Daily Harvest

[CarolinaJim]

Tripp, I have carpenter bees and honey bees helping with the pollination of my squash. You can hear a buzz when next to the plants.

Again, probably a very regional thing. There are thousands of varieties of insects which can aid in pollination.

You might try putting in some already growing plants that attract those bugs. I planted some mint, cosmos and sweet allysiums in the garden for beneficials primarily to attract predators.

Here is an article I found for plants which attract beneficial insects.Beneficial Borders

If you want to try seed you might want to try buckwheat which grows very very fast and attracts bene bugs even before blooming.

[PriuStorm]

I don't know if anyone does this, but I tried it for the first time this year. Since I feed the birds through the winter, I always have a lot of sunflower volunteers in the spring. Between my raised bed, I have weed cloth covered with pea gravel, so when the sunflower volunteers come up, they are very easy to remove with roots intact and transplant. I used to remove most of them or transplant them to the backfence so they could fight with the neighbor's grape vine that always crawls over the fence.

So this year, I took about a dozen of these sunflowers and transplanted them to my south garden where I grow my tomatoes, eggplant, melons, gourds and such (and I also left some sunflowers on my north/cool side (where this year I have my peppers, cucumber, basil, etc.) and I have plenty of bees in the garden. It sure seems like there's an abundance of fruits starting on the various plants, so it seems like it's worked, inviting the bees into the garden.

I used to be really afraid of bees and anything buzzing, but since I've been courting the hummingbirds and reveling in the big sunflowers amid sprawling tomato, melon, cucumber and gourd vines, I've gotten quite used to walking amidst the busy bees and enjoy seeing them at their industrious best in the latter morning hours just before the high noon heat seems to send them to siesta.

[CarolinaJim]

Great ideas! My bird feeder is in my garden as is my hummingbird feeder. I see the same with my visiting bees and other beneficials. Lots of activity in my gardens but I have never been stung. I am quite amazed by the variety and beauty of these insects...brilliant greens and blues plus stunning patterning.

Additionally, I recommend a simple water feature like a half barrel with some rainwater and catails. Put in some gold fish...they'll eat the mosquito larvae too I believe...but more importantly the water will attract even more beneficials ... like the dragonflies which I have spoken of before and some of those also patrol my gardens.

[CarolinaJim]

Here are some photos of some of the beneficials flying around my place. Feeding on oregano and mint flowers. Here are my best guesses left to right.
Immature carpenter bee, great golden digger wasp, mature carpenter bee, and eastern sand wasp.

[Rae Vynn]

I'm so jealous!

I used to garden... a half-acre of organic goodness, just me, my Troy-Bilt, and my kids (when I could force them to work in the garden)... that was in the midwest.

I've not gardened at all here in WA... I'm thinking of trying some greens, definitely garlic, and other herbs. I buy lots of locally grown organic stuff, though

[tripp]

Jim, are carpenter bees those really plump black 'n green buggers are are so common in the southeast? I remember seeing those things all the time. I've hardly seen any bees this year. Or wasps. We mostly have wasps around here. Though, your mention of bees humming amongst your squash reminded me that I used to hear that in my garden too, but it's been a couple of years. We've had a dreadfully dry summer here and I wonder if that's the problem. Do tomotos and bean also need pollination to produce viable fruit? I assume so, wouldn't be efficient otherwise. In that case I'm really confused but I will do the pollination meself in the short term. It'll take too long to grow mint at this point. Next year I suppose I'll just sow mint seeds randomly throughout the garden. Is that what you do?

[PriuStorm]

I forgot how much the bees love the oregano. And that's constantly flowering pretty much from early June onwards.

[CarolinaJim]

Originally Posted by tripp

Jim, are carpenter bees those really plump black 'n green buggers are are so common in the southeast? I remember seeing those things all the time. I've hardly seen any bees this year. Or wasps. We mostly have wasps around here. Though, your mention of bees humming amongst your squash reminded me that I used to hear that in my garden too, but it's been a couple of years. We've had a dreadfully dry summer here and I wonder if that's the problem. Do tomotos and bean also need pollination to produce viable fruit? I assume so, wouldn't be efficient otherwise. In that case I'm really confused but I will do the pollination meself in the short term. It'll take too long to grow mint at this point. Next year I suppose I'll just sow mint seeds randomly throughout the garden. Is that what you do?

Tripp, I haven't seen any "bumble bee" types with green coloring. I have seen wasps with green coloring which are usually beneficials.

You might want to put in a small water feature, if you don't have one already...my little dragon fly pond seems to be attracting many more insects than just dragonflies.

Tomatoes do need pollination. In a book I am reading about greenhouses the author discusses using a camel hair brush to pollinate tomatoes during the winter in a greenhouse. I believe beans require polination also...otherwise I don't believe the bean...a seed would result?

As to mint, I sowed seeds. In her book "Gardening in Clay Soil" Sara Pitzer touts mint, marigolds, chrysanthemums, and culinary sage as clay fighting plants. Mint is invasive as are chysanthemums. She believes that these plants mingled among the vegetables in the garden cuts down on the numbers of problem insects. As well she says that her pets don't have many fleas. Finally, as I have discovered, mint, marigolds, chrysanthemums and probably sage attract beneficials.

Here is a link describing something called an insectary which is gardening to attract beneficials. It is one of many sites to visit for ideas.
Attracting Beneficial Insects to Your Garden for Natural Pest Control (Garden Insectary)

[tripp]

brilliant, mate. Thanks for the tips. So if the tomatoes and beans are getting pollinated, why are the squash struggling? Seems odd. I'll add a water feature, but how do you keep the mosquitoes out?

[CarolinaJim]

Tripp, make a little 2 liter bottle minnow trap which I described in the foreclosure/swimming pool thread. Look for a place like a pond which has some little minnows in it....like a golf course pond, park pond etc. Remember to fill the trap up and and keep the opening under water.

You could also go to walmart, a pet store...and buy some guppies. Guppies eat mosquito larvae too.

I'd send you some mosquito fish but the postage might be prohibitive.

Here is a link to a mosquito page which validates something I accidently found out through experience.

By stocking my dragon fly pond with mosquito fish I have pretty much eliminated mosquitos in my yard. I will get bitten if I go to my woods but not in my yard day or night.

Another interesting aspect is that along with orbiting my pond the dragonflies are now patrolling my garden...guess they are desparate for food due to the lack of mosquitos?

Anyway, here is the link. Robyn's Mosquito Page
Here is another link for deterring mosquitos Mosquito Predators