Radishes at Moberly: A Spicy Juicy Snack

What a beautiful day for grade threes and their buddies to garden at Moberly! Yesterday was all about radishes, as one of the beds had become covered with volunteers from last year's radish pods. (Volunteers are seeds that sprout without being sown directly by a gardener.) If we had more beds I would have one just for radishes, because they would just grow and seed without any help. However, we want to plant a variety of veggies, herbs and flowers.

This is a large radish plant that grew in the path. We're leaving it to flower for the bees. We'll just work around it! The flowers are edible too!

These are the small radish greens. The heart-shaped leaves (cotyledons) are delicious!

Here's the patch with small and medium radish plants. The medium leaves are fuzzy and not palatable until they are cooked. In wartime, people made radish soup to make sure that none of the plant was wasted. It's called "nose to tail" eating: chowing down on the root, the leaves and the flowers. Just remember to leave plenty of flowers for the bees. And thank you to my "worker bees" from Moberly Elementary.

P.S. I saw a hummingbird at the garden feeding on the borage flowers! But in my garden at home they love the salmonberry blossoms above all.

Join Me at Figaro's Garden to Pick Up a Copy of Victory Gardens for Bees

People have been asking me where to buy my book locally. I recommend stopping by Figaro's Garden store and picking up some plants at the same time! We're having a special pre-launch for the book On April 30 where I'll be giving out seeds and handouts specific to the best plants for bees in the Lower Mainland.

Figaro's has a selection of native plant for bees and it's one of the few places you can be sure they won't carry plants treated with bee-killing neonicatinoids.


Come on down!

Creating Cyanotypes at Sexsmith Elementary

Last week Erin took a class out on bee safaris while I made sun prints or cyanotypes with the students. I brought plant material from my back yard and the students foraged for additional bee-supporting plant samples in the school yard. I was impressed how many 4-leaf clovers they found.

We used a fabric that is treated with chemicals that react to sunlight.  The tricky part is taking one cloth out of the black bag without exposing the rest to light. Simply place the objects on the cloth and then cover with a piece of plexiglass or glass so they create a sharper impression and don't blow away in the wind. (You can arrange the objects in a darkened room and then move it into sunlight, but we were pressed for time.)

Then you wait until the fabric turns blue and there are shadows underneath. This takes a few minutes in sunny conditions, and up to twenty minutes if it's overcast. We found some pieces of fabric worked well and others didn't--maybe due to how well they were treated with the chemicals.

The large leaves of rhodos contrast with the needles from rosemary.

Fennel looks like seaweed and you can see the impressions of clover and dandelions from the school grounds.

That's a giant 4-leaf clover in the upper left. Can you see the tiny forget-me-nots?

Sweet cicely leaves are fine and fern-like.

Once they have finished being exposed, the cloths need to be rinsed in cold water to wash out the chemicals. Drying fixes the print. Cyanotype fabric and paper can be ordered online. I got mine at the Dharma Trading Company. It's an addictive activity and a good way to study botany.

Also a big thanks to Antoine, the substitute teacher who gave us this great quote: "Education is life itself." C'est formidable!

My Book Launches in Vancouver! Victory Gardens for Bees: A DIY Guide to Saving the Bees

You'll have the opportunity to come to a couple of book launches in Vancouver.

The main launch is on May 19. Please spread the Word!

Become a Citizen Scientist!

It's the time of the year to join EYA's citizen science program! Here's the call for participants:


EYA's Pollinator Monitoring Program is starting soon! Register until May 1st through the online registration form. Engage with your community as a citizen scientist by learning to identify bee species and collect data. Monitoring bees will help inform communities across the city of our native species and promote protecting their habitat into the future. Meet friends, gain fieldwork experience, and contribute to environmental science!

Training Days: During Day 1 (May 7th) participants will learn proper survey technique and how to identify four groups of bees as well as wasps and syrphid flies (all pollinators), and the differences between all groups. Day 2 (May 8th) will include practicing our techniques in observation with live bee identification and practice at survey recording.  Register to participate in as many scheduled pollinator monitoring events as you wish! You MUST attend training to participate in the monitoring sessions.


Pollinator Monitoring Dates:   
May 7 & 8    10am - 3pm      TRAINING
May 11th     10am - 12pm      TRILLIUM PARK/ STRATHCONA COMMUNITY GARDEN
May 18th       1pm -   3pm      HASTINGS FOLK GARDEN (117 E. Hastings)
May 25th     10am - 12pm      VANDUSEN BOTANICAL GARDEN
May 28th     10am - 12pm      BRIDGEPORT INDUSTRIAL PARK POLLINATOR PASTURE (Richmond)
June 8th      10am - 12pm      OAK MEADOW PARK (Vancouver)
June 15th    10am - 12pm      UBC BOTANICAL GARDEN
June 22nd   10am - 12pm      MOBERLY POLLINATOR GARDEN
July 6th        10am - 12pm     OAK MEADOW PARK (Vancouver)

 visit www.eya.ca for more information

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Got Wings?

April in the garden is all about worms!

A lucky bee finds a 4-leaf clover.

Pollinators are busy ensuring the fava beans set seed.

Dandelions feed hungry bees.

And the pollinators check out the new pollinator hotel designed by Evan Hutchinson and co-built with the grade 6 class. "Shhhh . . . baby bees are sleeping in there!"

Building Bumblebee Homes at Sexsmith Elementary

On a sunny Monday Evan Hutchinson lead students in a bumblebee nest box building workshop. The finished boxes will fit into the new pollinator hotel designed and built by Evan. All these photos are by Cassandra L'Heureux.