A swarm in May is worth a bale of hay

A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon

But a swarm in July isn’t worth a fly

So goes the old rhyme.  Today, however, it isn’t unusual for honeybees to swarm as early as April or as late as September.

Swarming is how honeybee colonies reproduce.  The old colony will have a lot of young to rear, whilst the new (swarm) colony needs to find a home and quickly get to work producing beeswax honeycomb so the queen can start laying and the workers can start storing honey ready for the winter.

Honeybee colonies which haven’t swarmed will be continuing to increase in number as the honeybee queen can be laying 2,000 eggs a day this time of year.

Bumblebee queens have mostly raised their first couple of generations of workers.  The queens now stay in the nest, whilst around half of the workers are now out foraging to provide for the growing colony.

Different solitary bee species are continuing to emerge, mate and start nests.

All this means there is a growing need for nectar and pollen.

NO MOW MAY

I must admit I’m not especially a fan.  It seems a shame to me that during May we are all encouraged to let our lawns grow and then, at the beginning of June, we all get our lawn mowers and strimmers out and all the pollinators which have been enjoying the flowers in our lawns are suddenly having to look for new sources of food.  Unfortunately this happens at a time when the abundant spring flowers and blossoms are mostly over and many of the summer flowers have not yet arrived.  A time known to beekeepers as the “June gap” when an especially careful eye has to be kept on colonies to ensure they have sufficient food.

Personally I feel it is much better to mow a path through the lawn and let it continue to grow and flower all summer and cut back in the autumn after the wildflowers have had chance to set seed.  Or maybe just leave a patch to grow and mow the rest.  This way the patch of long grass looks intentional rather than “lazy”, although I don’t think there is anything wrong with a bit of a laziness from time to time especially in the garden. 

And if you really don’t like a longer lawn, then don’t feel you have to take part in No Mow May.  There are plenty of other ways to help pollinators.

Talking of untidiness the spring bulbs are mostly over now.  I find I have to really fight the urge to tidy up the leaves, especially as they start yellowing.  I have to constantly remind myself that the leaves are feeding the bulbs and this will give a much better display next year.  Once the leaves have completely died back the bulbs can be lifted and stored to be replanted in the autumn, although I usually leave them and find they tend to come back year on year.   The summer bulbs, such as alliums, are just getting going now and will provide a welcome feast for bees.

Usually when we think of growing for bees we tend to think of flowers, but bees are just as happy pollinating the fruit and veg.

The broad beans I planted a few weeks ago have germinated and I’m going to be planting them out shortly.  Bumble bees in particular enjoy broad beans. 

Whilst on the subject of broad beans, often the tips get covered in aphids.  Please, please don’t spray them.  Insecticides can’t tell the difference between the “bad” insects we might not want in our gardens or on our veg patches, and the “good” ones we do want such as the bees.  To me it also defeats the object of growing my own fruit and veg.  I’ve always found if you pinch out the growing tips when you start to see aphids on your broad beans it deters the aphids and doesn’t seem to affect the crop.  Also if you leave the aphids in a week or two you’ll find ladybird larvae will soon make short work of them.

Although late frosts are still possible at the beginning of May, by the end of May it should be fine to start planting out the more tender vegetables and annuals.   I’ve got lots of cosmos, sunflowers, cornflowers and calendula, amongst others, to plant out.  If you haven’t managed to start plants off from seeds, garden centres are full of plants, both flowers and vegetables, ready to be planted out.  If you are not sure what to buy, just watch the bees on the plants, and you’ll soon see which flowers they are enjoying.

At the allotment my foxgloves are just starting to flower.  I do love watching the bumble bees in out of the foxglove flowers. 

This is a good time to sow seeds for a lot of the biennial plants such as foxgloves and wallflowers – those which flower in their second year.  Bear in mind that although they are beautiful, and the bees love them, foxgloves are toxic and gloves should be worn when handling any part of the plant.

 I’ve also been trimming back my hardy herbs (such as lavender) and the stems from the herbs which die back each year (like the mallow).  I always leave the herbs to do their own thing during the winter.  The birds often eat the seed heads.  Hollow stems such as soapwort and mallow may be used by hibernating insects or bees.  Most should have emerged by now, but just in case I pile them in a corner out of the way for the insects to emerge.  They can always be left in a pile and the insects will use them for habitat or they can go on the compost heap.

I’m planning on treating myself to some of the more tender herbs to add to the variety for both the bees and me so I’ll share some of these with you next month.