This week, Bungay Community Bees (BCB) launched their “Get Your Garden Buzzing” garden centre project, at Bungay’s own Three Willows Garden Centre.

It has taken a couple of years from my comment “how do we help people know which plants are bee friendly?” for this project to become reality. It could not have happened without the knowledge and effort of Rose (BCB) and Gaz (Three Willows Garden Centre) in particular. So, thanks guys!

By looking for yellow bee-friendly plant labels, customers can now easily find a wide range of bee-friendly plants to grow in their gardens to provide year-round nectar and pollen for our endangered bees and other pollinating insects. The garden centre also has a year-round ‘bee-friendly’ plant display, incorporating a “Get Your Garden Buzzing” wall panel, with top tips on Creating a Bee Friendly Garden. Leaflets with the same information will shortly be available at the checkout and we are currently working on transferring it to the website as well.

As Rose said: “Over 2/3rds of our bees and pollinating insects are in decline. In an arable area like this, there’s no longer wildflower or habitat diversity on most of our farms – and so declining populations of honeybees, native bees and pollinating insects are turning to our gardens in order to find the year-round food, water and habitats necessary for nesting and hibernating.

We can help them at this time by planting drifts of pollen and nectar-rich plants in sunny places in our gardens, allowing a few wildflowers to grow in sunny corners, mowing our lawns less often to allow lawn-weeds to flower, putting up bug hotels, making habitat piles from logs, twigs and leaves and avoiding use of neonicotinoid pesticides.”

Liz Watts from Three Willows Garden Centre commented on how happy they are to be the first garden centre to join the “Get Your Garden Buzzing” project. As she said, it’s important to encourage people to grow bee-friendly plants throughout the year. To their pleasure the garden centre has already received praise and appreciation for their ‘bee-friendly’ display and comprehensive bee-friendly labeling system.

The “Get Your Garden Buzzing” project, offers garden centres ‘bee-friendly’ plant stickers, posters, leaflets, laminated lists of all bee-friendly garden plants and an all-weather, large “Create a Bee-Friendly Garden” exterior wall display panel. BCB hopes to encourage garden centres, plant nurseries and gardeners throughout East Anglia to get on board with this project, to help prevent the decline of our native bees and pollinating insects.

In 2009 Bungay Community Bees formed in response to the worldwide decline of honey bees and other pollinating insects. Our aims are to work together to increase the number of honey bees locally, to support bees in our environment and to share our enthusiasm for and knowledge about bees and pollinators.

For further information on the “Get Your Garden Buzzing” project contact Gemma Parker 0754 0724395; for information on Bungay Community Bees contact Elinor McDowall 01986 948154, 07791 495012, bees@sustainablebungay.com, or visit our webpages: http://www.sustainablebungay.com/bungay-community-bees-2/

Finally! It was just warm enough (on a day when I wasn’t working) to have a peek inside the hive. Four of us gathered to see what we could see. I’m coming around to the idea of, or perhaps rather gaining confidence in, opening the hive less often.

However, although the bees have seemed quite happy when observing them at the entrance and there has been a veritable roar of buzzing from inside whenever I’ve been to say hello I wanted to check inside to get a better idea of stores, brood and disease.

A warm March gave rise to a quick increase in bee numbers, but following that a month or more of mostly cold and wet weather has trapped them inside the hive. So, although it may look as though there is lots of yummy forage out there for them they haven’t been able to access it. I have had to feed sugar syrup several times and even so there is very little in the way of stores in the hive. But they aren’t starving and I shall continue to feed them.

These bees are housed on a ‘brood and a half’, in a National Hive, so the Queen has access to a normal sized brood box and also a half depth one (usually for storing honey). They have filled these two boxes nearly full of brood and have started on another for food stores. I’m not sure I have ever seen so many bees in one place before.

There was no sign of disease, so now we need to decide whether to attempt an artificial swarm (a way of splitting the colony that hopefully means they don’t swarm naturally) or not. If they can build their stores up I’m sure they’ll swarm as the weather improves. Normally I would be happy for healthy bees to swarm, but we could do with replenishing our hives and these seem to be particularly resilient bees. So, as uncomfortable as I am with it we may attempt such a procedure.

