Nature Blog by Jenny Bourne

The topmost penthouse suites in the new Pollinator Patch bee hotel are now almost all taken. This post from the Natural History Society of Northumbria gives an informative view of these valued and hard working native bees, explaining also why they are such good pollinators:
“Often looked by their furrier and larger cousins, solitary bees in fact make up over 90% of bee species found in Britain.

The communal flowerbeds for pollinators have suffered through the past weeks of drought and heat conditions, but after a few heavy showers there’s signs of life returning! Flowering plants that survived the record breaking temperatures and lack of rain include sedums (although I did need to water one initially), perovskia with it’s attractive silver grey foliage and blue flowers, nepeta now on it’s second flowering and helleniums. And the indefatigable solidago providing a vibrant splash of yellow but a bit of a thug..!

This week is National Allotments week, with a theme of ‘Bugs, Bees and Broccoli’ to acknowledge the importance of gardening with nature in mind: ‘An allotment plot is a complex web of plants, micro-organisms, fungi, insects and animals

Plotholders are resorting to a range of strategies to reduce the pressure on our ageing pumps during these drought conditions: watering early morning or late evening; only watering needy plants; watering the soil not the plant and covering bare soil to maximise mulch and water retention. I use plastic bottles or upturned plant pots for target watering the roots of squash, cucumbers and tomatoes (recycling, sustainable) and here’s a really good example of this among my near plot neighbours tomatoes:

With temperatures currently up in the high 30s many of us are going up to water first thing in the morning and late into the evening, very busy yesterday at 9.00pm! Watering strategies need to conserve energy as well as water, as our pumps are struggling with the additional pressures. I’m only watering the greediest plants and new seedlings, so Pollinator Patch is looking very sad, with wilting and browned perennials.