New low cost housing available (If you're a bee)

[Silk]

I am pleased to announce we have our first sitting tenant. ;D

We erected this small high rise domicile with a good south westerly view over some well tended gardens a little over a month ago, along with its sister block which also boasts a genuine thatched roof.

We did think we were a little late in the season for any takers of such an abode and were contemplating a minor refit later in the year, comprising of a repaint and the addition of a thatched roof.

However, we still let the property go on the market, and with no advertising budget, we relied solely on our reputation and the presence of good fertile soil and pollen rich flowers.

On Monday we noticed a few interested parties looking the apartments over, by Wednesday we realised we had a potential tenant, but every attempt at an interview or picture evidence was thwarted, (we were told to buzz off)

However today we managed to obtain proof of our assured tenancy in one of the penthouse suites, and in fact are now pretty sure that apartments in the first and third floor are also under review with possible occupancy, despite the fact that for Mason Bees to take up occupancy this late in the season is quite unusual. (so we are told)

Maybe its the quality of our buildings that appeal to them, or is it just the fact our terms are good and the rents come without a sting in the tail? ;D ;D ;D

For anyone interested, this is a shot of the garden as it is now (we also ended up doing the raised beds you can see on the right, for our neighbour too)

[Ann]

What a huge amount you've done already. The garden's looking great and what a bonus to have those trees at the bottom for a bit of shade.

I'm ashamed to confess that I'd never heard of Mason Bees. I did a quick search on google and discovered that they're solitary, which is something else I didn't know. I'd thought all bees lived in hives with queens, drones, workers. I'm presuming the Mason bees are great to have around for pollination purposes, rather than for honey? What an excellent idea to have purpose built accommodation built into the garden for them.

[Silk]

well I have to admit that although I had heard of them, I knew very little even though Bees are one of my favourite critters.

there are 254 species of bee in this country, most of which are not honey bees but all just as important and many are now considered endangered and most have their uses in the garden (as do most bees) -
You can now get bumble bee boxes too (my all time fave bee - we have one in the log pile) along with ladybird, lacewing and mason bee houses. (coming to our garden soon) or you can just make your own.

Since watching ours I have learnt the tubes in our thatched cottage are probably too large, but as I had only knocked that together with some bamboo tubes left over from a border roll, some scrap wood and the scraps from our screening, I don't mind - and will instead make some more from large blocks of wood drilled with holes about the same size as the ones that appear popular in our house (not straight through though they like a blocked tube) .


To add to the news, Bee no1 has obviously layed eggs or something in their tube as last night we discovered it now has a door fitted made from small leaves. (so its a green door)

here are some links
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1268432.stm
www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/OxfordBeeCompany.html

and from the Natural History Museum (scroll down and click on the Mason Bee sample sheet - the link was too long to post here - good sheet though as it describes some of the other solitary bees
www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/departments/entomology/insect-identification/

[Lesley]

beautiful! and i thought i was helpful to the bees with all the lavender i have. i must try harder. your garden is just fantastic. you've done a lot since you moved in. much for fun than a balcony, isn't it? oh please mark, can you and catherin come over and make my yard wonderful?

lesley

[Silk]

Small addendum to my post and a small warning to those who think bee houses are cute. We have discovered the bees we have, are leaf cutter bees, who happen to be rather fond of rose leaves to furnish their apartments. We don't mind (and think the cost is small compared to the benefit of bees living in the garden) but others may be upset at finding small half circles missing from some leaves.


@ Lesley

The thought of a trip to Vancouver to do up a garden sounds wonderful, if I was the type of person that liked personal publicity I could start a new TV show - forget the Fat Hairy Bikers ( A Brit TV cook show) - we would become 'The Wild Gardening Bikers' traveling week to week to different locations to re-vamp peoples gardens, showing them how to get the most out of a space and encourage wildlife (No doubt some PR guru from one of the networks will read this and nick it for a new show)
Unfortunately, 1: I would die if I saw myself on TV (I even dislike photos of me), 2: We cant afford the air fare, and (most importantly) 3: who would feed the cats?

[Lesley]

mark, trade house for a week. i promise i will take good care of the cats.
i discovered holes in some rose leaves today. i had no idea who had made such a clean cut. i hope it was bees and not the children.

lesley

p.s. you could wear a mask for t.v. 'the masked garden avenger'...

[Ann]

hellokitty said:

p.s. you could wear a mask for t.v. 'the masked garden avenger'...

I love it! Will he have to wear his underpants on top of his jeans too?

[Lesley]

ann, yes of course! and a cape. every super-hero needs a cape - and a special belt to hold all the necessary garden implements.
mark you will look great!

lesley

[Cathrin]

It would definitely have to be jean's Ann, he would only ladder his tights on the brambles
I think he would look very but he was very non-committal when he read you post ROFL ;D

I can make the cape, no problem, but I really don't see Mark wearing it LOL
I like the idea about the special belt though Lesley, I think that could be handy for any gardener.

[Ann]

I was wondering when Mark was going to see what we'd suggested!