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    Herbs to Feed Bees
    Herbs to Feed Bees
    Herbs to Feed Bees
    Ebook162 pages52 minutes

    Herbs to Feed Bees

    By Liz Alderson

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    About this ebook

    Feed the bees, feed the planet. Pollinators are vital to our eco-system and bees are a major player and honey bees provide us with a luscious food.

    Urban bees are thriving in a way that rural bees aren't and one of the reasons for that, is the diversity of the planting.

    You can do your bit to save the bees even in the smallest space, by planting some of the herbs in this book. It's a win-win as you feed yourself as well.

    Liz shows you how to preserve the herbs for winter use, make cosmetics and remedies. All with gorgeous step by step photographs.

    For those with a bigger plot, there are over 150 plants described in addition which will feed the bees, arranged by season. Trees, shrubs, annuals, climbers. Many of them are evergreen which will give you a good framework for your garden.

    A comprehensive Gardener's Dictionary gives the basics of getting started and looking after your plot, explaining all those terms that gardeners bandy about between each other that newbies may not understand.

    You do not need to know anything about gardening to feed bees, all you need is in this book.

    Liz has been editor of the-herb-guide since 2005 and launched an online publication, The Herb Magazine. She has used her experience to put together this fabulous companion book.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLiz Alderson
    Release dateMay 22, 2015
    ISBN9781311719935
    Herbs to Feed Bees

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      Book preview

      Herbs to Feed Bees - Liz Alderson

      Herbs to

      Feed Bees

      LIZ ALDERSON

      ~~~

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright © 2014 Liz Alderson

      All rights reserved.

      No parts of this book may be reproduced without express permission from the author

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      CONTENTS

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      1 INTRODUCTION

      2 HERBS A-Z

      Allium schoenoprasum

      Anethum graveolens

      Borago officinalis

      Hyssop officinalis

      Lavandula

      Melissa officinalis

      Mentha

      Nepeta cataria

      Origanum

      Rosmarinus officinalis

      Salvia officinalis

      Thymus

      Tropaeolum majus

      3 MAKING COSMETICS AND REMEDIES

      4 HARVESTING AND PRESERVING HERBS

      5 BEE STINGS

      6 PLANTS TO ATTRACT BEES BY SEASON

      7 GARDENING GLOSSARY

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Thanks to my team of encouragers and whip crackers for helping me see this project through to completion – I truly could not have done it without you. You have all been absolute stars!

      1 INTRODUCTION

      Bees are crucial to the survival of our planet.

      Without them and other pollinators, few of us would survive. It is estimated that 75% of our crops rely on insects for fertilization.

      If we were only able to produce 25% of our current level of crops, most of us would starve.

      Meat eaters, vegans, vegetarians and animals would all struggle to find enough to eat.

      Noted scientists such as Maurice Maeterlinck, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein said that if bees died out, the human race would have trouble feeding themselves.

      True or not, the fact is, that the death of bees is threatening the supply of food globally.

      Bees are major pollinators and we ignore their well being at our peril.

      Bees under threat

      Bees are under threat from many sources - over use of pesticides, monoculture, farmers increasing yields by removing hedgerows and taking away their natural habitats, increased demand for housing, lousy weather and, in the case of the honey bee, varroa mites.

      These mites are external parasites that were first identified in the Far East in the 1960s. They were found in the UK in 1992 in Devon, and at the time of writing this book, are present in all continents apart from Australia.

      A colony infected by the mite will generally die out within 2 to 3 years.

      The infection cycle begins in a brood cell when a mated female mite enters just before it’s capped.

      She then lays eggs and after hatching, mating takes place between the brothers and sisters. The male mites don’t even make it out of the hive as they and any immature females die once outside the cell.

      The mature fertilized female mite attaches to the honey bee as host.

      The female mites feed on the blood of adult honey bees which weakens them of course.

      And as Dr Mark K Greco, research associate at the University of Bath Dept of Biology and Biochemistry points out:

      In addition it is believed the female mites inject viruses into the bee, making it more susceptible to other viruses and encouraging latent infections to become highly virulent. So there's a three pronged attack on the honey bee from the varroa mite.

      We can all help avert disaster

      Even though we cannot all be beekeepers, we can make a difference to the overall well being of bees and essential pollinators, by growing plants that are attractive to them and providing them with food in the form of pollen and nectar.

      "Nowadays, towns and villages are a major source of food for bees and other pollinators because farmland has become like a colourful desert for these pollinators.

      Cottage and rooftop gardens are helping our pollinators to survive" confirms Dr Greco.

      Most of the plants that attract bees are fragrant and colorful – they have the added advantage of benefitting other wildlife too. In many cases, butterflies will share the flowers and birds will eat the berries through the winter.

      So by planting flowers to feed bees, you’ll be attracting other beautiful creatures to your garden, giving them a friendly habitat which they are losing, in no small part, due to man’s overdevelopment.

      We are most of us guilty of consumerism, demanding cheaper groceries for instance, which means farmers need to increase production, but now you’ve got a chance to put something back.

      Best for bees

      Beekeeping Associations around the world recommend that you provide plants with lots of small flowers, lavender is a good example – open single flowers, like daisies, sunflowers and asters – bell shaped flowers, foxgloves, bluebells and larkspur for instance.

      They especially recommend flowering herbs. The leaves and flowers are generally highly scented and will attract the bees.

      Bees like flowering fruit trees. These are particularly useful to have in your garden, as most of them flower in spring and will be welcome to the early foragers, and, of course, you get to eat the fruit later in the year!

      Fruit growers often work with local beekeepers to help pollinate their trees. A beekeeper will take hives to orchards and leave them there for the flowering period.

      Don’t choose double flowered varieties - try to get the original species where you can – hybrids often have little nectar.

      All year round

      Aim to have something in flower every month through from early to late season.

      It’s important to try and have a succession of flowering herbs and plants so that the bees who visit will not go hungry and waste time and energy looking for food. This will benefit you too, in that you will have an interesting and productive garden. Bees like the diversity and will continue to visit to get their food from your garden larder.

      In fact, urban bees are doing much better than country bees due to the practice of monoculture – one crop over many acres of land only supplying food for three

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