Bees declared to be fish in California

[Catherine]

Quote:I do have neem oil I use in a mixture but I recently heard neem oil is showing signs of being bad for bees. It takes a few generations to show up. I need to do more research because it was one of those passing videos on Instagram. They suggest spraying in the evening after the bees are gone so that's what I've been doing. Between the bee safe and the neem oil/soap mixture. It has been doing fairly well.

I will see if I can find out anything about neem oil and bees. Anything we do should be done in the evening so pollinators are not effected. Even if neem doesn't actually harm bees, it probably isn't good for them.

Saving seeds is a good idea. Many of my flowers seed themselves from the year before. A lot of people save their tomato seeds. If you have a squash that is really good you want to have the same squash next year.

We built a little green house off of our garage. It was barely heated and we started seeds while there was still snow on the ground. I remember things growing very well and transplanting very well. If you think about seeds in nature, they are out there in the ground while it is still cold. They gradually start to grow as it warms up. If you start them too warm they can grow too fast and not be strong. Definitely experiment with planting dates. Start some seeds in January, some in February, some in March and so on. That should give you an idea of what works best.

I am excited to hear what your garden does this year.