Bees and Beans

[sawfish]

The first pic... Can anyone identify the bee in this photo, theres loads in my plot and they dont look like the usual bumblebee to me.

The second pic is my 120 lovely broad bean plants....

witkiem manita
red epicure
bunyards exhibition
masterpiece green longpod

I planted these 5 or 6 inches apart so I dont need supports as they 'should' support each other.

The third pic and fourth pics are my newly planted out bean varieties in the new frame thing I'm constructing. The idea is they grow up the bamboo canes into a netting which I have yet to stretch accross the top of the poles. I'll be growing squash in the middle of each bed as the beans should create a good windbreak and microclimate for them when they grow a bit.

I've planted out 3 varieties of runner...

red rum
sunbright
sunset

french beans are....

cosse viollette
trail of tears
marvel of venice
marvel of peru
barlotto

Experimental beans are....

aduki
pinto
black eye
black turtle

does anyone know if these might die?


picture 1 - odd bee




picture 2 - broad bean pride




picture 3 - bean varieties out - fingers crossed  :-\




picture 4 - another angle....

[sawfish]

[pye]

Can't answer any of your questions, sorry, but love the pics. I remember those ones you posted of your overgrown plot, what a transformation!  :)

[OllieC]

That would be a Red-Tailed bumble bee then. Absolutely gorgeous!

[mc55]

lovely pictures, plot looks great.

[cornykev]

Looking great, there the straightest looking broad beans I've seen are they all tied together.  ;D ;D ;D

[sawfish]

Looking great, there the straightest looking broad beans I've seen are they all tied together.  ;D ;D ;D

No, they're sown 5 or 6 inches apart to help support each other.


I forgot two other fancy beans....

Fragiolo Rampicante yard long
Chinese red noodle

any info on these would be appreciated.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Bombus lapidarius, the red-tailed bumble bee, or various other names depending on which book you look at.

[Jeannine]

Chinese Red Noodle is a deep red  coloured bean with 18 inch pods,they retain quite a lot fo colour when cooked so make an interesting sidedish. They produce all summer starting fairly early and do well in most conditions. The bean pods are long but the beans inside are small.

Fragiola climber is again a very ling slender bean that will easily grow 2 feet or more, it does have a long growing season and therefore should be started earlier than most beans to get it to mature ,February under glass is best. Iffy to finish it in colder areas.

XX Jeannine

[lin]

Love the bumble bee, wish I saw some like that round here, it's lovely... I always leave some onions to flower because they attract such gorgeous bees, but not seen your one, Lin

[samndoo]

Hi there, I think the bee is a red mason bee,  (probably the more common name for some of the suggestions already posted) ;) saw some at Harlow Carr at the weekend, the are solitary bees and are only active for a short while. 

Then imagine my surprise when I got home and noticed them on my chives in droves.  Had never seen them before & I do think they are beautiful.  The males apparently have no sting and the females is insignificant making them ideal subjects for kids to watch closely without fear of being hurt (so the RHS advise).

You can buy nest boxes for them which are like bundles of hollow canes, they lay their eggs, fill them with pollen, and bung the ends up with mud.

Finally, and sorry to go on, they are very good pollinators of soft fruits and bean etc.  Definately a gardeners friend ;D

[Jeannine]

This is definately  a Red Tailed Bumble Bee, not a Red Mason bee.

[manicscousers]

thanks, samndoo..nice to know as we have a few buzzing around  :)

[OllieC]

Mason Bees are my favourites - occasionally we get them in our walls, as they're Lime Mortar (the walls, not the bees). We have the tubes but strangely they remain unoccupied...

[Jeannine]

The red tailed bee is a big bee much bigger than any of the masons, also the masons are more solitary than than the red bums, they would not fit in the mason bee houses.