I am particularly attached to these bees, even though they are rather feisty, even though I have had to run for it before now and even though I have had a swollen, red, itchy leg for three days (full length bee suit definitely on the cards) due to their great defensive capabilities. I’m happy, content, to see them thriving in these difficult conditions.

The talk took the form of a demonstration and discussion of the different ways of preparing wild plants for medicines, including syrups, ointments, teas, tinctures and floral waters. The first plant was Forget-Me-Not and we looked at the freshly-picked flowers under magnifying glasses so we could see closer to the beauty of these cheerful blue plants. I’d been wondering about forget-me-not’s medicinal qualities (it is not in common use nowadays), because of the profusion of them in the plant medicine bed in the library garden this year. And now here they were introducing the session. The forget-me-not syrup Julie and Matthew passed around to taste was specifically for dry coughs.

They moved gently and unhurriedly through a range of hedgerow herbs, talking about the styptic qualities of yarrow (some of the men present decided we would try it on shaving cuts), the historical uses of St. John’s Wort as a protective plant and  how ribwort plantain can assist with certain allergies.

We also learnt how dandelion can nourish the liver, help with old coughs and even cheer you up. And you can make tasty fritters from the flower heads. We got to taste a ten year old dandelion syrup, which was absolutely delicious. Vintage! And I learned a new word: amphoteric. Applied to herbs such as dandelion, this means that in the body it normalises the function of a system or an organ.

Julie and Matthew work with simples primarily, making tinctures and syrups and teas from one particular plant. For tea this afternoon, they had brought along some ground ivy or alehoof. This clears the sinuses as once it clarified beer. Charlotte found a pot to make the tea – which was astonishingly green.

After tea we looked at some live plants and were invited to guess what they were. One had leaves that recalled spinach, but not quite, and no one guessed it was mandrake, that oldest of medicine plants, steeped in folklore, and related to deadly nightshade and tomatoes. In the old days the story went that if you pulled it up by its roots (which resemble the human body), it screamed and someone would die. So when people wanted it for medicine they would tie their dog to it and the poor dog would have to bear the consequences.

The other plant was Epimedium, a member of the berberis family, also called Horny Goat Weed and used as an aphrodisiac. I thought that was great as long as it didn’t actually turn you into a goat!

Out of all that herbal wealth and floral richness the  piece de resistance must have been the elderflower water. I can’t begin to find an adequate description for the amazing scent of this home-distilled floral water. If anyone else can and they were there please write it in the comments. ‘Wow!’ will have to do for now.

The talk was so relaxed and absorbing it didn’t feel as if a lot was happening, or as if two hours had suddenly gone by. It was only when I was jotting down notes at home later that I realised just how much ground Julie and Matthew had covered in the afternoon and how much knowledge they had shared.

Afterwards I showed Julie and Matthew the library garden and the plant medicine bed and they loved it. It made me feel very proud of Sustainable Bungay and what we’ve brought into being here.

So warm thanks once again to Julie and Matthew for such an engaging Plants for Life session and for answering everyone’s questions.

To order Hedgerow Medicine or other books by Julie-Bruton Seal and Matthew Seal, or to find out more about Julie’s practice as a medical herbalist, visit their  website www.hedgerowmedicine.co.uk. They also run practical herbal classes and are based in Norfolk, about a 40 minute drive from Bungay.

Happy Mondays with the Community Kitchen is always a celebration of the best local and seasonal ingredients: the room will be decorated; and the welcome warm. But it will also offer opportunities for volunteers to build their kitchen confidence, learn about local suppliers and discover new recipes and ideas.

Our aim is to highlight what’s growing in and around Bungay in gardens and on farms, show how local, seasonal eating is not only healthy, enjoyable, good for the local economy and environmentally sound but also exciting and surprising.

In time we hope there will be a Happy Monday every week, but at the moment our aim is a monthly meal. If you’d like to get involved, perhaps supplying ingredients from your garden to the kitchen, cooking, suggesting recipes or helping meet and greet please do contact us.

When: May 21st, 6:45 for 7pm
Where: Bungay Community Centre, Upper Olland Street
Cost: £5 for 2 courses
Menu: We’re cooking lasagna and serving it with three salads, there’ll be a fruit compote with cream and lavender shortcake for dessert….

