bee friendly

Last week, I spent the evenings tending the urban homestead. My biggest project was planning, tilling, and planting my bee-friendly garden, a small circular flower bed in the front yard, facing west.

Here's a shot of me happily planting away. The garden may not 100% include things honeybees love, but it should attract various bees, as well as hummingbirds and butterflies. In the center of the bed is an old tree trunk that I hollowed out and threw a handful of oyster and muscle shells in. I've discovered it makes an excellent watering hole for the bees, so I've abandoned my plans to plant anything into it for now. Here's what I planted around it: asters, tangerine marigolds (my own starts), other marigolds, butterfly weed (my own starts), alyssum (from seed), cosmos (from seed), sunflowers (from seed), nasturtiums (from seed), Trollius chinensis or golden queen, lupine, foxgloves (my starts), hollyhocks (my starts), thyme, and pincushion flowers (my starts). It doesn't look like much yet...

I also managed to decorate Brian's mixer lid (formerly it just had a picture of an inflatable mattress and some clear red tape on it). I took a bunch of stickers and postcards and whatnot that I'd collected and collaged them while watching "Bee Movie" last week.

The bees are doing really well. Their population is up, and the comb is increasing. They went through a quiet phase, neglecting housekeeping and not increasing their comb. For one, it was rather chilly out, and for another, their population was probably quite low, as it had been a month since I'd introduced them to the hive. But they now seem to be thriving and working hard.

The comfrey is about 5 feet tall. Tall enough that some of it is starting to topple over. The good news is that the chickens love it, as do the bumblebees. They're all over it.

I have a love-hate relationship with comfrey. It's so invasive: in fact, I need to go out and weed some of it from my vegetable beds, but if the bumblebees love it, so do I. It's also great for making compost tea; the leaves are loaded with nitrogen. Plus, I did see a few honeybees on it yesterday. And it's quite gorgeous until it topples over.

grow and grow

Here's some gardening advice and inspiration for the weekend! This no-till method a.k.a. sheet mulching is what I did in my raised beds last October, giving the materials nearly 7 months to decompose before planting. This chart with notes comes from Renee Gardner's "Petals and Pedals," a weekly guest post over on Modish.


Also, in the pursuit of learning how to grow my bergamot, chamomile and other herbs and flowers for tisanes, I found this little article by Julie which left me disgruntled that I'd thrown out my lemon verbena when the leaves fell off and determined to grow more. I found that it was easy to grow from seed last year, and it's got a delicate flavor. I am determined to grow my own German chamomile this year, even if I only manage a bit in a container with my bergamot (as pictured). I also never thought to try violets.

Another bit of advice I read somewhere was to plant borage with chamomile. I did scatter some borage seeds in a beneficials/wildflower bed that I'm attempting. Borage is a good companion plant for tomatoes and strawberries and pollinators love it. Plus, it's an anti-inflammatory and the flowers and young leaves are a nice addition to salads. (Speaking of which, I ate my first home-grown salad last night with kale, lemon balm, spinach, arugula, and other assorted greens. Yay!)

And for the ambitious beekeeper, Mistress Beek has posted directions and photos on catching a swarm. If you ever see a swarm of bees, call your local beekeepers' association. I have as yet to experience this not-so-rare but magical phenomenon, and when I do, I'd love to help in finding those ladies and drones a home.

(One of my students made me a lego bee as a goodbye present!)

plant, paint, collage, sew

My project ideas continue to exceed my talents and my time allowance, but that's okay. I'd rather have too many ideas than none. Ideas excite, entice, and enchant. In one week, I'll be handing in my classroom key and entering the world of waiting tables and working around the house on projects such as these (rather than working 50 hours or more a week on teacher stuff. But**sigh**I do love teaching):

I really really want to make a wall planter board. I first saw them at Portland Nursery, and am currently keen on building my own using hens and chicks and perhaps other rock-wall loving plants/succulents.

Part of my front yard is a complete mess of weeds rather than grass, so I've started the job of digging it up and turning in into a bee-friendly garden rich with foxglove, hollyhocks, sage, thyme, buttercups, cosmos, and asters. Plans are in the works.

B-rye uses an ugly fugly box lid to store his mixer in, and I'm going to deck it out all styley cool via collage and perhaps some spray paint. I'm looking forward to that little task.

Since my side of the bed is up against the wall, I want to make myself a colorful linen wall hanging to hold my books, a journal, and possibly a water bottle. I think I'm going for red and turquoise for bedroom colors.

I have been commissioned to sew my friend Kara's curtains, an exciting and slightly daunting task that I intend on facing with full exuberance next week! The Amazing B made my sewing table yesterday which is located right in the heart of our house, next to the hearth, in the living room. So I can sew while we watch movies and hang out.

My gift-giving is still in the conceptual phase more than anything, although I did give away seeds last week. But my gift plans are further advanced, including a semi-developed idea for a mother's day gift and a baby gift for a new mom. I'm skimping on details in case these special people read this post.

Mom

Happy Mother's Day to all of the amazing mothers out there, especially to my own. I am blessed to have her.

The Midnight Knitter Strikes

I've heard of guerilla gardeners and guerilla gifters, but I've never heard of guerilla crafters!