The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Anke on February 20, 2020, 10:05:37 am
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Dave Goulson: "The Garden Jungle" - I finally got it from them library. May just have to buy it though... and have to plant that Buddleia that has been on my "to plant" list for the last few years!
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Never heard of it - whats it about?
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Wild life friendly gardening - for the bees, bumblebees, earth worms, ants, moths and butterflies.... it is fascinating. Explains all the complex interactions - I guess we have all heard about ants farming aphids, but also loads about how bumblebees live etc etc.
But then I have not read that much about insects et al before, other than beekeeping stuff.
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I have it on order from Amazon but it's not here yet. We have read a couple of his bee books - most interesting and well written. I'm looking forward to this one too 8) :garden:
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My copy arrived yesterday and I've reached chapter 3 which starts with earwigs. These wonderful tiny maternal insects have long been a favourite of mine, but I didn't know that they are omnivores and eat a large number of critters which are pests to us, such as aphids. I have never understood why earwigs are so reviled and persecuted, and having read this section of the book, I understand this hatred even less.
I have a happy memory of our postie Andrew collecting his weekly box of eggs from our honesty box. He set off back to his van and had a peep on the way to see which colours he had that week. When an earwig waved at him in a friendly way from amongst the eggs, he promptly dropped the box with a screech, smashing all but one of the eggs. He looked around sheepishly in case anyone had noticed but fortunately he didn't see me. :roflanim: . I did tease him mercilously next time I saw him :D
I am really enjoying this book and I'm very glad I forked out the £11 for it as I shall be referring back to it many times. Had I known though that there's not a single illustration in there, then I would probably have got the Kindle version instead (shame on me!)
So far I agree with everything he says, and all chimes with what we are trying to achieve here in our gardens and smallholding.
Going by what I have read so far, I do recommend the book, as did Anke, to anyone remotely interested in growing their own food and in running a smallholding. Mind you, I have many more chapters to go.
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I will definitely plant some of the plants he suggests!
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I think that if the plants sown don't like the conditions then they will not reseed. I have never seen wild cornflowers near here, but you do have to have bare patches for them to get a start each year. I worry that some seed mixtures are generic, containing plants from all over Britain, from a variety of soil and climate types, so only some will thrive in any specific place, no matter how well you grow them. Do you know what is in your new mix, or who produces it?
My own watery meadow is suffering from not having the grass cut - it will have to be scythed by hand as they are young tree establishing there, and no one has had time, so rough clumps of coarse grasses are taking over. I have had no success with seeds except with clover and one type of 'species rich' grazing mix oversown in just one field. Maybe we should try again :idea: as you are doing. It's so wet here now that we need to stay off the land.
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It sounds fascinating - I grow and garden for birds and bees and some insects - I've had a unexplainable phobia about certain insects - used to be terrified of spiders and worms now I value the work they do and even rescue spiders when they fall into the dog's water bowl. Sadly this new found acceptance doesn't extend to earwigs (sorry Fleecewife), they are my nemesis and freak me out especially up here as we get masses of them and they tend to come into the house in the autumn, but.......I didn't know they were maternal! Maybe if I read the book I'd see them differently. I would love to be able to keep bees in Shetland but I've been told there aren't enough flowers for them!
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I think Shetland is just a bit too far north for honeybees - that said I have a hive that seems to thrive on being let go feral - I have not opened it and not taken honey since it was re-colonised by a swarm a few years ago. I had lost all my colonies slowly over the years, not helped by intensive arable farming (incl neonicitinoids on the rapeseed etc), but the hives are still in-situ. These incoming bees survived the "beast from the east" without any extra feed and being so late in the winter I was sure they would die. I think human management doesn't suit bees very well... but it means no honey either.
Now of course I am worried that with the UK being "free" of EU rules many of the nasties are going to come back in use...
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I think Shetland is just a bit too far north for honeybees - that said I have a hive that seems to thrive on being let go feral - I have not opened it and not taken honey since it was re-colonised by a swarm a few years ago. I had lost all my colonies slowly over the years, not helped by intensive arable farming (incl neonicitinoids on the rapeseed etc), but the hives are still in-situ. These incoming bees survived the "beast from the east" without any extra feed and being so late in the winter I was sure they would die. I think human management doesn't suit bees very well... but it means no honey either.
Now of course I am worried that with the UK being "free" of EU rules many of the nasties are going to come back in use...
Hives are an artificial home for bees and I’d say need to be managed/monitored - not surprising your colonies have died off over the years. I sincerely hope they didn’t die off due to notifiable nasties such as EFB/AFB!
Truly feral bees in a suitable dwelling have a whole eco system within the community - this you won’t get within the restrictions of an artificial dwelling.
You’re not doing bees or fellow beekeepers any favours by leaving old equipment out in fields.
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I do not know about Shetland but my sister keeps bees in Orkney.
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I think Shetland is just a bit too far north for honeybees - that said I have a hive that seems to thrive on being let go feral - I have not opened it and not taken honey since it was re-colonised by a swarm a few years ago. I had lost all my colonies slowly over the years, not helped by intensive arable farming (incl neonicitinoids on the rapeseed etc), but the hives are still in-situ. These incoming bees survived the "beast from the east" without any extra feed and being so late in the winter I was sure they would die. I think human management doesn't suit bees very well... but it means no honey either.
Now of course I am worried that with the UK being "free" of EU rules many of the nasties are going to come back in use...
Hives are an artificial home for bees and I’d say need to be managed/monitored - not surprising your colonies have died off over the years. I sincerely hope they didn’t die off due to notifiable nasties such as EFB/AFB!