So, relieved to report I think it was the best one yet: lots of SB helpers of course, a steady flow of old & new faces, plenty of plants, seeds & stories exchanged with the customary relaxed atmosphere. The rain held off and there was even some sunshine. And the courtyard does look wonderful…

Thanks to Lesley and Richard who worked tirelessly all day, Mark for organising a key to arrive on the morning of the event and get me out of an embarrassing hole, Gemma for cakes and Elinor for images.

On Sunday May 13th at 3pm at Bungay Library, for our fifth Plants for Life event, we welcome Norfolk-based herbalist Julie Bruton-Seal and her husband Matthew Seal, to speak about Hedgerow Medicine.

Julie and Matthew are the co-authors of Hedgerow Medicine (2008), the book on foraging for medicine plants and making herbal remedies at home.

Friendly, modern and accessible to total beginners and experienced plant people alike, this book should be a part of everyone’s medicine cabinet! The excellent follow-up, Kitchen Medecine, was published in 2010.

So come along and meet the authors! We look forward to seeing you there.

Sustainable Bungay’s Plants for Life events are free to attend and donations are happily received.

For all information contact Mark Watson on 01502 722419 or email markintransition@hotmail.co.uk

It was the perfect sunny day for it. Until five minutes before we set out when it started raining. Thank goodness for bumping into Paul whilst I was doing a last minute reccy of the places and the plants we would be stopping at. Clouds were appearing. He would bring me an umbrella.

The weather didn’t seem to bother anyone though and at 2.30 over twenty of us put up brollies and pulled over hoods and set off around Bungay to see the wild plants pushing through everywhere from cracks in the pavement to churchyards to hidden alleyways behind the town centre.

And it wasn’t just the adults who wanted to come along. The children were fascinated by the plants and often knew them by name.

The intent behind the walk was to consider these uncultivated plants beyond their usual description as ‘weeds’ and look at their medicinal qualities and uses. And in line with the Spring season, we focused on the energy-moving, tonic, galvanising properties of the plants as well as how they clear and cleanse the system after the sluggishness of winter.

And there they all were in abundant supply: nourishing energisers and diuretics, dandelions and nettles. Lymphatic booster, cleanser and energiser, cleavers. Even mega Chinese herbal tonic and superfood Gojiberry, also known as Wolfberry and Duke of Argyll’s tea tree), was growing in abundance on Castle Meadow.

After the walk we returned to the library where Charlotte prepared everyone a Wild Green and great tasting spring tonic tea made from the leaves we’d collected. It included dandelion, nettles and cleavers with a sprig of peppermint and thyme from the library garden. Bungay Community Bees’ honey was an optional extra.

Next month we welcome Norfolk-based medical herbalist Julie Bruton-Seal and her husband Matthew Seal, co-authors of the best DIY handbook on making home remedies from wild plants I know, Hedgerow Medecine. Come along to Bungay Library at 3pm on Sunday 13th May, where Julie and Matthew will talk both about the book and the practice of Hedgerow Medicine. Don’t forget to visit the Garden Street Market beforehand and make it a day with plants.

Photos: pre-walk reccy checking out the dandelions and daisies (Charlotte Du Cann); Sustainable Bungay’s great new A board made by Roger proudly presents Walking with Weeds (Mark Watson); Walking up the road (me) and along the wall (Tristram); Grasping the nettle in Trinity churchyard; Wolfberry aka Goji (l) and Jack-by-the-Hedge aka Garlic Mustard (MW & Elinor McDowell); Preparing a Very Green and Delicious Tea (MW); Pouring and Drinking and Getting Galvanised for the spring season (EM)

For our fifth Give and Take Day, Sustainable Bungay returned to the Community Centre in Upper Olland Street, where between 10 and 1 on Saturday a steady two-way stream of clothes, furniture, childrens’ toys, kitchenware, tools and garden equipment came and went with the Givers and Takers (most people doubled as both).

The SB Give and Take crew did everything from pick ups and deliveries to press and publicity and the provision of soup, cakes and refreshments aswell as manning the door and the tables and being on hand to provide information. We also took the odd moment off to sit in the sun!

And this time there was more: a free bicycle maintenance workshop with Richard Simpson from Mutford in the next room. A display of the work of Emmaus in Ditchingham. For the hardworking organisers (all voluntary) a delicious lunch of spicy soup and focaccia, provided by Happy Mondays Community kitchen.

And we were all thrilled by the new A-boards made by Roger for use at all our events – both extremely useful and handsome. Thanks Roger.

