Sunday, July 19, 2009

BOBs?

Blue Orchard Bees, that is.

If you recall, from a previous post, H and I had visited Thuya Garden in Northeast Harbor and saw these cute, whimsical Blue Orchard Bee (BOB) houses. As most of us gardeners have read, honey bees are being decimated by Colony Collapse Disorder and as we are all dependent on pollinators for our very existence, it makes sense to cultivate breeding areas for a variety of pollinators.

Sooo, H and I are doing our part by making four BOB houses for our garden. They are so easy to make and give us an outlet for our artistic side. I think they turned out really cute!

H painted the one with the kitty in the window. Spike is on one side and Sluggo on the other and
I painted the other three. Now we're just hoping the BOBs will find these accommodations pleasing.

This morning dawned clear, cool and beautiful. We awoke to the thrumming sound of a lobster boat in the bay so I had to get a quick shot of it and the seagulls flying around, hoping to catch their breakfast.
And, as long as I was out on the deck, I took a few shots of the amaryllis which have been blooming for weeks now.

My eldest son sent these to me from his garden in Florida.

This is the first year I've tried Nemesia and so far, I've been thrilled with it. It's been a non stop bloomer and no dead heading needed - my kind of plant. I think it looks very pretty planted with the deep blue Lobelia.

The veggie garden is just now coming into it's own and the other day, I prepared peas and carrots with the Sugar Ann peas I planted in the spring. The Sugar Anns are an edible podded pea and so tender and tasty that it's difficult to get enough to bring in to cook as I tend to just eat them in the garden.


Now, it's off to the garden for more weeding!

Life is Good!

Hugs, Giddy

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Love the beehouses! And the look of those snow peas with the carrots done that way, I want some for lunch, but will have to go to the market first.

Anonymous said...

I too love the bee houses! So cute, and I especially like the kitties looking out the window. How do you make them? It looks like 2x6 stock with holes drilled in them?

Ali

Giddy said...

Jodi and Ali, thanks for your kind comments. The bee houses are made of 2x4s cut about 7 inches long with 5/16 holes drilled in randomly. The "roof" is a piece of cedar shingle and they are mounted on any old scrap wood sticks we had around. They were really fun to make.