In the garden with Nell Carr

Bumblebee_October_2007-3a

MAY 2017 | Nell Carr

THE GENERAL opinion on bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) appears to be that their effect in the garden is relatively benign. Apart from the fact that they are very efficient pollinators, particularly in greenhouses, their damage to flowers with narrow tubular blooms like Sages and Fuchsias is quite devastating.

Unable to access the nectar at the base of the tube, they grasp it with their front legs and bore a hole in the base. In addition to ruining the flower, they deprive the native honey eaters of their livelihood. The Tasmanian naturalist, Jim Hunter, notes that bumble bees can still be seen feeding during cloudy weather and at dusk - times when honey bees don’t venture out. So they also probably reduce the honey harvest. They have rapidly multiplied from the few noticed in the early years of this century, and as with the European wasps, there is very little hope of ridding our garden and forest environment of this invasive pest.

In the vegie garden Tino Carnivale was sowing beetroot and carrots on ABC’s gardening programme on 22nd April, but other authorities hold that it is now too late for these, and they should be left until August.

Onions, however, may be sown from now until September.  Onions take from four to six months to mature, so weeds are always a problem. Weeding can be done as the seedlings are thinned out every few weeks after germinating.

Photo | Image supplied