Truly feral bees in a suitable dwelling have a whole eco system within the community - this you won’t get within the restrictions of an artificial dwelling.
You’re not doing bees or fellow beekeepers any favours by leaving old equipment out in fields.
The bees have been living in their "artificial" home for more than 3 years now and doing fine thank you. My colonies died off as I found the queens were not very fertile, and swarming was a real problem. Cutting the queens' wings didn't help either, so in the end I gave up. This feral colony has survived well without any additional feeding, nor any varroa treatment and without the the added stress of weekly checking the hive - I know they are fine.
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I think Shetland is just a bit too far north for honeybees - that said I have a hive that seems to thrive on being let go feral - I have not opened it and not taken honey since it was re-colonised by a swarm a few years ago. I had lost all my colonies slowly over the years, not helped by intensive arable farming (incl neonicitinoids on the rapeseed etc), but the hives are still in-situ. These incoming bees survived the "beast from the east" without any extra feed and being so late in the winter I was sure they would die. I think human management doesn't suit bees very well... but it means no honey either.
Now of course I am worried that with the UK being "free" of EU rules many of the nasties are going to come back in use...
Sadly I know you're right on all counts :'(
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I do not know about Shetland but my sister keeps bees in Orkney.
Yes Buttermilk I hear there is a Beekeeping Association there and there is someone in Shetland who used to keep bees, not sure if they still do but for some reason refused to sell me any :thinking: I did try the honey once but found the flavour similar to golden syrup - I buy organic heather honey and have some everyday on sourdough toast - yum.
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I do not know about Shetland but my sister keeps bees in Orkney.
Yes Buttermilk I hear there is a Beekeeping Association there and there is someone in Shetland who used to keep bees, not sure if they still do but for some reason refused to sell me any :thinking: I did try the honey once but found the flavour similar to golden syrup - I buy organic heather honey and have some everyday on sourdough toast - yum.
If you have to feed the bees on sugar syrup then all you get is inverted sugar syrup, I wouldn<'t call it honey. And I guess in Shetland feeding the bees must be necessary as not only the season is very short, but it is windy all the time so bees will not be flying that well... I am sure you must have bumblebees up there though, maybe even a Shetland specific one?
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[member=132794]Scarlet.Dragon[/member] why not concentrate on native bees - bumble bees and solitary bees, as well as other flying pollinators such as hover flies? There are many, many different types of hoverflies - they don't sting, they don't buzz but they do look a little bit like wasps and flies, some even look like bees. I had a small phobia about bumble bees when I found a very angry one caught in my baby's clothes when I brought them in from the line (that baby is now 48!). It was buzzing like mad and struggling to extricate itself. A few years after this I realised my fear was rather silly, so I set out to quell it. By then it had spread to honey bees, even tv pictures of them moving in the hive. I knew I couldn't go the whole hog and start a hive, and anyway, knowing it takes a bee's whole lifetime to make something like a teaspoon of honey, I did not want to steal their honey. So now I concentrate on wild bees, and I find them absolutely fascinating. First thing was to discover that if a BBee flew straight at me, it wasn't attacking, it was just going about its business, and I was in the way. A beeline really is a beeline, whether a human is blocking it or not. I wouldn't go so far as to lift a bee in my hand, but I would always rescue one in trouble, by other means (jam jar). I got to like wasps by watching one way back in my allottment days, as it quartered the lettuce patch, picked off a caterpillar and staggered off to fly back with it to its nest as food for the young - what a useful insect!
So you don't have to brave a honey bee hive, just love our native flying insects :bee: :bee: :bee: :thumbsup:
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I think Shetland is just a bit too far north for honeybees - that said I have a hive that seems to thrive on being let go feral - I have not opened it and not taken honey since it was re-colonised by a swarm a few years ago. I had lost all my colonies slowly over the years, not helped by intensive arable farming (incl neonicitinoids on the rapeseed etc), but the hives are still in-situ. These incoming bees survived the "beast from the east" without any extra feed and being so late in the winter I was sure they would die. I think human management doesn't suit bees very well... but it means no honey either.
Now of course I am worried that with the UK being "free" of EU rules many of the nasties are going to come back in use...
I'm intrigued by this Anke. I have a phobia about buzzy things, having been badly stung as a child (presumably by wasps, hornets or yellowjackets). I've always wanted to have a hive to force myself to face the fear but am afraid that my phobia would result in neglect and I wouldn't want to do that. I'm now wondering if I could get hold of an old hive, whether or not it may be "adopted" by wild bees that can take care of themselves...what do you think is it worth a try and if so, any suggestions on where to source an old hive/what I should be looking for?
No I wouldn't get any old hive - these can harbour disease and mites, like varroa. My hives were clean and probably also had some honey etc left. Sometimes beekeepers use something called swarm-lure (no idea what it is though) to try and attract a swarm. Doesn't work too often. Most likely you would end up with a wasp nest if you set up an empty hive.
I think I was very lucky, and have a suspicion that these bees came from my neighbours roof space, which was originally settled by a swarm out of my hives.
I think having set ups for bumble bees around is just as worthwhile as having honeybees, bumble bees fly in colder and windier conditions, very useful for Scotland.
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Ah, you're there then :thumbsup:
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Yes Anke we do have lots of babbitys up here even a Shetland specific one and you're very right about the sugar syrup produced by bees fed lots of sugar. I'll stick to the heather honey I buy in - its just a romantic notion I have about keeping bees although I remember one time seeing a swarm of what looked like a football sized mass of buzzing bees in my garden and I totally freaked out :o, so maybe not the best idea.