Sunday was much more like I expect June to be with some pleasant sunshine and the temperature just nudging the 20°C mark. Of course it couldn't last all day with rain setting in late afternoon.
On the plot, our green manure crop of Phacelia had come into flower and, following the advice regarding it being a prolific self seeder, I thought it should be chopped down ready for digging in.
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| The final crop has grown well despite its very slow start when I thought I’d sowed the seed too sparingly. |
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| Phacelia Flower Head |
I did have some second thoughts when I actually had the strimmer revved up and ready to go. The bees were making a plea for me not to devastate their pollen rich seed heads. Everywhere I looked the flower heads looked alive with bees but after a moments hesitation I set the strimmer to work and in a couple of minutes the crop was cut down.
I've left the bees a few plants at the far end of the bed until I get around to digging in. Our comfrey is starting to come into flower so the bees will have a ready made replacement. What’s more with the flowers left on the ground the bees still had access to the pollen and were making the most of it.
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It seems such a shame to cut it all down when it's in flower and the bees are enjoying them.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts as well. Then again at least they had the benefit of a couple of days of flowering whereas if I hadn't planted phacelia the ground would have been left uncultivated - apart from a good crop of weeds!
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