BYC gardening thread!!

[WickeeChickee]

Ok, is anyone else getting concerned about the lack of pollinating insects around? I literally have seen 1 rather sick looking honeybee and two bumblebees in the garden this whole summer so far! We don't use pesticides, and last year there were tons more bees! I'm pollinating stuff myself at this point, but some plants, like my zucchini, simply will not fruit, despite having tons of blossoms. I planted super fragrant flowers around the garden to attract stuff, but nothing! I even released ladybugs in the hope that they might inadvertently do some pollinating during their travels around the yard! Getting very concerned...

 

[Angelicisi]

Sad but true. We had 2 years really bad before I noticed low flying planes and looked it up...seems mosquitos are super thriving last few years so the state (louisiana here) have been Ariel spraying to keep them down. We lost fish in the pond and a whole hive of honeybees before figuring this out we wrote a request to not spray our area (drift is unavoidable so aim bigger for non spray areas), this year the bees are doing well and only lost a fish to over heating. Just a thought. DE also kills beneficials ..

Ok, is anyone else getting concerned about the lack of pollinating insects around? I literally have seen 1 rather sick looking honeybee and two bumblebees in the garden this whole summer so far! We don't use pesticides, and last year there were tons more bees! I'm pollinating stuff myself at this point, but some plants, like my zucchini, simply will not fruit, despite having tons of blossoms. I planted super fragrant flowers around the garden to attract stuff, but nothing!  I even released ladybugs in the hope that they might inadvertently do some pollinating during their travels around the yard! Getting very concerned... 

 

[City farm]

Yeah to hot or a beautiful garden.. I am a block watch cordinator & hoping to use a duplex front yard area
for a raised garden.. Only if we get free recycled/ re-purpose items... Hope the tenants are up for that?
Plus I got this beautiful raised lettuce/chicken/ hiding spot with roosting underneath.. About 4 feet high,
5 feet wide by 5 1/2-6 feet long.. It was from sprouts.. They were going to tear it down and tash it..
One of the managers let us have it.. It is burnt wood.. Just need to build the arch's to keep the girls out..

 

[LoveChickens123]

We have been doing tomato sauce with are tomatoes and ketchup the sauce is great I haven't tried the ketchup yet it should be good!!

 

[Peaches Lee]

Ok, is anyone else getting concerned about the lack of pollinating insects around? I literally have seen 1 rather sick looking honeybee and two bumblebees in the garden this whole summer so far! We don't use pesticides, and last year there were tons more bees! I'm pollinating stuff myself at this point, but some plants, like my zucchini, simply will not fruit, despite having tons of blossoms. I planted super fragrant flowers around the garden to attract stuff, but nothing! I even released ladybugs in the hope that they might inadvertently do some pollinating during their travels around the yard! Getting very concerned...

Yes, here I have only seen bumblebees that are thankfully pollinating my stuff. I don't think I have seen a single honey bee. It is worrisome.

 

[SunnySkies]

Something is pollinating some, as I'm getting many honeyboat delicata set, and I'm starting to get zucchini and yellow squash, and there are some pumpkins and watermelons starting, but it's not as much as I'd like. It all seems slow too.

I want my tomatoes to ripen. Hurry UP!

 

[LovePolish2]

We have 13 tomato plants in the garden and we only planted 4. The rest are all volunteers we found in our old yard! lol So we dug them up and put them in the garden.

 

[Penny Hen]

Sad but true. We had 2 years really bad before I noticed low flying planes and looked it up...seems mosquitos are super thriving last few years so the state (louisiana here) have been Ariel spraying to keep them down. We lost fish in the pond and a whole hive of honeybees before figuring this out

we wrote a request to not spray our area (drift is unavoidable so aim bigger for non spray areas), this year the bees are doing well and only lost a fish to over heating. Just a thought. DE also kills beneficials ..

Try ordering some Mason bees. They don't hive like honeybees and are not as susceptible to some of the problems. However the spraying for the mosquitoes is a real problem. Monsanto is behind this. Between them and Dow Chemical they have all the poisons to destroy insects and plant life. Monsanto was behind the move that confiscated some of an Iowa man's bees. In particular the bees that he had developed that had a resistance to Monsanto's pesticides and Roundup. They claimed that he had foul brood (a bee disease) and took the bees while he was not on his property and will not even confirm what was done with the bees. This is more than just some careless overspray. Monsanto wants total control of the worlds food because then we would all have to be their slaves. They are Evil Incarnate. That may sound over the top and like I need to be standing next to the homeless guy with the End of the World sign. It has taken me 10 years of watching what Monsanto has done in the world of agriculture and politics to come to that conclusion. I was a propaganda specialist for the Army. I read and analyzed information and decided what it meant and how to use it to further the goals of the Army and the U.S. Monsanto has fingers in everybody's pies and are plotting to take all of the pies. And they do not care who they hurt of kill to do it.

If all the bees go we will die in 4 years. FOUR YEARS!

I actually believe that Monsanto only intends to reduce the population of the bees enough to cause famine and starvation of about a fifth of the population. They will sail into the "rescue" with some miracle that ennobles and endears them to everyone while at the same time placing them more firmly in control of the populations. The Iowa man's bees may make a startling reappearance though Monsanto will claim that it is a project they have been working on all this time. It is more critical than ever to become as self-sufficient as possible.

 

[vlselz]

I watched a show the other night on GMO's and Monsanto....scary sick stuff i tell you

! It makes you paranoid on the things we eat after watching it!

 

[Timskins]

It's something everyone should be made aware of.