MartinGill Sustainable Landscapes

Bees are an important part of sustainability in landscape and agriculture. As part of our emerging platform, Annie inspects neighbours colonies offering advice and guidance. APICULTURE AMBULANCE ... This morning we did an inspection on a neighbours bee colony. The new apiculturist’s concern was predominantly for one of his two hives which he thought looked abandoned. Both hives had been installed in late spring of this year with each queen having its own court of worker bees. The owner told us the hives had been quite active, but by mid-July one of the two colonies seemed to almost disappear overnight leaving a small court to tend for their queen. One speculation was the colony created a new queen and swarmed, but as we had never inspected at this clients location it remains speculation. Also the old queen would most likely have been killed once the new young queen emerged and prior to a swarm. Another speculation was that the workers going out to collect resources ended up being victims of agricultural pesticides/herbicides. But only one hive?? At present the weaker ‘abandoned hive’ has not sufficient resources. (A minimum amount of honey necessary within the hive to ensure survival. Also, the queen had ceased to lay eggs. The owner reported he had been feeding them during the spring. The second hive was still quite healthy, also with an active queen bee . One of the two queens was easy to spot with her green* marker dot. Our initial recommendation centres around ensuring the reduced colony has more food resources, along with more worker bees. From the strong neighbouring hive we transferred two frames complete with workers and honey into the weaker hive and will monitor it over the next days and weeks. The owner will feed this hive with a 50/50 ratio of a syrup made from water and sugar. * green indicates the queens year of birth, hence in this case 2019. Not all queen producers mark there queens. To be continued....

New ventures, new signs. ‘ Ecological landscaping- Paysages Ecologiques’ Thanks for sharing. http://amartin-ecolandscapes.ca

In this short (12 minute) video I walk you through my sustainable home garden. It may look a little strange to the orderly mind of a traditional gardener, however most planting is done with thoughts going towards compatibility of planting a traditional garden alongside edible plants. Enjoy and send me your thoughts and comments please. https://youtu.be/A9lrSZyhPPc

Watering cam be a a simple as installing a catch system from your eavesdropping.

All natural mulch. Can deliver and spread....truck load only. Best for flower beds. In-box us for details.