If you haven’t read about the rising wave of problems with crashing bee populations worldwide, get on Google and check it out. In a nutshell, bee colonies are dying off around the world, and no-one really knows why. There are several possible reasons people are talking about:
- Some suspect that increasing infestations a few types of mites might be doing it.
- Others suspect mono-cultural agricultural practices.
- Genetically-Modified Organisms are another possibility.
- Perhaps it’s due to microwaves and other electromagnetic radiation that’s omnipresent these days.
So, there are a number of possibilities for why this is happening, but it’s bad news regardless of the underlying reason. Did you know that bees are used to commercially pollinate more than $14.6 billion dollars’ worth of fruit, nut and vegetable crops every year in the US alone? Without these incredibly helpful insects, these food stuffs would be much more costly if they were available at all.
There’s plenty of information out there, and most of it is ominous. One of Albert Einstein’s famous quotes is making the rounds lately with regards to this, and it bears repeating here:
“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”
So, if you have any open space in your yard, plant a pollinator garden. If you don’t, spread the word with friends and family. This affects all of us in the end. I’m doing my part, and I hope you can do yours.
For some links on what to grow, you can consult your local county extension office, or you can check out some of the following links:
NOTE: I’ve crossposted this to Groovy Green as well.
March 26, 2007 at 8:32 am |
It is worth trying to have flowers in the garden all the year round. Am failing at this apart from the weeds (lawn is more daisy and dandelion than grass). Will need flowers on the allotment to help ensure pollination of the broad beans and other flowering vegetables later in the year.
If I had time, money and space, I would like to get into beekeeping. Went to the Algarve last month in Portugal and tried beautiful honey from a small holding – yummy. I use honey to sweeten herbal teas.
March 26, 2007 at 11:47 am |
We are getting our fist hive in April – hive donated by kind friend, spare swarm donated by another kind friend. Our overall cost will be zero, and we will hope to collect around 30 jars of honey in the first year which we hope will mean we buy no refined sugars at all.
We are planting 100 fruiting hedge plants to provide pollen, 30 accacia trees, and a wild flower meadow from seeds I’ve been collecting for the last couple of years to give them some variation from our neighbouring monoculture-farmer’s rape seed fields.
I hope that’s just the beginning, and intend to carry on planting our 2 hectares of land with more pollianator plants.
March 26, 2007 at 7:34 pm |
We’ll be putting in buckwheat, dill, fennel, borage and coneflowers in addition to our regular flowers. Hoping to attract all kinds of beneficial insects.
March 26, 2007 at 7:51 pm |
Thanks everyone for sharing your plans. For my part, I’ve got some open flowerbeds that will get a smattering of different native wildflowers to complement the coneflowers, Black-Eyed Susans and Salvia we’ve already got planted around here.
I’m also planting some raspberry cuttings behind my garage along with some hop vines… hopefully those will attract more pollinators as well.
June 18, 2009 at 10:09 pm |
I live in a city and don’t have a garden, I am successfully growing basil for the first time, but I don’t think that counts.
I am trying to help the bees by publicizing this serious problem. I am not sure if any of you are on twitter but @HelpSaveBees is an amazing resource.
Michelle @aaanimals