Don't Step on a Bee Day

[sammyc]

No bidet jokes please I've seen 'em all.

Stepping on bees is a thing, that we need a day to be told not to? Who routinely steps on bees? :/ The mad ant powder brigade? Casual snuffers out for fun of anything that moves? Or it's such a regular accidental thing & this is a plea to watch where you're walking?

nb typically this is being pitched as let's not wipe out bees as it will ultimately affect US - heaven forbid people just don't gratuitously kill stuff.

[jimbouk]

I sat on one once as child, neither of us were happy about it. Maybe just a 'Only step on bees with bare feet' rule would make people see the error of their ways.

Ants on the other hand, grumble grumble stupid ant what did they ever do for us...

[tiggerai]

I routinely rescue bees - we should all carry a small spoon and a vial of sugar water in case any of our bee friends need a pick-me-up.

Deliberately keeping some of the plants in my jungle of a garden because the bees like them.

Ants are the bane of my existence, their aphid farming habit is just too much for the ladybirds. Grrrr.

[Zak33]

this year has seen a small increase (which is good) in bumble bees.

but watch out for the big asian hornet and SNUFF IT OUT if you're brave enough.

One hummed past me and while I was armed with a 12 bore, I still hid !

[sammyc]

Ants on the other hand, grumble grumble stupid ant what did they ever do for us...

Well ants are kinda fascinating & cool imho; if they're a pest to you (arguably) then you won't be a fan, but at the edge of a [insert local person]'s gravelly drive, not a plant or life form in sight & miles from the house? - pointless ant murder. Besides as per my original point - why should anything have to 'do something for us'?

[scaryjim]

... Deliberately keeping some of the plants in my jungle of a garden because the bees like them. ...

I'm into the second year of having my own garden and I keep finding new flowers that the bees love - which is a pain, because I really want to get some food in...!

[Ttaskmaster]

Aside from keeping the environment alive, bees make honey... which is yummy and a quintessential ingredient of mead, so every reason to love them.

Spiders and ants generally are not an issue for me, the former being great at keeping other insects out of my life. Beetles too are just ambling by. Moths are annoying, but mostly harmless and it's my fault for gaming with the window open.

However, I will happily slay flies, bluebottles and thripps, for all the ill they do me!!

[peterb]

Aside from keeping the environment alive, bees make honey... which is yummy and a quintessential ingredient of mead, so every reason to love them.

Spiders and ants generally are not an issue for me, the former being great at keeping other insects out of my life. Beetles too are just ambling by. Moths are annoying, but mostly harmless and it's my fault for gaming with the window open.

However, I will happily slay flies, bluebottles and thripps, for all the ill they do me!!

yes, Id agree with that - except of course, objectively, flies are incredibly useful in recycling dead animals. Unpleasant though the thought may be, maggots do do a useful job (and can be used in medicine to clean up dead tissue in wounds where the threat of gangrene might otherwise exist) but generally in the home, they can spread disease.

[Zak33]

I'm into the second year of having my own garden and I keep finding new flowers that the bees love - which is a pain, because I really want to get some food in...!

what you need is complemtary planting...

you want flowerrs that attract hover flies (that look a little like mini wasps) suxh as marigolds.. and then plany your veg between them

Hover flies eat green fly/black fly

http://www.ourherbgarden.com/marigold-companions.html

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/gar...in-gardens.htm

Lady birds also eat aphids.

so you want BOTH flowers AND food!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

There should be a Beware of the Moose day.

[Zak33]

There should be a Beware of the Moose day.

there is

it's any day ending with the letters AY

[tiggerai]

It's my Fruit trees actually - going to pop to the garden centre on the way home for some Marigolds.

The ants see off the Ladybirds as there are many more of them.... I can't win.

I already tried ladybird lavae last year - the ants kill them... I've got glue bands and all sorts... still the little blighters seem to get through.

I'm very anti-poison due to the cats penchant for digging.

what you need is complemtary planting...

you want flowerrs that attract hover flies (that look a little like mini wasps) suxh as marigolds.. and then plany your veg between them

Hover flies eat green fly/black fly

http://www.ourherbgarden.com/marigold-companions.html

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/gar...in-gardens.htm

Lady birds also eat aphids.

so you want BOTH flowers AND food!

[Ttaskmaster]

but generally in the home, they can spread disease.

Yet for all they good they may do, they are still unwelcome in my home and any that make it past my Spider Sentinels are open targets!!

[sammyc]

Yet for all they good they may do, they are still unwelcome in my home and any that make it past my Spider Sentinels are open targets!!

Heartily dislike the way you have capitalised that :/ Ugh

All points about health issue granted, I still take issue with the us-centric view of what gets to live & die. Example this re ants:

Just as a weed is a plant out of place, insects in the wrong place are pests. Ants play a very important role in the ecology of your garden for good and for not so good.

Where wrong place is just 'inconvenient to me'; there's no wrong place as far as the ant is concerned. If something really has to go it's a matter of me putting myself first, & justifying it, but it's to be regretted.

[scaryjim]

... I'm very anti-poison due to the cats penchant for digging.

Do you drink proper coffee tigs?

If so ... mulch around the plants you want to protect with the coffee grinds. Ants won't walk on them.

We used to have a real ant problem in one of our old houses, and being very anti-poison were desperate for a non-damaging way yo keep them out. Once we found out where they were coming in and started sticking the coffee grounds down, we didn't see another ant in the house!

[Saracen]

There should be a Beware of the Moose day.

I thought this was Beware of the Moose Century??