published in 2014 by Exisle Publishing, an independent NZ publishing house. Manuka is the native NZ tea tree and the scrubby plant once covered huge areas … [Read more...]
The Bees are loving the Pohutukawa
The New Zealand Christmas tree or Pohutukawa is in full bloom around Auckland including the one in my backyard. And the bees are loving it! They are busy making honey while the sun shines and the beekeepers are racing around trying to keep up - the more space you give the bees in the hive, the more honey they will make so the layers are building up. I was home on a sunny afternoon when Angus from Over the Hill Beehive Rental came to check my bees and put another layer on my beehive (see my … [Read more...]
Rent a Beehive
In an earlier post I talked about Attracting Bees to your Garden and all the different plants that had bee-friendly flowers. I wanted to have lots of bees to help pollinate my fruits and vegetables to maximise production from my garden. Bees are absolutely essential for our gardens but are declining in numbers due to Varroa mite and various diseases. But I started to think that even if I planted all these bee-friendly flowers how could I be sure that there would be bees to enjoy them? I … [Read more...]
Attracting Bees to your Garden
Bees are absolutely essential for our gardens, but honey bee numbers are declining around the world because of Varroa mite infestations, various diseases, misuse of pesticides, and removal of their habitat - the flowers that supply nectar and pollen. We have to look after our bees because we can't survive without them. Now that I am growing so many more fruits and vegetables in my garden, I really started to think about what I could do to help increase the numbers of bees as well. The best … [Read more...]