A few years ago I started to write a monthly Gardening for Bees blog.  As tends to happen sometimes life got in the way and the blogs came to a grinding halt, as did the facebook posts. 

In November last year I decided to re-name the facebook page and start sharing posts again.  I’ve also been wanting to start sharing blogs again.  Conveniently my last Gardening for Bees Blog was in March so I thought I’d start with a Gardening for Bees in April blog.

I hope you will re-join me and enjoy following the blogs.

April is usually the month when suddenly there’s lots to do in the garden and on the allotment.  With all the rain we’ve been having it hasn’t really felt like spring and the ground is still very sodden.  The evenings are getting lighter and the temperatures are warmer though and the bees and other insects have noticed.

Bumble bee queens have emerged from hibernation and so there has been lots of huge bumble bees around.  Many of these queens have now found nest sites and started rearing young.  For the time being all the young will be female worker bees.  Over the next few weeks we will start to see lots of small bumble bees around rather than the big bumble bee queens as some of the daughters take over the foraging duties from mum and she stays in the nest to rear more young bees.

The early solitary bees have also started to emerge.  One of the first is the Hairy Footed Flower Bee and  I’m always especially glad to see her as, for me, she symbolises spring.  She is like a small black bumble bee with bright orange back legs.  There are lots of other smaller solitary bees around though, but you might have to look a little closer to spot them.

In the honey bee hives and colonies the queen bee is now being fed lots of food and her rate of lay is increasing.  The older bees who have over wintered are dying off to be replaced by new, young bees.  New drone (boy) bees will also start to be produced and this is a sign that swarm season isn’t far away.

All the fruit trees and bushes are starting to leaf up and as one lot of blossom finishes, there seems to be another to replace it.  With it being estimated that a queen bumble bee needs to visit around 6,000 flowers to rear her first batch of young it is a good job that many of the trees are blossoming now.  At the allotment the cherry trees are blossoming and the apple trees have just started to blossom, whereas the plums have finished.  The saskatoon and honeyberry bushes have also blossomed with the rest yet to come.

April is a good time to start dahlia tubers.  Last year I had lots of dahlia tubers in pots which I should have lifted and stored, but I didn’t’ a chance to.  Instead I just put the pots in the greenhouse and stopped watering them.  A week or so ago I noticed new life in some of these pots and so I’ve checked all the pots and whilst I lost a couple of tubers, most of them have survived.  I’ve re-potted them and started to water them now.  They’ll stay in the greenhouse until around mid-May and then I’ll plant them out.

If you want to grow dahlias you can buy all sorts of different shapes such as pompoms and cactus and sizes from small to the huge dinner plates ones.  The bees won’t mind what colour, shape or size the dahlias are, but they do need a dahlia they can access the pollen and nectar from.  Generally double flowers aren’t much use to bees, but you can get some lovely, frilly dahlias which are the bees will also love.  If you can see the centre of the flower where the pollen is then the bees are going to love it too.

Growing from seed is much cheaper than buying tubers, but it is a bit pot luck which colours you’ll get from your seeds.  If you grow from tubers it is more expensive, but you’ll know exactly what you are getting.   Either way it’s an investment because if you lift the tubers in the autumn and keep them protected throughout the winter you’ll have dahlias year after year.

As it has been so wet over recent weeks I’ve delayed sowing seeds.  I’m going to be having a good sort out of my seeds in the next few days and will start sowing seeds.  I’ll sow some small batches and then another batch in a few weeks.  Successional sowing like this will help to spread out the flowering times a bit which means we get to enjoy the flowers for longer, and the bees get a more steady supply of food.

I’m planning on sowing lots of calendula, cosmos, cornflowers and sunflowers amongst others.  I’ve also got some wildflower mixes to grow amongst my crops.  Although these can be started in the ground, I’m going to start them in seed trays and wait until they are bit bigger to plant out so I don’t accidentally hoe them or dig them out when I want to plant veg or other flowers.

 April gardening for bees is as much about what you don’t do as what you do!  Much of what we are doing now won’t benefit the bees until later in the year.  However, Mother Nature has planned for bees and other pollinators.  Many “weeds” start to bloom now.  At the allotment we have lots of dandelions, red dead nettle, white dead nettle and daisies.  Where possible please leave these for the bees to enjoy.  I leave some, but if I want the area for planting I do clear them.  Whatever you do, please, please don’t spray them.

On the allotment this time of year, and for those that grow their own fruit and vegetables, many of the overwintering crops such as cabbages, kales, sprouting broc start to bolt (flower).  Bees loooooove these crops too.  If they are not in the way, please leave them and let the bees enjoy the crops.  Once the plants have finished flowering they will produce seed which you can collect for next year’s crops which seems like a win, win to me.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog post.  Why not leave me a comment to let me know what you are growing.  Or pop over to facebook – Michelle Ernoult Bees Bugs & Botanicals – to say hello.