Seedballs/ Seedbombs- getting into some guerilla gardening for good

I bought a bag of clay from Curry's Art Supplies last year with the intention of making seed bombs, but life, and head trauma, got in the way. Then two weeks ago I was buying groceries, and saw this bag of mixed wildflower seeds in the vegetable section, of all places. It promised being able to cover a huge area with flowers for $20, so I bought it. I mixed a handful of the seed mixture with some composted manure and a light potting soil to spread the seeds out even more, and then made little pockets of clay and filled them with this mixture. Like dirt ravioli.

How to attract Bumblebees to your garden

According to Hinterland Who's Who Bumblebees are native to North America (unlike honey bees which did not exist here until Colonists brought them over). They are large and fuzzy, and non-aggressive, unless you disturb their nest or swat at them (or step on them). Their stinger isn't barbed, unlike the honey bee, so they can sting multiple times if they need to. The drones (males) do not have a stinger at all. Bumblebees see in UV light so they are more attracted to blue and purple flowers, but they will happily feed off of any flowers they find.

Only 45 species of bumblebees are social, meaning that they live in hives of up to 200 individuals, whereas honeybees have colonies of up to 40,000. Bumblebees make very little honey as all but the new queens die off over the winter. They usually nest underground in abandoned rodent burrows, and they can be found in sub-Arctic to sub-Tropical climates.

Birds, feeders and the garden

My Dad loves feeding birds. He spends a lot of money every winter buying enormous bags of bird seed. And the birds love him, too. He has quite a few visiting his feeders for most of the year (he stops feeding them in May and starts up again in September). He loves to look after them, providing cover for them to hide in by planting bushes and native plants, and going out to shovel areas for the ground feeders if the weather is bad. It gives him a sense of purpose.

However.

Beekeeping pictures

The set up before adding bees.

My first inspection. I didn't take a picture of the second deep on top after.

I didn't get stung!! Woot!

Wildflower mead

This is a good time of year to make mead, and I'm going to try. Again. Last time didn't work out so well because I forgot about it in the closet and it went... stinky. I was a bit disappointed. Plus, it was such a large carboy that it was unmanageable.

However, this recipe seems like a good way to start- one gallon jar, local honey, and flowers from my own garden (and hopefully some of the ones which I've planted out there in the wild this past spring).

Wish me luck.

And this time I'm using a calendar.

How to plant a verge or front yard garden

Sometimes people want to plant a garden, but their backyard is unsuitable for some reason- too small, too shady, that's where the dogs and kids like to rampage, etc. More and more people have been breaking out of the mold and trying gardening in their front yards. Some have even taken it down to the edge of the road, on the verge.

Community garden plot

We're moving back to the city we think of as home in about six weeks. It's exciting, and a bit stressful. And, as we're going to have to rent for at least a year while we build up a down-payment for a house... I'm not going to have much in the way of a garden for that time. This irks me. But, at least it will be mine. All mine, muahahahahahahahahaha*cough* Ahem.

I did manage to luck into a 10x10 plot in a community garden. It's not terribly near our new house, but it is very close to a friend's place, so I'm hoping to mix gardening and tea. It has been difficult trying to contact the community gardens, as none of them have contacted me back, except the one where I got a garden plot. I'm assuming this is because they have long waiting lists and not much volunteer time.

A good friend is sending me some flax seeds. She headed me off at the pass when I bought the wrong kind... There are more than one kind of flax, apparently. One is annual, the other is perennial. The perennial is a hardy garden plant and a good native wildflower. There are two varieties of annual- one which is better for seed and one which is better for fibre. Thankfully, she's sending me the fibre variety, and I'm sharing the perennial with her for her garden. The rest of the perennial kind I'll be spreading on a field this weekend. When the proper fibre kind gets here I'll be spreading it over half my community garden plot. You have to harvest the flax for fibre just after it finishes flowering, but before it sets seed, so I'll leave a patch on one side to grow some seed for next year. Maybe a bit to eat, too, just for the novelty. The flax plants get a bit tough by then, but it might make a nice bit of cordage.

I got permission for this in advance from the garden co-ordinator so I didn't get into any trouble. It was a strange request, but there you go. I'm used to whimsical looks from people.

Then comes the retting (rotting) process. I hear it's kind of smelly...

Make a little bee-house in your soul

Wild bees

There are many thousands of varieties of bees besides those which make honey. In Canada we have at least 730, which is only 4% of the approximately 19,000 species world-wide, but only 39 of those reside in Ontario (as far as we know right now, as insects are notoriously difficult to find). (1)

Bees developed from digger wasps, but instead of killing prey for their young they switched to pollen. Bees are almost as old as flowers in the timeline of the earth. Most bee species do not live in colonies, but provide a store of pollen for their young in a safe place where the egg is deposited. The only species native to Canada that rear their young and live in colonies are Bumblebees, which live in abandoned rodent burrows. Of those who do not live in colonies most make their nests in the ground, but a good number of them like the pithy stems of plants, beetle-holes in wood, or other naturally occurring cavities (like snail shells). A few make a nest under rocks.(2)

Keeping bees

I've decided to go in with a few friends and keep a hive of honeybees- only one for this first year because it's a bit expensive to start. It's illegal to use the medieval-style of hives (because they aren't as good for bee health), so I'll be using the modern Langstroth variety. It's the most popular and has the most information for beginners. If all goes well we might add another hive next year.

I admit that I'm a bit daunted and nervous. There will eventually be a LOT of bees. There are so many things that can go wrong. Bees have been under an unprecedented amount of stress from disease and parasites. I don't think they've had so much to deal with at once in all their 40 million year history.

Those pictures of foulbrood that I've seen on the 'net turn my stomach. If that happens I might just set the whole hive alight... Unfortunately, that's the best method of keeping the bee-eating bacteria from spreading to other hives and wild bees. The second best method is burning the frames and thoroughly scorching the inside of the hive bodies. The spores live up to 40 years in a dormant state. Once a colony has it, that colony is dead. I refuse to administer antibacterial treatments which become something you have to give that colony indefinitely. That's just breeding a super-bug. Plus, it gets into the honey you will be eating. Again, breeding super-bugs and damaging your own immune system. No thanks.

In my head I have this beautiful idea of a large garden of flowers, herbs and vegetables, drenched in sunshine and humming with bees. It's my idea of heaven on earth, actually. Hopefully, one day I'll be able to have that.