Bring a Bee to Work Day.

The bees are in trouble and with spring coming there is a chance to help them.

This project began with the idea of just taking some sunflowers  into the barren, concrete yard at work to attract bees; but because I had 57 seeds left over it became a bigger project to get every one around me to nurture a sunflower.

The bees have many problems but perhaps the simplest thing that we can all do to help the bees is to plant some things that they like.

.. . . . please read onto the next steps , or check out the links below . . .













For more information here are a section of links:

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/5-ways-to-help-our-disappearing-bees

http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/why-bees-need-help

http://bumblebeeconservation.org/

https://www.foe.co.uk/what_we_do/bee_cause_petition_to_lord_de_mauley_40967.html



http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Monsantos-systemic-fertilizer-on-corn-1426707.S.221402513

Firstly, I went on Ebay and bought 60 Russian Giant seeds, they can grow to 12 feet high if they are in a sunny spot.


The guy selling them was not doing it for profit, he just grows them because he enjoys it.

I bought some compost ( a grow bag seemed the most inexpensive way.)

Next, I gathered 60 of my empty houmous pots ( I do eat a lot of houmous ) and filled them with compost, with a seed in each pot.

Remember to put in large holes in the base for drainage ( or slit the side of the pot).

I kept these outside, high up on a table to fool the slugs.

They quickly germinated.

I noticed that the root was curling up at the base of these small pots so I transfered some to newspaper pots.

During this process I read that the seedlings do not like to be disturbed, so I left the rest of them alone ( but the disturbed ones turned out ok).

I also read that bees are sensitive to the metals that are contained in coloured inks so I stopped making newspaper pots because I could not find any newspapers without coloured inks.

With my seedlings ready, I printed out theses flyers.

I left a flyer and a seedling on each of my neighbours' doorsteps ( twenty three of them). 
None came back.

Some were left in the tiny pots and they grew but not so high . . .  most were put into bigger pots and grew well.
Even with the neighbours it became a competition.
The lady opposite was sure that her neighbour was cheating somehow.

I also gave them away to friends and passing strangers who happened to be around when I was carrying them about.

People were delighted . .  . I was surprised, I felt a bit silly giving these to my neighbours at first  . .  . but people were absolutely bowled over by the gift of these tiny plants.

The flowers that we grew at work became a competition to see whose would grow the tallest.

One chap watered his with Rockstar energy drinks daily; his grew the tallest but also was the only one that attracted greenflies and aphids.

One day I saw aphids being milked by ants, it was amazing ( I did not know that this happened with UK ants ).

Despite only being in the sun for a few hours a day the plants grew quite high.

I also grew a couple of pots with a wildflower mix as well.

Here is a crude time lapse of one the flowers growing in my garden.

The sunflowers eventually begin to droop under the weight of the seeds and begin to go brown at the back of the seed head.

If it's a dry climate where you live the they can be left to dry.

I snipped my heads off and took them inside to dry out. ( I left some heads for the birds to feed on.)


When dry, a huge amount of seeds are easily removed.

They can be eaten by humans, guinea pigs or the birds and squirrels outside.

I have saved mine for planting.

Happy growing .

BZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz !