Let's talk about the Birds and the Bees!

It's a Wildlife Special!

Hiya Folks

I hope I find you well and happy ... if a little soggy...... I've not had a lot of time to spend on the blog in the last few weeks as I've been a very busy little bee! I've celebrated my Wedding Anniversary and had a plethora of house guests here at Casa Wollaston, so I'm sorry it's all been a bit quiet on the Bloggy front.

But here I am, in my fifth month of not buying any clothes, I have to say, it's been very hard going as the stuff in the shops is all my kind of style, 50's dresses, 60's shifts, 70's maxi dresses ..it seems like the high street has got the best of the last 5 decades all sewn up..... but... I'm being strong and secretly praising the heavens for all this rain. (I don't have to go out and see all the pretty new collections when it's a damp squib do I?)

So, I'm looking for ways to distract myself at the moment to keep my mind away from shopping expeditions, and one of my favourite ways of forgetting about retail temptation is to get out in the fresh air .. not easy at the moment with all this rain!

Rainy little flowers!

The garden and allotment are crying out for some much needed attention and I absolutely LOVE spending time outdoors but it's been rather cold and as we all know very wet so the planting will have to wait a little while. It's hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, I was under the Damson tree watching all the little bees busily doing their thing. I do hope they'll be ok and able to survive the cold, damp weather.

With this in mind, I wanted to share a little bit of my passion for Wildlife with you and maybe give you some ideas on how to help to protect and attract some cute and beneficial creatures into your garden! Starting with my favourite ... the lovely little Bee!

So, why are bees important? We all know that they spend their days collecting pollen from one plant to another, but why should we be bothered about this? Have a look at this link.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/banrock-station/importance-of-bees

We haven't seen as many bees this Spring and it's hardly surprising with the terrible weather... these little wonders of nature rely on all the early blossom and spring flowers to build up their stock of pollen and many of the flowers which would normally be up at this time of year are just not there. There's a lot you can do to help, planting the right kind of flowers in your garden can make all the difference, those plants we think of as 'weeds' and ruthlessly dig up out of our flower beds and lawns are quite often the very plants the bees love the most. Plants such as dandelions which we treat as the enemy, they are there for a reason. They are also often very useful in homeopathic remedies and treatments too but that's for another day! Wildflowers are especially good, as bees and wildflowers have evolved together. You can buy Widlflower mixes in most of the cheap pound shops now and all you need to do is scatter them in your flower bed and wait for the magic to happen! Look at the show I got last year!

A carpet of colour!

The best flowers to plant are the single petal layer variety ( the ones that look like daisies basically)

We also leave some of our veg down at the plot to 'go to seed' as the flowers you get on Kale, Cabbage etc are much loved by the bees. They love yellows and blues and purples, little Violas are perfect and can be bought just about anywhere. 

Cute Violas!

They love the flowers off Strawberries, Raspberries, and Lavender too. These are all beautiful plants, with the added benefits of being edible and very useful to us. Why not plant something that is not just pretty to look at but will benefit wildlife too?

Lavender 

Wild Rocket

Down at the allotment, we've decided to go one step further and actually get some of our very own bees! Now I know you're probably picturing The Hubster and I prancing around frantically while being chased by swarms of angry insects ( you know you were) but no, we've got ourselves a teeny little number of 'Red Mason' bees, they are solitary bees and very chilled out. They don't produce honey but they are fantastic pollinators. They've already been busy at work on the fruit garden and as long as we get some sunshine at some point, we're expecting a bumper crop of gooseberries, raspberries,currants etc this year. There are loads of websites around now encouraging people to keep bees, or at least to support the dwindling population, here are some links.



http://www.birdfood.co.uk/

http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/Mason_Bee_FAQ.html


http://www.masonbeesforsale.com/

Bee and Ladybird 'House'

Together with our little bees which came in cocoons, we got a box for them to store their pollen in, they will fill it up, lay their eggs in the cocoon and pack it full of dirt to protect the next generation. Then we'll store the tubes away somewhere sheltered for the winter. Next Spring, we'll bring the box out and with a bit of luck from Mother Nature, they'll hatch and we'll have a load more!

I'm actually quite cute when you get to know me

Mason Bee House

So, why not have a look in your garden and see whether or not you've got any of the kinds of flowers that support our little friends? They are absolutely vital to our ecological system and food chain. we could all do a little bit to help.

Right, I'm gonna buzz off now (he he) I hope you enjoyed this post and didn't find it too 'preachy' I just wanted to share my passion with you and show you what all this not buying clothes can lead to ....you actually find the time to think about other stuff, and sometimes just a little can mean such a lot.

I'll be back with some more soon.

Lots of Love!

Leona X