What’s the “Buzz” About the Neighbors? Native Bees in Your Home Garden

 It’s nice to know your neighbors! Every community is made up of organisms that need to live together. Your garden is exactly the same. It is created by all the plants and animals that make their home there. Some of the most beneficial neighbors in your garden are the bees, and Idaho’s native bees are great neighbors to have in our home gardens! These bees are major pollinators, carrying out an important function that is necessary for growing success. They keep things blooming and beautiful, as well as ensuring plant reproduction and food production. While most of us are familiar with our friends the honey bees, Idaho is home to many other interesting and beneficial species of bees, including mason and leaf cutting bees. Let’s meet the Megachilidea family. Chances are good that you will have opportunities to see these bees at work in your garden during the coming months.

Next, invite them over! Good hosts always provide treats, and sometimes a safe place to stay. Because bees are so important to the success of any garden, it only makes sense that you would want them to come and be comfortable. There are many things you can do to create an environment where bees can thrive. These include:

• providing sources for food and water,
• space and materials for nesting,
• limiting use of pesticides.
• creating a Bee Habitat, or
• a Pollinator Garden to help provide the essentials for a happy, healthy bee population.

Planting native trees, bushes, and flowers help attract native bees to your garden and provide the necessary elements for their success, and yours. You can also take steps to recognize, report, and limit instances of Bee Pesticide Poisoning. Always remember to limit use of pesticides and to only apply according to label directions.

Doing a few simple things can enhance the ability of native bee species to work and live in your garden. In return, you might notice significant improvements in the quality of your garden, such as greater flower and food production. Getting to know these neighbors will help your garden grow!

Raised Garden Beds may be the answer!

Can’t kneel to garden? Poor soil a problem? Poor drainage? Short on space?

Raised beds might be the answer!! Some of the advantages of gardening in raised beds are:

• improved soil conditions 

• greater productivity in a smaller space 

• saved water

• the greatest advantage may be the ease of planting/maintaining a garden

• easy to construct for most do-it-yourselfers

They can be built in many different configurations to fit conveniently into your landscape design and from materials which provide an attractive addition to your landscaping. Raised beds can be built to any height to accommodate your gardening needs and can be built directly upon the existing ground. However, by building beds waist high you overcome the need to bend over or kneel to garden. They can even be built to a height that would accommodate wheelchair gardening. Raised beds do need to have a minimum depth of least 8 inches to allow for proper plant root development.  They need to be somewhat deeper to grow root vegetables.  

When constructing raised garden beds, consider the materials from which the beds are to be built. Any lumber will do but, redwood or cedar will be more durable and will last much longer than beds built from softwoods like pine and fir. Recycled materials can be used in raised bed construction, but caution should be taken to assure that no treated materials of any kind are incorporated into your beds. You do not want toxic chemicals  leaching into your garden soil. 

When considering the size, shape, and placement of the beds, an important consideration should be accessibility. The gardener should be able to access the beds from at least two sides and reach at least halfway across the bed. Three or four feet wide is a good width to assure ease of planting, weeding, and harvesting. Place your beds where they will receive 6-8 hours of direct sunlight daily.  

Raised garden beds should be filled with a combination of garden soil, compost, and soilless medium to provide optimum growing conditions for your plants. The proper soil combination should have the correct pH for your desired plants and supply your plants with nutrients.  A proper soil combination will also provide for ease in maintaining proper moisture content.

Watering in raised beds is easily accomplished with a simple garden hose, however, a drip system will water your plants more uniformly and provide even greater convenience to your raised beds.

 

Additional advantages of raised beds are soils warm up faster and are easily covered with row covers to protect seedlings from spring frosts. This can also aid in extending the growing season in the fall. Raised bed allow you to grow more vegetables per square foot as you can plant plants more densely. Plants can be placed close enough to one another to shade out the weeds, yet just far enough apart to prevent overcrowding. 

With raised beds weed control and pest control is accomplished more easily making garden maintenance a snap.