Planted a back garden meadow and got some bees

[fabindia]

This year we dug over some of the back garden and threw in a few wild flower seeds and got a beehive. I've only been stung twice so far

Here are a few pictures.


Wild flowers


More wild flowers


The hive


The bees


Bee returning with pollen

[Scrambled]

How beautiful! What a fantastic thing to do

[kitla]

Ooh I love bees, my parents kept them, we had to learn where their flight path
was and avoid it - (after running screaming down the garden with bees in your hair
you soon learn!)
They look so cute in your photo, I think you should name them, fuzzy-bum, buzby,
darth, stingo, wingo, polly and honeybun.
Your meadow looks lovely. Buddleia is another nice thing you could plant for the
bees, they love it and it and the purple ones often seed themselves.

[silverback]

Looking good Michael, looking good!

[manda]

[albertajune]

Brilliant Michael It must be really interesting keeping bees as they are so busy and intelligent . I often sit in my garden and just watch the bees going from one flower to another.

The meadow garden is lovely and reminds me of a place I used to go as a young girl for picnics. I can just imagine sitting there with a book very peaceful, with just the insects flitting around me, and buzzing of course. My tiny garden isn't big enough to have that impact so feeling

[Gwenoakes]

That looks good and another one here , but not for the bees.........sorry.

I tried to do that in the middle of the courtyard, got the seeds, but when they grew Terry my OH didnt like it, said it looked too messy!!

[p.penn]

How lovely

[fabindia]

OH didnt like it, said it looked too messy!!

Yes, it can look a bit messy, say compared with a neatly clipped lawn. We've got a fairly large garden so have both a lawn and a bit of meadow. I have to say the meadow is far more wildlife friendly as well.

[HazellB]

Mike - you might be interested in going to Egton Show next month as they have a big bee keeping section in the show and you'd be sure to meet lots of like minded people.

www.egtonshow.co.uk

It also happens to be the best one day show in the UK

[fabindia]

Mike - you might be interested in going to Egton Show next month as they have a big bee keeping section in the show and you'd be sure to meet lots of like minded people.

http://www.egtonshow.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It also happens to be the best one day show in the UK

Hi Hazel - might well pop down - I love country shows :-)

We went to the Northumberland show at the end of May, and just last weekend, to the Bury show. The Egton show sounds really like a real traditional country show.

[Linda S]

Smashing pictures Micheal and the meadow garden is beautiful. Good luck with your venture bees are such facinating little things.
Are yours the type that are common or are they endangerd im afraid im a bit clueless about the bee situation Lindaxx

[fabindia]

Are yours the type that are common or are they endangerd im afraid im a bit clueless about the bee situation Lindaxx

Yes, the bees situation is quite complicated and I wouldn't pretend to be an expert. My bees are domesticated (if you can with bees) honey bees, so I bought my colony from a beekeeper. There are wild honey bees too in this country but most of these are feral swarms from bees kept by beekeepers. Honey bees have suffered colony collapse due to a number of factors, including varroa mite.

Bumble bees and solitary bees also appear to be on the decline, which many put down to use of pesticides.

So, trying to do my bit but it's a very steep learning curve.

[Linda S]

Thanks for explaing that for me Micheal and I will look forward to reading about your little guys Lindaxx