Bees like Red and Stripey- The decline of the Honey Bee

The decline in the Honey Bee population is a serious global problem, which has me seriously concerned. Many crops depend on bee pollination and farmers often hire bee hives to place along side their crops to help pollination. Suddenly the bee keepers were loosing whole hives on a daily basis and now this is a world wide phenomenon often referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) or Honey Bee Depopulation Syndrome (HBDS).

I was amazed when I read in the March 2011 issue of the independent that

"The fact is that of the 100 crop species that provide 90 per cent of the world's food, over 70 are pollinated by bees."

and in  later in March the UN issued a warning stating that

"Bee declines range up to 85 percent in some areas "

Although the exact cause is not yet known experts from The United Nations say that several factors maybe involved. ie..

• Decline in flowering plants
• Use of harmful insecticides
• Worldwide pollution
• Increase in pests such as the varroa destructor which attacks Honey Bees.

When I first decided to change to a more eco friendly lifestyle one of the first three rules I made was to only by vegetable and fruit plants instead of flowers. I have now changed this idea and take pleasure in my flowering plants as they have their purpose in the garden. I have just planted some big sun flowers to plant along the back of the vegetable patch to hopefully encourage our Andalusian bees, but actually bees like red and stripy flowers.

Not many of us can rush out and start a bee colony but here in Andalusia we are lucky in that running bee hives is popular and there are groups who hire fields in the campo for such activity. Also many of you may have seen on the trip up to Sierra Nevada that honey is sold along the roadside of in local shops.If you can't get to local products you could try http://www.elcortijodelasabejas.es which appears have a nice online service.

You Might also Like to Read Andy's article on Pest Control.

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Spring in the Garden

Although it’s early spring things are moving very quickly in the garden. The warmer temperatures combined with the odd downpour are ideal conditions for the plants to really thrive. By now you should have most of your late spring and summer crops in the ground. If you don’t it’s not too late to start.

To make up for lost time buy vegetable plants from a good garden centre, most of the inland centres have them and they’re available from some agricultural shops on the coast. Of course you should be sowing some seeds too, that way you will have  new plants ready to plant out just as you are harvesting your first vegetables. This is called successional sowing and ensures that you have a regular supply throughout spring and summer. If you do have a glut of one particular vegetable and you just can’t use them all but don’t want to throw them away.

I’ll assume that you have prepared your soil ready for planting, if you haven’t then get digging. You will reap the rewards later on if your soil is in tip top condition i.e. its been weeded and dug over and you have either incorporated some compost and manure or given it a good feed with an organic fertilizer.

Talking of weeds, you’ll really need to dig them up now. If you let them flower and then run to seed you will have an even bigger problem next year. The odd weed in or around paths and borders don’t create too much of a problem but in amongst vegetables they can sap much needed water and nutrients from your soil.

Another problem that the gardener encounters at this time of year are bugs and pests particularly aphids and caterpillars. You will usually find aphids hiding like cowards on the underside of tender young leaves. A simple solution to a serious infestation is to blast the blighters with a hosepipe, it doesn’t kill them but it will give the plant a fighting chance until you can properly tackle the problem (See our article on organic pest control).

Caterpillars are easier to spot but by the time you do they’ll have munched and devoured their way through your cabbages and broccoli, anyone remember “The very hungry caterpillar”. The only way to rid your plants of them is to pick them off and squash them or feed them to the chickens, who’ll be eternally grateful unlike the caterpillars.