6-3-13 We’ve got a good start, though some sunflower seedlings got chewed down by the slugs
6-18-13 Lots of self-seeded borage. The bees like it, but I’m going to have to thin it. I want the other plants to grow and I’m especially excited about the meadowfoam which also is a self-seeding bee-loving flower. The bee hives and the new bee flower garden are in the background.
August 19, 2013…My new slogan is…”If the bees love it, leave it.” The bees LOVE borage. I let it grow in the Hugelkulture bed even though it’s not real pretty. The pretty flower, Poached Egg Meadowfoam was also well liked by the bees, then the deer spotted it, now it’s gone.
Looking at the north side. Clearly I should have listened to my wife when she warned me that squash wouldn’t do very well the first year. In that regard, it’s a failure…but the main goal was to grow plants that the bees love. Nasturtiums never made the list. Don’t let anyone tell you they are deer proof. They are not and I never saw a bee get close to one. The borage self-seeded itself and the bees love it, so rather than pull it, I’ll just let it grow. The bees will sip nectar until late in the evening, so in that regard, it’s a success. We also added 3 echium ‘trees’, which seem to be doing well. We hope they will all shoot up to be “Towers of Jewels.”
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
Cute, looks like she’s enjoying her roll in the meadowfoam.
They certainly seem to like it. Looking at the video (not posted yet) it looks like she is trying to ‘bite’ the pollen off the top of the anthers.
You’re lucky to catch a photo of the bees like that.
Those quick flying bees don’t hold still very long, so it’s mostly trying to keep the video in focus and then freezing a frame. I’ve got 60 frames a second to pick from and usually I can find a sharp one. Thanks for the comment.
Looking great, looks like all that hard work is starting to pay off; I’ll have to revisit this idea and try it myself in the future. Great bee pics 🙂
You’ve got so much to get done I’m surprised you have time to write comments, let alone post your blogs. Give yourself some time to get your straw bale house built and get settled in before you build your hugelkulture bed. Maybe by then I’ll know how well it works.
It’s looking really good! I’m still building mine, so I’m not expecting to get much out of it this year…maybe just building up spots for next year’s planting.
I’m looking forward to watching your keyhole garden mature.
Really useful, thank you! I’m also interested in permauclture methods, its so useful to see posts like this really detailing what’s been done and how it worked out. Mind you, I’ve read that one of the big advantages of hugelkultur beds is they hold lots of water – and here in the UK its been raining for weeks, wettest winter on record, so I’m not sure its what my garden needs right now!
So it’s the UK that’s taking all our rainfall! 🙂
Last year (being the first year) I had to water the H bed. I’m hoping this year I won’t have to, but you never know. Right now its full of weeds. I want to plant bee-loving (and butterfly) attracting flowers that are ‘deer proof.’ I’ve got 4 or 5 deer that wonder through here at about dinner time, sampling this and that as they please. 🙂
Gosh never realised that you would have so much ‘trouble’ from the deer, here it is only slugs (millions of them) and some caterpillars, yes and of course the odd cat that will come into the garden and upset young plants.
I find my self seeding borage plants the best for attracting bees and other insects, but i’m learning and am planning to try out Hugelkulture at the back of the garden set to be full of flowers. Also planted another buddleia, which attracts the butterflies big time. It’s all such a pleasure to even think about it. 🙂
I’ve got 5 deer now, that visit the garden. Each of the two does had babies and there’s also a yearling. My wife can tell them apart. At this time of year, my wife tells me, they are fattening up for the winter. I ask how this is any different from any other time of year as they are ALWAYS eating, it seems. Lately I’ll see them in the middle of the day grazing the grass between the raised beds, occasionally munching on the un-netted tomato vines. “Aren’t we lucky to be able to see deer while we eat dinner,” she says, as I wonder what I might have left un-netted.
🙂 great sense of humour! Deers are beautiful though I agree, but around here we seldom see them, they are to be found in the ancient oak forests of Killarney and Glengarriff, and occasionally we see them on the roads. So you have to net everything you grow, cage your vegetables otherwise they are eaten! Here in the garden I have to pick the snails and slugs every night off the plants 🙂
Ha ha…Slugs? We know about them. https://solarbeez.com/2012/04/02/slug-control/
We grow them BIG on the Oregon Coast as you can see by my slightly photoshopped photo. 😀
Haha, good one. I actually love the slugs and snails, some of the very large slugs are beautifully patterned, a bit like a snake. I do not kill them directly but put them in a meadow where perhaps the hedgehogs or birds might keep them down. Let nature take it’s course.
Yes, I hate to kill them directly too. Some people I know, cut them in half with scissors. I look at it like, we are all creatures looking for something to eat. When I gather them up, I’ll toss them out in the wooded area. If they make it, fine, they can eat debris on the ground, just stay out of the broccoli, squash, and sunflowers.
🙂 that’s nice.