I have 7 squash plants that bloom every day. Do I have any squash to cook? Anything to show for all these blooms? Nope, nothing, no fruit just blooms. I have decided that I need bees. We have flowers but no bees. I do not mow until the dandelions make seed(...more for us to mow but more flowers to bring bees to us.) We do not use pesticides. Still, we have no bees.
I started my research this weekend. I need to plant lavender, catmint, sage, cilantro, thyme, fennel and borage...all herbs that Henry will use to make his mealtime dishes taste better. I also need crocus to get them coming early in the spring, buttercup, asters, hollyhocks (does anyone plant hollyhocks anymore?) anemone, snowdrops and geranium. These are perennials and will come back year after year.
Annuals that have been suggested are sunflowers and zinnias and poppies. Look around and see if you can add some plants that the bees love because without bees we will not have any fruits to eat.
Other than plants there are a couple of other things I discovered in my research about bees:
1) they only visit one type of plant so be sure to plant in clusters so they can visit for a while before they have to fly back home
2) No Sprays...pesticides are for bad insects but most will kill the good ones too. Our cities spray for bad bugs, this same spray kills honey bees. The best way to support the bee population is to put the spray away.
Finally, remember, without bees we will not eat.
After I wrote this I found a Ted Talk on Bees. Check it out too.