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Honey Bee Haven hosts fundraiser and more

Zoom sessions and videos part of garden outreach

Bee on lavender blossom
Bees love lavender. Learn more about bees and help the Honey Bee Haven at UC Davis this month.
(Photo: Kathy Morrison)






Bees can use a helping hand. So could the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven.

Located on the UC Davis campus, this half-acre pollinator garden is devoted to bee pollinator conservation and education. Many different kinds of bees (not just honey bees) frequent this habitat, which is open free to the public daily.

Although the Honey Bee Haven kept buzzing during the pandemic, its major source of funding – public events – evaporated during 2020. So, the Honey Bee Haven launched a month-long Crowdfunding drive on Monday. (Despite the founding name, the site did not receive funding from Häagen-Dazs after its first few years.)

“We normally earn most of our operating funds through classes and tours, but this revenue was lost in 2020 because of COVID closures,” explained Christine Casey, who oversees the garden. “Our goal for the month is to raise $5,000 for purchase of plants, tools, and irrigation supplies. Any amount is welcome and all donors will be recognized.”

To donate, go to:
https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/24323

During this month-long fund drive, the Honey Bee Haven also will host two Zoom chats as well as debut two new videos.

At 12:15 p.m. Feb. 9 and Feb. 23, join Casey for half-hour question and answer sessions. She’ll start each Tuesday lunchtime session with a quick tour of the garden, highlighting what’s blooming and who’s buzzing in the Honey Bee Haven. Then she’ll answer any questions about bees and bee-friendly plants. All viewers are welcome to these free sessions. No advance registration is necessary.

To join the Feb. 9 session on Zoom:

Meeting ID: 966 3997 6701

Passcode: 202584.

To join the Feb. 23 session on Zoom:

Meeting ID: 995 0184 7681

Passcode: 672621.

In addition, the Honey Bee Haven will release two new videos – “Making a Solitary Bee House” and “Bee Diversity”-- on its YouTube channel at 10 a.m. Feb. 15. Already on the channel are short videos on creating a bee garden, identification of common bees and bees at work in the edible garden.

View them at: https://bit.ly/3tl8XqA

Catch the buzz yourself. Visit the Honey Bee Haven and see the bees in action as well as discover more than 200 varieties of bee-friendly plants, which will soon start spring bloom.

With free parking as well as free admission, the garden is open dawn to dusk every day but Tuesdays, when it opens at noon. The Honey Bee Haven is located at 1 Bee Biology Road. Go west of main campus on Hutchison Drive, turn left on Hopkins Drive and left on Bee Biology Road.

For more information: http://beegarden.ucdavis.edu

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 2

Get out early in the morning and monitor your garden’s moisture needs. Deep water and add temporary shade structures for plants that are feeling a little burned. In particular, protect developing peppers and eggplant.

* Put off fertilization until this heat passes; plants need to concentrate on hydration instead of growth.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don’t let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Pinch off dead flowers from perennials and annuals to lengthen their summer bloom.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips. Make sure to keep seeds and seedlings consistently moist.

* Plant potatoes.

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Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening

WINTER

Is edible gardening possible indoors?

Hints for choosing tomato seeds

Starting in seed starting

Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees

When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

How to squeeze more food into less space

Potatoes from the garden

Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Win the weed war by tackling them in winter

Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables

Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

Ways to win the fight against weeds

FALL

Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden

Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it

Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come

Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying

Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?

Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air 

Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets

Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty

Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest 

SUMMER

Sept. 16: Time to shut it down? 

Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning

Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you

Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water

Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers

July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

July 15: Does this plant need water?

July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

July 1: How to grow summer salad greens

June 24:  Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

June 17: Help pollinators help your garden

June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests

June 3: Make your own compost

May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?

May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth