Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

ALMOST BEEKEEPING - RELATED TOPICS => GARDENING AROUND THE HOUSE => Topic started by: beepro on December 03, 2017, 02:22:14 am

Title: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: beepro on December 03, 2017, 02:22:14 am
Hi, All!


I have a small 15'x40' plot with irrigation hoses installed. 
The hoses are laid out approximately 1 foot apart from north to south.  I want to plant some long blooming nectar producing plants for the bees to get them through our yearly summer dearth.  But with so many variety to choose from I have no idea what to grow here.   Our hot and dry summer starts from June to Sept. often in the upper 100F.   Been adding compost to this area for the last 7 years.  At last it is ready for planting.   Any suggestion of what to plant that bloom during our long and hot summer months?
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: BeeMaster2 on December 03, 2017, 07:24:00 am
The only way a 15 x 40' plot will help your bees is if you plant 2 Beetrees in that plot. Then it will take several years before they are big enough to help. It takes acres of flowers to help a hive.
Jim
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: 220 on December 05, 2017, 03:00:22 pm
Reminds me of a farm visit when I was studying Agriculture at university.
The drive in to the homestead was through 400acres of irrigated pasture, when it was raised with the owner he replied it is lovely to look at and made him feel good but in the scheme of trying to feed 50,000 sheep it achieved next to nothing.
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: jalentour on December 05, 2017, 09:57:36 pm
Beepro,
I'd plant food for your family in the plot and throw down a couple hundred pounds of white clover for your bees in the surrounding area.
J
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: beepro on December 05, 2017, 11:21:03 pm
Thanks all for the suggestion.  I already planted the 40 purple asparagus crowns I
bought in this plot.   I plan to order more asparagus plants because eating it will
prevent many disease.  Too much good stuffs in it.   As they grow I will lay more compost on top.  I'll also grow some
annual white Hubam clovers because they will not compete with the asparagus harvest.  Only 2 ferns will be allow to grow so
that they will not compete with the tall clovers. 

About 1/4 of this plot is in the shade also.   Do you know what bee plants will grow in the shade?  I prefer growing some
summer blooming nectar producing plants for my bees.   Vine blooming bee plants will be fine too.   Any suggestion for me?
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: bwallace23350 on December 07, 2017, 10:05:36 am
The only way a 15 x 40' plot will help your bees is if you plant 2 Beetrees in that plot. Then it will take several years before they are big enough to help. It takes acres of flowers to help a hive.
Jim

What are beetrees?
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: BeeMaster2 on December 07, 2017, 02:37:18 pm
The only way a 15 x 40' plot will help your bees is if you plant 2 Beetrees in that plot. Then it will take several years before they are big enough to help. It takes acres of flowers to help a hive.
Jim

What are beetrees?
Bee Trees are a fast growing tree that produces lots of flowers during the summer that the bees like. I do not know the Latin name for it.
Jim
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: beepro on December 07, 2017, 09:17:56 pm
There are many name for this tree--Tetradium daniellii, Evodia daniellii and
Korean Evodia.

I started one 4 years ago. It blooms during the early summer but did not produce much flowers because there is a drought and I did not water the tree.  They don't do well in dry hot summer condition that we have here.  The bees did not get anything out of it going through the drought condition either.  I'm switching to plant the Echium now.  But I have to use weed guard to prevent the plants from taking over the garden. They produce too many seeds. Bees are over the Echium flowers when they bloomed.  It is consider a good nectar source plant.  If I have better moisture retention soil without using the mulch then I would consider planting more of the bee bee trees.  For now I'll just let this tree grow.
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: cao on December 07, 2017, 10:50:25 pm
I planted several bee bee trees about 4-5 years ago.  Some of them bloomed this year for the first time.  I did see my honeybees on them along with every other kind of bee/wasp in the area.  They bloomed a little earlier in the year than I expected so there was still other stuff bloooming for the bees. 

As far as the original question, I would plant something that you can enjoy also.  I know my bees love it when I plant basil.  There are lots of herbs that they like.  There are also many flowers such as butterflyweed, milkweed and cosmos that I have planted that my bees love.
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: beepro on December 10, 2017, 04:31:29 am
I bought 5 lbs. of sainfoin seeds several years ago but did not have a chance to plant them.
Our hard pan clay soil really need to loosen a bit.  So I will be planting some sainfoin this season also.
They can withstand the drought just like Texas  summer weather.  I also like to plant some annual white Hubam
clover too.  I'll start small to see how they grow here. 
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: bwallace23350 on December 11, 2017, 12:10:57 pm
The only way a 15 x 40' plot will help your bees is if you plant 2 Beetrees in that plot. Then it will take several years before they are big enough to help. It takes acres of flowers to help a hive.
Jim

What are beetrees?
Bee Trees are a fast growing tree that produces lots of flowers during the summer that the bees like. I do not know the Latin name for it.
Jim

I am going to find me a few. I am trying to re tree a bit of excess pasture land.
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: bwallace23350 on December 11, 2017, 12:11:23 pm
If I was the guy here I would plant a mixture of rosemary, lavender, and some garden plants.
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: Kathyp on December 11, 2017, 03:08:27 pm
Think about pollen too.  My bees load up on squash pollen and there's a lot of bang for the bloom.  + you get to eat the squash!  If you plant both summer and winter squash they have it pretty much all season.  You do need room....
Title: Re: fertile plot what to plant
Post by: beepro on February 25, 2018, 09:23:16 pm
For the winter butter nut squash this season, I already made a trellis for them.   I chopped down 4 small
mulberry trees earlier this month.  With the branches I made a sturdy trellis for the squash.  I also like to try some
white bitter melon on the trellis to see if the bees have any interest in them this season.   I will try to pack as many
veggies as I can without wasting much land.