After 20+ years, I guess we're done with vegetable gardening

[IDemo]

I built four 4' x 8' raised beds over twenty years ago and added a fifth two years ago. The garden has never been the bushel basket of produce that some seem to be able to grow, but this year has been a complete wipeout. The record heat (110 a couple of days ago and more to come) along with the almost total absence of bees has made it a fools game here. I haven't seen more than 2 bees simultaneously in the backyard this year, even though we have an abundance of flowers that are normally covered in them (see the pic below from a few years ago).

Tomatoes, cantaloupe, squash, all with blooms but not a single fruit to be seen. I guess we'll plant annuals in the beds next year.

[hollysmom]

1. are the bees dying near you?

could be the death of a planet.

I am having the best crop of tomatoes ever, but I have shade trees, and the heat is not so strong and it rains a lot.

But even that will change this month as it gets hotter. I am doing a raised bed over the rock garden now, I have giving up trying to grow things in the rock garden, just going over it. but it needs a lot of watering since it drains so well.

I use soil moist in most of my flower beds to retain the moisture so I don't have to water except in really bad times. more than 2 weeks.

See if your neighbors had been spraying for insects. they could be killing your garden - All for a perfect lawn

[IDemo]

4. The neighbors may well have their portraits adorning the Bayer boardroom

They are heavy users of pesticides and weed killers but have been so for decades. It hasn't had an effect on our yard in that time. The bees have normally been quite heavy and we even had to move slowly around the hollyhock thicket to keep from annoying them too much. I tend to think the colony-collapse disorder has had a more widespread impact here; not even seeing the wasps anymore.

I have used a granular water-retaining agent in the soil that is similar to Perlite but longer lasting. We still have to water twice a day to keep everyone from drooping.

[LiberalEsto]

2. That is so sad

Where do you live? It's awful to think that the bees are totally gone in some places.

We still have bumblebees and mason bees in Maryland, fortunately. I planted catmint, hyssop, agastache, lemon balm, lavender and purple salvias to keep them coming to the yard, at least as long as there are any bees left.

But I haven't seen a single honeybee in the past two or three years.

[IDemo]

5. In Boise, Idaho

It's funny, but we have seen a number of bumblebees this year (is it just me, or have they developed into a Cessna-sized species?)

The honeybees are as rare as hens teeth, though.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. My cucumbers are not pollinating...

I have seen ZERO bees this year, even in the spring...with the exception of maybe 10 mason bees.
2 fruit trees up and died this week, their leaves went from green to brown in 48 hours, altho they had been watered sufficiently.
Starting to wonder what is in the air/rain.

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. sad news...the heat is the culprit for lack of tomatoes most likely -

definitely lack of bees mean lack of cukes and squash - hand pollination can work.

Tomato flowers are perfect (they pollinate while opening - anthers brush against the pistil and do the deed), but high temps can inactivate the pollen.

You can use the male flowers to brush the pollen into the female flowers for squash and cukes.

We seem to have a reasonable bee population here, but I've seen less honeybees than last year (bumbles are pretty plentiful).

[NutmegYankee]

7. Lots of bumble bees near me.

So far they have been swarming my perennials, but they have begun to go after the veggies.

[NutmegYankee]

12. How do you differentiate the male flowers on cukes?

[NRaleighLiberal]

13. males have no tiny cukes at their case - females do.

many modern varieties are bred to have essentially all female or mostly female flowers and have a tendency to self-pollinate.

[CrispyQ]

8. I'm sorry about your garden.

Your photo, however, is stunning! At first glance I thought it was a Hubble space shot, until I spotted the bee.

[Rowdyboy]

9. 24 years here and I'm over it too. This spring my partner had a garden....

broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, mustard, carrots and even a cabbage! It was delicious but by June 1st it was too damned hot to work outside and we just gave up.

[Botany]

10. EZ fix .... don't worry about honeybees and work on the native pollinators

Give them food sources through out the season
Give them places to live
Do not use or severely limit the amount of insecticides used around your home
Install native plants

[NutmegYankee]

11. I'm ammazed at how many bumblebees I have around the garden.

I planted a perennial garden with cat mint, salvia ostfriesland, Spicata, Coreopsis, etc and I can usually count at least 8 of them at any time.

[Botany]

14. I have bumblebees, leaf cutter bees, sweat bees, along with many good types of flies,

dragon flies, butterflies, months, beetles, hummingbirds, hawk months, and flying yellow dragons*
.... biodiversity is where it is at



*

[glinda]

15. I saw two bees and two wasps all season. That's it. No butterflies

or anything else except for tons of mosquitos. More than half of my beans did not come up, four trees did not flower, lost a bunch of maples and small oaks. This is hugely noticeable...the absence of insects. No frogs either. Don't even hear them at night. A few of my tomatoes plants came up. My Hydrangea bushes have no blossoms at all. I saw one firefly. Very sad.

[Aerows]

16. We have bumblebees

aplenty here in coastal Mississippi, and plenty of wasps and yellow-jacketed menaces.