First post ever on any forum...scary!

[DeenaTaylor]

Just signed up for the instructors class.  I love my SFG's and need to get busy planting.
May have to do it at night b/c I let my winter broccoli flower and the bees keep chasing me off!

[Windmere]

Welcome Deena.  Well, if you're gonna start somewhere with a first post, this is probably one of the best places to do it.  Folks here are very helpful and very understanding.  I'm sure you could teach me a thing or two!

Welcome again and I wish you much success in all your gardening endeavors.

[AtlantaMarie]

Hi Deena.  Welcome from Atlanta, GA!  Glad you're joining us!

This was MY first forum as well.  Lots of great folks here with hard-earned info on gardening...!

Just so you know - the official night-time bug-hunting/gardening outfit is a robe, slippers, and a flashlight - preferably one that fits on your head.     Laughing spouses are accessories... 

[sanderson]

Hi, Deena. Welcome to the world's nicest Forum from California! We are here to help and share and laugh.

On another note: If have bees you are so lucky. I have to use little artist paint brushes to pollinate melons and squashes. Your bees were probably checking out what you were planting and if they could get pollen from them. I can appreciate the fear of bees. After 25 months of gardening and being a member of this Forum, I have changed from quickly walking away from the orange and zylosma trees when they are in bloom to walking underneath, just listening to the buzz. Even with "killer bees," as long as the nest isn't anywhere in the vicinity, they probably aren't interested in you. I used to be quite comical running away from black bumble bees. I would then send my husband outside to spray them. Now I can ignore them, also.

[ralitaco]

Welcome from NC...For you it's bees...for me it was my 1st encounter with HORNWORMS 

[CapeCoddess]

Hi Gina   , welcome to the forum! You're lucky gardener to have bees around! Feel free to jump in and ask or answer any question you want to. Your experience is valuable. Also, know that we love photos!
CC

Ralitaco, love the avatar!

[audrey.jeanne.roberts]

WELCOME to the forum - we're usually fairly well-mannered and rarely bite, LOL!  

I have learned so much here the past 3 years, I started as a total newbie to veggie gardening though I had landscape gardened for years.  Now I think I'm feeding my little corner of the world 

[ralitaco]

Ralitaco, love the avatar!

[FRED58]

Funny, I could have sworn I had posted on this thread. Anyway there are lots of ways to attract solitary bees to your garden. Try Googling "Mason Bee House". (Mason Bees are common all over North America, and good pollinators). The homes are easy to build, but you can also buy them from Amazon and Lee Valley (I don't know if Lee Valley is in the US though). Good luck and welcome from the Great White North!

[mschaef]

Welcome to the forum!!! Don't be scared we don't bit just borrow ideas.

[Razed Bed]

Posting on forums is not scary as long as you choose the right forums. You chose the right forum. You will not have some low-life cursing your posts like in some of the ones where people with no life think better of themselves by mouthing off.

I would guess that most of the people here are well-above average in education, success, and manners.

We have a few bees but nothing like we used to have. A neighbor down the street had a large honeybee setup and made honey, but three or four years ago, they all seemed to fly away and never come back. There was no evidence of dead bees; they just disappeared.

We have wasps, hornets, and other bee substitutes, but the honeybees have been greatly reduced in our area. Nobody knows for sure why. Many believe it is GMO and pesticide related and blame Monsanto. Others say that increased pollution in our heavily growing metropolis has caused the problem. Some say it is some epidemic killing them off.

However, the key to me is that my neighbor's bees flew away. Maybe they decided to retire and fly to Florida.

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