Jun 24, 2020
Chased out of the garden by bees and more blight or ? ?
We did not water on Sunday, no idea why but I guess it did not need it. Colin went to the gardens on Monday morning while I did my big walk of the day. He was back within a few minutes. Turns out the bees began biting people on Sunday. The bee keeper came and moved the entire hive to a very remote are of the property here in the park. However the bees were not happy and found their way back to the garden area on Monday. They were angry and attacking everyone. Several people got bit. Colin saw an older gentleman walking his dog well away from the gardens swatting at his head. He thought that he was hitting flies but it was bees.
A beekeepers hat was at one entrance to the garden area if anyone needed to use it.
And a second one at the other end.
I react very strongly to a bee sting. When the bee hive was first introduced to the gardens, I was told that honey bees do not bite. I still kept my distance. Guess they were wrong based on the number of bites in the past few days. The first thing I said when Colin came back was that they needed to put another bee box out for those stray ones. Colin and a neighbour tried later before dinner to water their gardens and no go. Too many bees. I texted the lady in charged and suggested that at the very least the beekeeper should water our gardens as we could not. In the end Colin went after 7PM to water. The beekeeper was there with a can of Raid to protect those that were watering their gardens.
The beekeeper.
I did not find out until Tuesday that he had also set up a second home for the rogue bees on Monday evening. One fellow did get bit but apparently is was by a wasp and not a bee. So the bees have been tamed , more or less. Apparently he also did water gardens that evening for those who would not come into the area because of his bees 😀 I also discovered that he actually lives here in the park. I suspect that I will soon know more about bees than I had planned to. But I do want to know now that I have the opportunity.
I took this photo yesterday and they are still there today.
Colin was out early Tuesday morning and after my walk I went to the gardens. Just a few rogue bees. Mostly mosquitoes. They have been beyond horrific, I guess due to all the rain we have had. I have had up to 23 bites per garden visit. Yesterday I only got five and quickly left. The garden is growing quickly except for our poor tomatoes. Those who read the blog will remember that the past two years we had more tomatoes than others. We had more that we could eat. So disappointed with our tomatoes this season.
The leaves are curling up and turning brown.
Googling it, it appears to be blight caused by wet weather. So at this point we don’t know if we should wait it out or pull the plants and purchase new ones.
We are open to any and every suggestion. Is is blight? What should we do? We have had wet weather for two days now but are expected sun for two days before rain on the weekend yet again. Certainly not a sunny and warm start to our summer here in the Okanagan.
Yesterday after the thundershowers, wind and rain we walked to the garden. Colin thought the tomato plants would be dead but they are still hanging in there. So perhaps we shall just wait and see for a few days before heading out to purchase new plants. Sadly many of those tomatoes were grown from seeds by us. While there we were able to pick kale for dinner as well a a few young carrots and some ripe strawberries for dessert.
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So sorry about your blight. I’ve never had it. It can spread apparently so likely ripping them out is best option but maybe ask a garden centre? It does look like we are going to have a run of sun. I haven’t experienced blight (although got the rain) as my tomatoes are tucked under the 1 foot overhang from our roof down the side of the house and it sure makes a difference. I wish we were closer I have way too many tomato plants and likely will be giving loads of tomatoes away later in the year as I grew them from seed too – all except one cherry tomato plant my friend got me from Art Knapps where she works part time. I think we are finally going to see some summer now thankfully
We did ask Google and a garden centre and it appears to be related to all the rain we had in June’
Hopefully you don’t have to replace your tomato plants because I think you will have a hard time finding any now 🙁
Colin found two plants today at Art Knapps at $8.99 each but I think ti was worth the expense.
It might be wise just to see what happens to the plants as the dryer weather sets in. If anything it will give you personal knowledge on what to do in the future.
The bees are so busy concentrating on their job of pollinating they don’t like to be disturbed.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It’s about time.