Showing posts with label Mason Bee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mason Bee. Show all posts

Friday, May 5, 2017

Landscape Master Plan

Landscape Master Plan
1. To govern the overall maximum benefit to the health of all inhabitants
(Humans, Bear, Deer, Rabbits, Mt. Beaver, Birds, bats, bees, etc…)
2. To protect and enhance the watershed 
3. To act as a potential Wetland Mitigation Plan in anticipation of any
additions, alterations or renovations 
4. To provide food, shelter, harvestable materials and beauty.
5. To follow the basic principles of permaculture with an emphasis on native species where appropriate.
6. To include management of soil erosion caused by storm water runoff and bioremediation through phytoremediation and myco remediation. 
7. To remove and eradicate invasive species including ivy, knotweed, something and something and something else???? 
Plant Purpose Abbreviations 
PNW Native Species
M Medicinal
FB Fruit Bearing
PA Pollinator Attractor
N Nitrogen fixer
EG Evergreen
BA Bioaccumlator
T Edible tube
BR Bioremediation 
Plant List
 Plants on this list are to be introduced in addition to the existing landscape of canopy trees, understory fruit and nut trees, shrubs, flowers and herbs, groundcover, and mushroom patches.
Native Species are labled PNW (Those listed shall be used in any mitigation plans) Code 
Red Flowering Currant   Ribes Sanguineum  FB PNW
SnowBrush  Ceanothus Veluntinus PA PNW N EG
Cascade Pentsemon    Pentsemon Serrulatus PA PNW
Service Berry   Amelanchier Alnifolia FB PNW
Wild Ginger   Asarum caudatum M PNW
Kinnikinick  Arctostaphylos uva ursi  M PNW FB EG
Arrowhead   Sagittaria Latifolia  T PNW BR
Great Camas Camassia Leichtlinii T PNW PA
Yarrow   Achillea Millefolium M PNW BA
Elderberry   Sambucus Caerulea & Nigra M PNW FB
Agricultural Plants
Camellia Sinensis Tea PA EG
Goumi Elangus multiflora FB N
Seaberry  FB N
Comfrey BA
Hibiscus Tea/wine PA
Jujube FB
Olive (Arborquina)  FB
Passion Flower FB PA
Kiwi FB
Moringa tree  Moringa oleifera M
Saffron Crocus    Crocus sativas Spice PA
Pineapple Broom   Cytisus Battendieri   N  

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Happy Easter- Joyeux Paques!!!!!

Ah J'aime les Printemps!!!!! Happy Easter, and for the Poles out there, Happy Dingus Day Eve. I love this time of year as for many almanacs it is officially planting season. For the orchards and perennials we get to see what survived and what was lost. An obvious existential insight into our lives here on this great planet.

For us we managed to not lose any fruit trees to the beaver and the deer have given us some reprieve. I think it is mere luck and little defensive adjustments but really, luck. We sacrificed dozens of Wax Myrtle for the new beaver lodge, wherever that may be, and I've been trying to add similar fast growing un-killable and deer loving plants to keep them off of the stuff I want to eat! While I certainly am not trying to attract them, I would like to distract them while they creep through in the middle of the night or while were away.

I have a good jump on the garden this year, the plastic hoop house worked wonders and we have plenty of salad greens, Our newest raised bed is just about ready for squash and zucchini. I'm also adding a layer of squash, zucchini and pumpkin in the orchard as a ground cover!

Really hope I get to add a swarm of bees this spring, with the orchard in it's third year, and the blueberries laddered in 1,2, and 3 years I really hope to get some fruit. The blue orchard mason bees are coming back and will hopefully stay in their new home. With the hop trellis up and running we should have a good harvest and very enjoyable growing summer.

So far in the Orchard level story we have Plum, Italian Plum, Persimmon, Apricot, Fig, Cherry, Apple and Pear. underneath the we have black currant, red currant, gooseberry, goji berry, evergreen huckleberry and I'll soon be adding seaberry. Surrounding those bushes are herbs and pollinator attractors, almost ALL in a blue or purple, Rosemary (4 varieties) Lavender (3 varieties), and Valerian. On the other side of the terrace from the herbs are all flowers for the bees, Lupine, Foxglove, Delphinium, Columbine, and Hollyhock.

