Why Bees Are Dying and What We Can Do About It - Creating a Bee-Friendly Garden

What do you get when you pair a garden designer and a bee expert together to collaborate on a book? You get a spectacular book that contains a wealth of enlightening information!

As stated on the back of the book, “Most people don’t understand the need to plant for pollinators to achieve productive vegetable gardens, or that pollination and beauty go together.” This is so true. Many people don’t give a thought to where the food we eat comes from before it arrives in our local grocery stores. However, much of what we eat requires insect pollination in order to grow. Therefore, bees and other pollinators are absolutely critical to our survival.

© 2016 The Bee-Friendly Garden, Kate Frey and Gretchen LeBuhn

Over recent decades, bees have been steadily dying out. The overuse of insecticides, rapid climate change and a severe decrease in appropriate habitat have all contributed to the steady decline in pollinators, and bees in particular. Looking at these causes can help us rectify the problems and books like “The Bee-Friendly Garden” are invaluable resources for doing just that.

© 2016 The Bee-Friendly Garden, Kate Frey and Gretchen LeBuhn

This book shows readers ways to counteract the threat to bee survival. The first way is to become aware that the issue even exists. One of the very first pages, “How Bee Gardens Help Bees” (page 10) discusses the how’s and why’s for the steady decline of bees. Chapter One, “Our Friends, the Bees”, contains an enormous amount of information regarding how beneficial these busy little workers are to our own survival. From there, the book lays out a comprehensive plan for designing a flower-filled garden that will attract bees on a regular basis.

© 2016 The Bee-Friendly Garden, Kate Frey and Gretchen LeBuhn

The photos contained in this book are gorgeous. Bee-friendly flowers are captured in all their glorious color. The close-ups of bees shown during the process of pollination are fascinating, stunning and educational. This book should appeal to a wide variety of readers. Gardeners, educators, children and anyone who eats will find value in “The Bee-Friendly Garden”. I highly recommend it!

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Recycled Gutters Into Veggie Garden

We're past the hump of Winter and are on our way to Spring. You know the growing season is not far ahead when you change your clocks. Trees, bulbs and flowers, all over the country, have been fooled into an early bloom. If you're thinking about planting a vegetable garden, consider this space-saving, upcycled idea. Attach reclaimed gutters (metal or plastic) to the side of your house or shed. Flowers and herbs would work nicely as well.

Recycled Gutters Into Veggie Garden

Beneficial Bugs in the Garden

I don’t know what it is, but bugs seem to love me. The minute I step outside to sit or work in my garden I immediately feel them biting. Mosquitoes, flies, gnats, they all seem to magically appear and swarm my sensitive skin. And anyone who’s been stung by a bee or wasp knows how painful that can be.

Fortunately for me I can spray my skin so soft and the bugs disappear as mysteriously as they had appeared. However, unfortunately for my poor green babies it’s not as easy to remedy.

Don’t poison your garden with pesticides

True, you can spray your plants with an insecticide, but, to me, this defeats the purpose of having a garden. When you spray with insecticides, like it or not, you no longer have a true organic garden.

Most vegetable gardeners choose growing their own vegetables over buying for many reasons. Among them being the fact that what goes in to the garden can be controlled by the gardener and poisonous chemicals are not something we want to be adding to our food.

In addition, pesticides are not discretionary, they rid your garden of all insects, good and bad. And most seasoned gardeners understand the difference between good and bad bugs. It’s estimated that 97% of bugs found in your garden and home are either beneficial or harmless.

Lady bugs are good luck in your garden

When I was growing up it was considered to be good luck if a lady bug landed on you. Well it’s good luck for your garden too. The lady bug is actually a type of beetle and there are a variety of groups.

Lady bugs are natural enemies of many insect pests and are capable of consuming 50 to 60 aphids in one day. Amazingly, one single lady bug can consume 5,000 aphids in a lifetime. Which is a very beneficial thing because aphids can cause damage and even destroy some plants and trees. Lady bugs feed on a wide variety of insects and larvae besides aphids, including leaf hoppers, mealy bugs and mites.

Some lady bugs also feed on plant and pollen mildew. In order to attract lady bugs in your garden, consider planting herbs and flowers that are popular with lady bugs such as yarrow, dill, fennel, cilantro, coreopsis, scented geraniums and dandelions. And, as difficult as it may be, don’t squash every bug you find on your plants because when you do you’re eliminating the lady bug’s food source and they won’t stick around.

There are four types of beneficial insects found in the garden:

1. Predators include ladybugs, spiders and lizards.
2. Parasitoids are insects that complete its larval development inside the body of another insect which it eventually kills. Wasps are parasitoids.
3. Pollinators are insects that transfer pollen from a plant’s male reproductive organs to the female reproductive organs in order to form seeds. Bees are the most common pollinators. Some moths and butterflies are also pollinators.
4. Decomposers/recyclers are insects that break down and decompose more complex compounds and turn them into more beneficial, simpler and more usable forms. The lowly fly and humble earthworm are among these types of insects.

Mother Nature knows your garden best
As gardeners, we would do well to utilize and make the most of what Mother Nature has given us. Using and living side by side with the natural gift of beneficial bugs can help us and our gardens as well as the environment.