warmer weather at last!

Just spent a glorious day in the garden - planted the adzuki beans, purple barley, tri-colour beans, 2 types of squash, arugula, cilantro, leeks, tatsoi, and lettuce. Here are a few photos of the garden from today: This Angelica is Queen of the garden right now - 7 feet tall, and dramatically centred in the garden - in its second year of growth, this biennial is forming its wondrous, large seed heads, which will attract and feed many beneficial insects like Braconid wasps,http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/garden-allies/69/2/ lacewings,ladybugs and hoverflies. Plants in the Umbrel family are great for attracting the good kinds of bugs gardeners love.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Beautiful purple headed barley seeds from Salt Spring Seeds - can't wait to see them do their thing! brand new lettuces, will need a few more days before transplanting out basil, cilantro, leek babies Sunburst scallopini and a variety of summer squashes waiting patiently in the greenhouse to get out into the garden bed to spread their roots and tendrils in the sun. This is an edible passion fruit vine (Passiflora edulis) that will happily (hopefully) grow up the back porch http://www.chttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrfg.org/pubs/ff/passionfruit.html and the flowers will be gorgeous, as all passifloras tend to be.

Bee Boxes

These native Mason Bee(Osmia lignaria) boxes were built out of solid, untreated cedar wood-not the best wood, as there is resin in Cedar that repels insects, but that is what we had. The holes should be 5/16ths of an inch in size, a fingers-length apart to make the bees happy. The boxes must also be hung facing East - to warm them up in the morning. Some cool facts about these non-stinging bees: The male OMB cannot sting and the female rarely does. The OMB does not live in a nest like other bees. It lives in wooden blocks, but does not drill holes. It uses holes that are already made. The OMB pollinates at a rate of 93% to 99% efficiency. The European honey bee is only about 3% efficient. The OMB starts pollination at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. The European honeybee will not work at this low temperature. The OMB will work during light rain and wind, whereas the European honey bee will stay in the hive. It takes only 250 to 750 OMBs to fully pollinate an acre of fruit. It would take about 60,000 to 120,000 European honey bees to do the same job in the same time. Each female is a queen and will produce as many as 50 eggs during a season before she dies, if there is a habitat available. http://www.crownbees.com/ http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/apiculture/factsheets/506_osmia.htm http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/apiculture/factsheets/506_osmia.htm http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=xFf5Aj0Ai1U Mason bees prefer blooms that are most abundant in May because that is when they are collecting nectar and pollen for their nests, You could even plant some Native shrubs and trees for the bees: http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/nativebee.html#appendix1