Published on 12, July, 2020
....aka Battle Of The Borage
There have been rumblings for the past week or so but I thought now would be as good a time as any to get the show started. Today I sowed between 16 and 20 seeds.
I thought it might be nice for any members who want to join in to sow borage seeds and chat about it. We all know bees and pollinators need a helping hand and this is a lovely plant we can have in our gardens to help. The flowers are pretty star shaped blue, sometimes pink or purple. You can eat the flowers or put in ice cubes and you can use the leaves to make borage fertiliser for the garden.
I thought it might be a nice way to unite online friends by doing something remote in real life.
It does self seed so I take no responsibility if you end up with more next year! The more the merrier. Apologies if you have no outdoor space. Maybe do a bit of guerilla gardening if you can
This post was inspired by Jamie (who I cannot tag for some reason) and Number
So lets help our wildlife!
"No-one can do everything but everyone can do something".
We have an awfully worrying dearth of bees this year.
By now our lavenders and wildflowers are usually smothered in all types of bees but I actually saw our first honey bee only today and have only seen a couple of buff tailed bees at all this year.
Also, very very few butterflies.
I have now noticed a few more bees now the weather is warmer, but the flowers are not as full as I have seen previously.
I was watching Springwatch this evening and they mentioned that people are noticing there are less insects. They suggested that there are likely two main reasons. One is industrial farming removing hedgerows and using pesticides. The other is the droughts we have had in recent years. I have a shallow bird bath and have noticed previously insects drinking from there. This has made me realize how important providing water in drought periods is for insects as well as birds.
Well it isn't too bad on our patch. Saw a "red admiral" type butterfly for the first time in a good few years last week. Loads of small light blue butterflies all over the place. I've rescued a couple of bees from the windows internally this month, and have been bumping into a few outside. I've really been noticing all the wild flowers too this year? Perhaps I'm just full of the joys of late pring/early summer.
I find a couple of the "hedgerow" type flowers I've thought worthy of a quick photo....again, bear with.
You can't beat phacelia for attracting bees. They absolutely love it
I am hoping it is due to the cooler weather and less sun. When we had sun last week I saw a speckled wood and a peacock butterfly on my walk. When we had warm weather earlier in the year I saw a Brimstone.
We have had quite a few over the past month or so. I planted lots of crocus and spring flowering bulbs and I had some winter erysmium to keep them busy. They have been loving the comfrey. Ive been reminded i need to leave some water out for them. I'm sure they'll be very happy with your borage!
There's still time. I spotted my first cinnabar moth if the year thr other day.