Among the main aims in putting on the Give and Take Days is to reduce waste in general and prevent stuff going to landfill in particular. This time only a couple of pieces of furniture went to the dump. And to the landfill? Only the bag Eloise is holding in her hands.

Donations – clearly labelled please – can be dropped off at the library over the preceding (May Day holiday) weekend or from 10am on the morning of the event.

Seeds, tea, cake and chat

Rose led Bungay Community Bees in a seed sowing session this week. It was great learning more about the plants we were hoping to raise and I really enjoyed hearing a boy’s comment about being in awe of tiny seeds being able to transform and grow into huge plants. Well, it is pretty amazing isn’t it.

Rose has written a piece sharing what we did:

About 10 enthusiastic members of Bungay Community Bees met last Sunday at our Flixton hive site, for an afternoon of sowing and transplanting trays of pollen and nectar rich garden and wildflowers for our own gardens, our hive sites  – and for distributing through our upcoming Beehive Day on July 15th. Some of the seeds sown were pollen and nectar rich mixes of both annual and perennial wild and garden flowers and some were just single plants – all known for being valuable pollen and nectar plants for bees as well as bumblebees, butterflies, moths and pollinating insects.

Among the seeds sown were a Bumblebee mix, Chris Skinner’s wildflower and annual pollen and nectar mix, an English Wildflower pollen and nectar mix, Calendula, Scabious, Cornflower, Mullein, Borage, Viper Bugloss, Anise Hyssop, Linaria, Sunflower, Cosmos, Phacelia, St John’s Wort, Teasel &. Marsh Marigold. We also transplanted several trays of Primroses and Great Willowherb for planting on the banks of the new big wildllife pond at our Flixton hive site.

Before the meeting we braved the biting wind and oncoming rain, to take a look at the wildlife pond and surrounding one acre perennial pollen and nectar wildflower meadow that we sowed last autumn. At the moment, what’s mostly visible are the non-invasive grass species that were sown with the wildflower mix, a few annual and thistle seedlings, and quite a lot of small cranesbill and speedwell plants. We are unlikely to see many of the perennial wildflowers until this autumn or next spring because they are very slow growing. We will be re-visiting the meadow throughout the year to chart and photograph it’s progress and to plant up the pond and pondside with native plants in the coming weeks. Unfortunately only one photo of the pond for now (and none of seedlings emerging) because it began raining as soon as I got my camera out!

Between now and Mid-May is an ideal time to sow pollen and nectar rich seeds in your garden or in trays of potting compost for transplanting into the garden later. It is generally easier to sow seeds sparingly in modular trays and transplant them later, especially when the weather is as cool as this and slugs and weed seedlings abound in our seedbeds! Any of the above seeds are great pollen and nectar plants – but also think of any single flowered poppies (Shirley Poppies, Californian poppies, single opium poppies) Angelica, Wild and Bronze fennel, Campanula (Canterbury Bells), Hollyhocks, Wallflowers, Cerinthe, Sweet William, Foxglove, Echinacea, Sweet Rocket, Flax, Limnanthes (poached egg flower), Love in a Mist, Evening Primrose, Sainfoin, Larkspur etc…

Most of these can be sown in trays and then grown outside or in a cold frame until big enough for transplanting. Those which will need a sunny windowsill or the protection of a greenhouse and polytunnel until frosts have passed are: Cosmos, Sunflower & Echinacea. Some sunflowers are hardy enough for outdoor sowing but in a cold wet year like this, will do better with some protection at first. (Even an upended 5 litre water bottle with it’s bottom cut off will do over a direct sowing). Remember when you do transplant your seedlings into your garden, to do so in warm, sunny spots and to aim for clumps or drifts of flowers, to make it easier and quicker for bees and insects to get the food they need. Bees and pollinating insects feed from plants in sunny places.

We are looking for extra bee-friendly plants for distributing to to other gardeners through our Beehive Day on July 15th, so if anyone wants to sow some of the above seeds, or has seedlings or rooted cuttings of bee-friendly plants or any spare herb plants, bee-friendly shrubs, single roses or perennials that they would like to pot up and grow on for us for our Beehive Day, we would be really grateful – Help us to get everyone’s gardens buzzing! Contact Rose: siriusowl@gmail.com, or Elinor: bees@sustainablebungay.com 01986 948154