Bees

Bees. Industrious pollinators, often bringing with them a song of humming, whilst in pursuit of the pollen and nectar essential for their survival and our own.  Where would we be without them?

 As a grower of fruit and vegetables, I have appreciated the need for pollinating insects to help set the flowers so they will grow and mature to harvest.  But perhaps more importantly, the pollination helps set the seed, which if harvested as open pollinated seed, can be used again for another year of growing. Saving one’s own seed is a sure way of getting the type of fruit, vegetable and flower that you want to grow again, and again, and again.

 There are so many types of bees and I count myself lucky to have seen a healthy abundance on my allotment. I put down the success of their appearance to just this:  I tried growing all the bee friendly flowers I could manage. I interspersed these with vegetables and fruit.  In previous years, it was the other way around.

I grew veg and stuck in a few flowers. Alongside lavender, rosemary, thyme and many more herbs, a variety of bee and butterfly friendly flowers were grown, some perennial, some annual.  No longer neat rows of monoculture growing, but a mix mash flowers and future food living side by side.

 My change in thinking came about one day while I listened to the hum of a very earnest bumblebee working the salvia shrub next to me.  Having seen bumblebees cover the broad bean flowers earlier in the year, I realised that if I planted more salvia, just for the bumblebee, I would be giving back to the prime pollinator of my broad beans. 

 Slowly and by turns, I was able to observe what different kinds of bees enjoyed, and subsequently planted those plants, even flowers, which, could be considered by some, weeds, but I like to think of as wildflowers.

 Supporting our wildlife, a healthy diversity, in all its forms is so important for sustainable living. An obvious statement to make, perhaps, so one may wonder  how it is that until the 23rd of January 2025, the UK government allowed the continuation of pesticide use, specifically Cruiser SB, a toxic neonicotinoid, that had been banned in 2018 in the UK and EU. Just a teaspoon of this noxious substance could kill over a billion bees.  Yet, despite the ban, and against the advice of  the Office of Environmental Protection (OEP) and the Health and Safety Executive UK (HSE) , the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) supported the emergency use by beetroot farmers in the last four years.

 One of the reasons for the current government overturn to this pesticide usage was consideration of the pesticide use on the land. It has been suggested by various soil scientists from universities to NGOs, that contamination of the soil and waterways, where beetroot crops have been sprayed, has been compromised, thus ensuring that any crop, flower and plant growing nearby will be carrying the toxicity within the plant, plants visited by insects and butterflies, killing them.

So I like to think there is cautious cause for celebration. A ban now issued and more insects will be flying as a result.

 But anyone and everyone can contribute to a healthy population of bees and butterflies by growing what these insects love, even if it is a windowsill box of flowering herbs, they will find it.

 They give so much to us in so many ways, not just in the essentials of growing food, but as a beautiful reminder of a sustainable way to live side by side.

 Erica Rasmussen

February 1, 2025