Think about the Bees

Since the last post on this blog, we've been working hard on running things here. Still lots of planning and ideas flying around, arranging advertising, social networking, sourcing someone to sign write our van and making improvements to our blog!

I hope you like the changes, let me know what you think. Hopefully, the style will fit better to link in with our website. That's the idea anyway!

Luckily, we've had some great quotes to do this month. Which is different to this time last year since we had so much snow back then, work was very slow for us. But 2014 is looking up! Rich has started a job recently which will take a few weeks. It consists of removing hedging, replacing it all with a close board fence and building a deck. Be sure to follow us to see the results. I love to see the before and after photos! Other work we have on includes a few small fences, gates, decking and of course our garden maintenance. 

It seems spring is in the air. I was reading an article in the guardian on how our mild winter has brought on signs of spring. Apparently spring has moved forward by up to 12 days in the last quarter of a century. This may sound good at first but if we do get snow later, this could be bad news for plants that have started to flower early. 

Either way, you can do your bit for nature. You can feed the birds, have nest boxes for both birds and bugs and of course get into gardening. I found a great little product called 'Seedball', wildflower seeds in a tiny compact mini ecosystem ball - easy to do. You can read more about this on their website: www.seedball.co.uk I'm going to be ordering mine and we'll see what our customers think too. A garden full of flowers is not only pretty and relaxing, it provides food for our bees. 

If you want to find out more about gardening for bees follow this link to Bumblebee conservation: http://bumblebeeconservation.org/get-involved/gardening-for-bees/

That's it from me today! I'm off now to play with my little girl. The latest game consists of having a Doctors check up. Then she tells me i have talking marshmallows in my ears which need removing! Oh and the diagnosis is 'Battystingyflowerisis'! Whatever will she come up with next? I should write a book about her funny little saying.

Have a great week and thanks for reading x

Summer has just begun...

The northern hemisphere celebrated the longest day of the year this week on 21^st June, here in the UK. We’ve all seen the pictures of the celebrations at Stonehenge! And yes, technically it’s true that from now on, our day light hours will be getting shorter. I have heard some people making negative comments about this and looking on the grim side. So I just want to say, stay positive peeps! Summer has only just begun.

This week has been filled with more fencing, garden maintenance and quotes to do! The fence job that Richard did this week included cutting down a number of conifers at the back of the garden, disposing of all the greens waste, and replacing them with a six foot high feather edge fence and kickboard. Our customers were lovely people and were very happy with the job.  Maintenance was thirsty work on Wednesday, since we had a really hot day that probably wasn’t THAT hot, we’re just not used to it! And the rest of the week was business as usual.

One thing that was noted this week, was there seem to be a few more bees about the place, which is great news. So, if you don’t have many flowers in your garden, maybe you could consider doing some planting this weekend? You don’t need to have huge borders full of plants and flowers, although that would be nice. Even just a few pots here and there, after all the bees need pollen and nectar to survive and at the same time you can brighten up your home.

Here are some planting tips:

Always make sure your pot has holes in the bottom, if it hasn’t, make some to avoid water-logging

Place a layer of stones in the bottom of the pot to help with drainage

Choose a suitable compost for your plant, often a multi-purpose compost will do

Now, loosen the roots of your plant, place it in your pot and fill with compost

Water well and enjoy

Of course if you do want that border full of beautiful flowers, you could always call us! Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for reading.

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