Here is what I did to help bees.
Kristina Knight, Girl Scout Troop 41211
While brainstorming ideas for my Girl Scout Gold Award project, I had heard that in February of 2017 a bee called the Rusty Patched bumblebee was going to be placed on the federal Endangered Species List.
This is the website I stumbled upon when I first heard about what was happening:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/11/509337678/u-s-puts-first-bumblebee-on-the-endangered-species-list
I began hearing more and more through the media about how many bees in general were in decline. I started going to local beekeeper meetings every month to learn more and educate myself about what was causing bee decline and how I could help and make a difference. I decided to create a pollinator garden to provide a food source for bees and butterflies. Since then I have been working on a huge project. I have created a pollinator garden full of flowers and herbs that are ideal for bees. Pollen from flowers and herbs feed bees.
This is the website I stumbled upon when I first heard about what was happening:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/11/509337678/u-s-puts-first-bumblebee-on-the-endangered-species-list
I began hearing more and more through the media about how many bees in general were in decline. I started going to local beekeeper meetings every month to learn more and educate myself about what was causing bee decline and how I could help and make a difference. I decided to create a pollinator garden to provide a food source for bees and butterflies. Since then I have been working on a huge project. I have created a pollinator garden full of flowers and herbs that are ideal for bees. Pollen from flowers and herbs feed bees.
In March of 2017 I met with the Director at Waterman Conservation Center in Apalachin, New York, to see if I could plant some type of garden, and he immediately offered me a 20-by-60 foot area of space to use. The area was a hoophouse and was originally purposed for a butterfly garden, but I was told that the project fell through. So an area originally designed for butterflies, another important pollinator, was now going to be made into a garden for bees, which are also pollinators. I took a gardening class and a "bee hotel" class at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Ithaca to learn more. I also went to local plant sales so I could talk to growers, ask questions and see what ideas they had for me.
At a plant sale in Ithaca I met a wonderful lady named Krissy Boys who has been my advisor for the project. Krissy is a "Natural Areas Wildflower Gardener" at Cornell Botanic Gardens in Ithaca. She asked me if I would volunteer with her to gain more knowledge about the plants I should use and how to plant, so naturally I said yes. That summer I spent 2 hours every Tuesday at Cornell Botanic Gardens and expanded my knowledge. As my volunteer work came to an end, Krissy offered to give me seeds to plant and help me plant them, and that is how my garden began. We worked together to design a layout of my garden with 15 plants that were native. They were Bee Balm, Ironweed, Field Thistle, Goldenrod, Golden Alexander's, Wild Colombine, Hairy Beardtongue, Nodding Onion, Common Boneset, Brown-eyed Susan, Mountain Mint, Yellow Giant Hyssop, Swamp Milkweed, New England Aster and Joe-Pye Weed. I made sure to put the taller plants in the back of the garden so as you walked through you would be able to see them all.
Gardens are a lot more work than I originally thought they were. That summer (2017) I covered the entire garden space with tarps and cardboard boxes. Lowe's Home Improvement donated many large appliance boxes so I could cover two 20-by-20 foot spaces on either side of the garden to eventually be covered with mulch. The tarps were used to cover the main 20-by-20 foot garden area. The purpose for the tarps and boxes was to kill the existing weeds and grass to eventually have soil to plant in. I learned that it was important to cover it during the heat of the summer, and would have to be left until the following spring to effectively kill the existing vegetation.
In the spring (March 2018) I went back up to Cornell Botanic Gardens and planted seeds to grow and eventually plant in my garden space during the summer. The planted seeds would need to sit in a cold, dark room for 8-12 weeks, or until the weather got nice enough to put them out so I put them in my garage. When the weather got nice I brought my plants out on my deck for sunshine, monitoring and watering. I watered the plants almost every day and made sure to cover them if there was too much rain.
The first sprouts!
I worked on prepping the soil in my garden. Krissy advised me to put leaf compost in my garden, so I used local municipalities free compost. I put a 4-inch layer in the 20-by-20 foot area for planting, being sure to leave a path in the middle.
My plants grew bigger and bigger, and I transplanted the larger plants to bigger pots so they could develop a better root system.
I also went to Nanticoke Gardens to ask if they would donate any plants. Pete, the owner, donated several different herb plants including basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, and sage to put in the garden. He donated some colorful "annual" flowers and some perennial flowers to plant. Perennial plants come back every spring; annual plants usually live just one season. Annuals are colorful and bloom for a long time, usually the entire season (typically May to September in the northeast). Perennials typically bloom for a shorter period of time. So it is nice to have a combination of both types.
As my plants grew I had another dilemma to figure out: a water source. Until it was time to plant, I hadn't though about water, but the days got hotter and more dry so i became aware that I would need water to well, water the plants. The closest water spigot to the garden was at a building 600-feet away. It wasn't as easy as it sounds, I had to work borrow hoses from friends and family. I ran the hoses to do trial runs to see if the pressure would work well enough to even make it to the garden. Once I knew that it did, I bought 600-feet of garden hose and attached a sprinkler to it, and that surprisingly worked.
That week my dad and I used a tiller to till the soil that I was going to plant in.
I also needed mulch to put on either end of my garden. At the conservation center there was a large pile of mulch that was free for the taking, so we used a bucket loader to dump it in my garden. I raked it so it was an even layer on both 20-by-20 foot ends.
On July 16th I planted my garden. Most of the plants were the native perennials that I had seeded back in March and some were donations from Nanticoke Gardens. This is a growing year. Next year and the years after the perennials will regrow bigger and flower.
Farmer Browns Marketplace donated many annual pots that I placed around the garden. They also donated a few perennials that I planted through the garden.
I placed newspapers down around the plants to prevent weeds and spread a thin layer of mulch around them.
I added wood signs to identify the plants. The signs are made out of wood. The plant names were burned into the wood with a wood burner. My fellow Girl Scout Sophie's dad made the signs with leftover scrap wood and gave them to me.
On August 23rd I held an unveiling. My fellow Girl Scout Marissa and I led the kids of the Waterman environmental nature camp up to the garden.
I spoke to the kids about the danger that bees are in and how they can help. I also told them a few reasons why bees are in danger and showed them the garden. I made sure to stress to them to plant native, organic plants grown with no pesticides because those are best for the bees.
I gave the kids each a plant that is native and grown with no pesticides to take home. I also gave them an information pamphlet along with planting instructions and encouraged them to tell their parents about what they learned that day.
The kids were very excited about what they learned and the plants they received! :)
The ground plants were grown from seed in March then planted in July. Next year when the plants grown again, they will be larger and blooming throughout the summer then regrow every year.