Brassicas Bees & Aphids

Bees and other native pollinating insects tend to prefer flat open flowers where the nectar can be easily reached of which the bright yellow flowers of cabbages, kales and mustard are a fine example. 

All these winter staples have now bolted in my potager and as well as the leaves, we've eaten plenty of the flower spears of the various kales before they opened, after all they are pretty much the same as sprouting broccoli, although not quite as nice to eat. But now the flowers have opened and the plants are buzzing with bees.

This bed will be what I call my wigwam bed for 2019, all the things that climb and need frames, so a mixture of climbing beans, cucumbers, cucamelons, sweet peas and morning glories. 

And gaps will be filled with dwarf haricots and flowers. In terms of a strict rotation this bed was destined to be tomatoes, peppers and aubergines but sometimes I have to break the rotation. And this is a perfect time to do it: this bed is on the end next to our covered terrace, so having sweet peas growing right there will give us evening scent. 

I just have a couple of weeks before the new plants will need to go in, so it is with some sadness that I've removed the still flowering plants ready for adding a layer of compost and a mulch of straw. But all is not lost because while the flowers provide food for bees, brassicas at this time of the year host huge numbers of white fly, a type of aphid whose numbers can grow very fast, rendering heads of broccoli inedible in a matter of days. Unless you like a lot of added protein that is. 

So even if this space had not been needed I would have been taking out the brassicas anyway, a slow job as I check each plant for ladybird larvae or eggs which will need relocating to either lettuces or broad beans, both of which are prone to aphid attack. Gardening with nature in mind is a low but rewarding process!

The brassicas all go into the compost heap, chopped small and mixed in with some of the old stems from the ornamental grasses. This should help stop the heap from becoming slimy with too much green material. The aphids are not at flying stage so also go in the heap where no doubt something will find them to be a tasty snack!