Check back in to the blog and youtube channel! I'll be adding a copy of our Master Plan and some drawings explaining the grid planting I established intermixing nitrogen fixers, fruits, bio-accumulators, pollinator attractors and beneficial plants.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Permaculture- Installling my first beehive

I've been planning to so this for over five years. I would go to beekeeping speaking events, check out books from the library, search and research articles and forums on the net but never did it. I have always had animals, dogs, cats, etc.... but never any livestock or an apiary. I finally decided to just go ahead with some leftover pieces of plywood someone had given me. They're  plywood but at least they are 3/4 inch, 7 ply, A/B cabinet grade plywood! It did occur to me as I lay on the couch drifting into sleep that I forgot to add and entrance. OOPS! No worries, I'll get the jigsaw and do a quick little cut, I should have time still before any swarming occurs. It's still hovering around 40 F so I'll get to it.

I learned through my research that black or dark colored clothing was the worst option for beekeepers. Well, the plywood used to be a school theatre set and it was already painted black. Turns out it's not that bad actually for the hive and more than one long time beekeeper noted they do better than their other colored ones. Well, it is what it is and if they can make a hive in a old tire I think they'll be fine. Besides, I think they'll get morning sun to warm up and afternoon shade to stay cool along with a breeze off of the lake. Well, I guess we'll see!!!

Now, remember that blueberry mead I made? Oh yea, it'll bee back soon!



Tuesday, February 14, 2017

I'm calling Winter Over

I set out this past winter to be more active with writing. Nope, I really don't get that many views so I tried to keep up with making videos of past projects and use the dreary winter weather as an excuse to be inside editing all the video I shot while the weather is good. I figure that's when people will be trying to waste some of the dark days hours anyway.

Well, I'm calling it. I'm going to say that spring has sprung. I'm going to go back and recap on some of the projects I was able to accomplish and see if I can get this blog back on track, views or no views damn it. I don't do much writing these days so I have to keep up my typing skills somehow!

I have a good backlog of photographs to go through and I should put them to use. Since launching Spatial Recognition last year most of my time has been directed to getting that off the ground. We are attempting to focus on Historic, Natural and Cultural Resources in an area that is more about demolition and Mondrianesque painted vertical shipping container looking buildings.

So, sticking with the post and a notion to be succinct I'll turn my attention to the excitement in the landscape. The Ivy War continues and there will be another chapter coming soon but it has led to a more ambitious plan of permaculture. We intend to create a Master Plan (which I will outline later) that provides us and the animals some of our daily requirements. One of these initiatives is what I call indicators, indicators are plants that are typically consistent in their cycle. I plant them, or they plant themselves, in areas where I need certain functions. First, color! I need to see something that is not white, grey, or brown. While the evergreens are helpful I want some pink, red, purple, yellow, you know a bright garden billboard that says IT'S SPRING.

Flowering Quince- The humming birds are already VERY happy to see this starting to bloom. Although this is not the giant sweet quince fruit producing variety, we do get small tart quince that are loaded with pectin that go wonderfully with rhubarb and blackberry the the wife makes in to a jam. Keep these trimmed up and it'll flower almost all summer.


Hyacinth!!! One of my favs. What more is there to say? Both of these are perfect wake up calls to get your beans and greens started. They are also extremely important for the first food source for early bees. This is vital in the event the fruit trees blossom early as you want to keep the bees around. A couple of these planted strategically near the fruits and veggies will boost your yield.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Spring Time!!! Mason Bee House

As the Winter thaws and the blooms are budding I started building Orchard Mason Bee (Osmia Lignaria) Houses to put around the yard and hopefully the whole neighborhood should anyone ask for some. Super simple and straight forward, to start I drilled out a block of wood and capped it with some cedar for a roof.
Jason Kotarski

If I get the chance I will try to pick up a pack of cocoons with larvae. I am going to try several variations of the houses and see which ones get the most action. This one is near the blueberries tucked up against a tree for rain protection and facing the morning sun.

Jason Kotarski


With an ample supply of water and mud, I hope these little friends move in and help us with the garden! I'm excited to see how this year's harvest goes. We expanded the blueberry patch this year with four more bushes and are looking at four more next year.