Tuesday 3 November 2015

Late Season Bee Food





We paid particular attention to the bees over the last 2 months as Autumn is a time of dearth when crops are in and gardens have wound down for the season.  With warm sunny days in September and October, the bees are out looking for food but pollen and nectar sources are scarce in these months.  We wanted to provide a steady supply of late season food for the bees this year so I seeded specific plants in Spring in order to provide for them. 




Old fashioned single mixed hollyhocks were a strong favourite which hardily endured many light frosts.     





Calendula also tolerated frost, but wasn't as popular as the other flowers.  Bees visited the flowers, but not as much as I expected...




Giant hyssop was a HUGE hit!  It's the bushy plant with purple spires in the above picture (it looks like lavender).  We sat on our front verandah and happily watched the bees work the blooms for hours.  I highly recommend this plant for it's LONG bloom time and frost resistance.







Sunflowers are another important late season food for bees and of course the birds love them, too.  We sadly had mice eat most of our planted seed but a few plants did make it!  Our neighbour had a huge show of sunflowers, so that certainly helped our bees out.






Lastly, catmint is hands down the bee favourite!  We have 2 large plants in this back garden (right and left in the above picture) and 4 more very large plants by the greenhouse.   These were strategically planted to attract the cats to the greenhouse perimeter to help keep the mice from getting in (it worked!).  These 6 plants were CONSTANTLY covered in bees from sunrise to sunset right through the entire blooming season (which only recently ended late in Autumn). 

We noted that our honey has a slight minty, licorice-y, citrus-y taste to it and I was reminded of the flavour when I was cutting back the plants on Sunday...  it's amazing how honey tastes like our gardens :)

Even if you don't keep bees, I strongly encourage you to plant a few species specifically to help feed bees in Autumn.  A quick google search can identify what plants you can grow for bees - they will thank you for it.    


12 comments:

  1. I'm guessing you keep a top-bar hive b the looks of the first picture? Bees fascinate us no end. My late FIL kept bees pretty much all his life - such a great experience.

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    1. Yes, we do. We do plant to try Langstroth hives in future but have not yet done so. We are new beekeepers - this was our second summer and and we are hooked!

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  2. My raspberry bush was a favorite for the bees this fall as it ripens late into the fall. I was wondering how the leaves on your hollyhocks did.??
    Mine seems to get mold and so I had to cut them back. I am hoping next year will produce better stocks and stems on them. They did produce lots of flowers and the bees were loving them . Maybe our climate is just too damp for them. I am not sure yet. Thanks for shairing

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    1. Our leaved did just fine but we do tend to have a fairly dry climate.... Maybe try some good compost for top dressing and I'd even spray compost tea - that seems to rid a lot of things of mold.

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    2. we definitely have a wetter climate. I will mulch with rocks or something under them next summer to see if that makes a difference
      Thanks

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    3. Also, you could try improving your soil with well rotted compost and spray your plants with compost tea. Boosting your soil health will go a long way toward preventing mould and mildew :) Those wee microbes are excellent for that task!

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  3. Great post! I enjoyed my walker's low catmint so much this year and noticed that the bees do too!

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    1. Our catmint was absolutely HUMMING all summer. The noise was deafening!

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  4. Your post gave me great encouragement, as I have recent seeded of many of the plants you mentioned. I hope to grow a deep perennial border along the front boundary of our property and some of these will help fill it in. The rest I'm planning to plant around the vegetable and fruit growing areas. We currently have native bees, but we would like to add honey bees to our repertoire. Thanks for sharing this info.

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    1. You're welcome! It will be interesting to see which plants your bees prefer...

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  5. I was only recently introduced to Kenyan Top Bar Hives on River Cottage Australia. They seem a much more natural way to keep a hive. I was surprised to see one in your post.

    Im not sure what would make the most noise. The bees on the catmint or my little doggie barking at the cats attracted to it.

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    1. LOL about the dog barking!

      I don't know how much more "natural" top bar hives are per se - bees make homes in all kinds of places which are shaped oddly (tree trunks, rotten stumps, in attics, etc). They are adaptable and thrive just as well in Langstroth hives. It is WE who like the top bar for the ease of working... No heavy lifting, waist height, etc. I also like that it's so easy to harvest honey (and wax). There's no frame repairs to do. The top bar is just so simple - the bees make their own combs and nothing is required of us except perhaps more frequent hive checks (preventing swarming).

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