A recent check on my two beehives showed me very little honey stores. (Though the bees are building up well and had no signs of disease.) I was not surprised. This…

It was a long time coming, these raised beds. I first “built” my vegetable garden, with the help of my Dad, about 14 years ago. We created four “L”…

My vacations are always better when I combine it with a trip to a botanical garden. So during a recent vacation in mid-coast Maine, I was lucky enough to…

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is a beautiful botanical garden to visit in Boothbay Harbor, Maine (zone 5b). Because it is lush with bee-friendly plants and they use organic methods, it is a…

As it turns out, hydrangeas vary in their ability to feed the bees. Unfortunately, the very common and showy Mophead hydrangeas, or Hydrangea macrophylla hortensis (some seen above) do not feed the bees…

While a swarm of bees can be scary, even terrifying for some, it is not something to fear. Here are the easy steps for how to deal with a swarm.…

I am careful about eliminating the chemicals in my yard and home. Admittedly, though, I had not been thinking about the chemicals that could be coming out of my garden…

Something amazing happened here. Before I tell you, though, I need to back up. My only two hives had died by early winter, last year. This is a sad, but unfortunately,…

Saving the honey bees means not only planting the flowers they like, but also planting a lot of the flowers they like. I call this “abundant gardening.” The good news…

Looking for some pollinator friendly plants to add to your yard? Be sure to add some salvias. The salvia plant family is a magnet for all pollinators–including bees, butterflies, and…

With all of those herbs you are growing for the pollinators (Herbs Are Great for Bees), it is easy to make a delicious herb vinegar to capture the season. I use…

I recently received a delivery of plants I ordered online. Joy! While I try to get my plants locally, I can’t always find certain plants or varieties locally. So then I…

Today is so hot. The date is only May 28 and the thermometer says 91 degrees F. Our spring was late to arrive and now the heat has come. There…

The news is pretty grim, I’m afraid. Beekeepers across the United States lost an estimated 44% of their honey bee colonies during the 2015-2016 season (from April-April). About 15% of losses…

I recently planted most of my herb garden this past weekend and it made me so….. happy. Herbs are fragrant, charming, and useable in the kitchen or medicinally. It turns out…

It is definitely dandelion season here, the bright yellow blossoms bursting forth everywhere they are allowed to grow. Where I grew up, dandelions were non-existent. My family home had no…

Have you ever wondered why the N-P-K numbers on bags of organic fertilizer (N-P-K stands for Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium) are generally lower than synthetic fertilizers? I know that I used…

To help the bees, we need to grow more of the right flowers. Yet one flowering plant will typically offer just a few flowers for the bees and pollinators. (A good…

Somehow I missed it. All of those innumerable hours poured over gardening books and I am pretty sure Phacelia tanacetifolia, or Bee’s Friend,  was never in them. Did I just miss…

Happy Earth Day! Beautiful isn’t it? Even if you are super busy today, I hope you can find a moment to give thanks for our blue-green globe. Then resolve to…

The environmental benefits of a compost pile are pretty huge. Let’s first consider what happens when we don’t compost. Landfills have become the third largest source of human-caused greenhouse gas.…