5 ms·

>> It is relatively easy as an individual to give the bees a helping hand. You can also choose to NOT spray harmful chemicals on your lawn/garden/landscaping.

by jly 10y ago

>> It is relatively easy as an individual to give the bees a helping hand. You can also choose to NOT spray harmful chemicals on your lawn/garden/landscaping. As a hobby beekeeper in a suburban area, I appreciate it when my bees are not bringing this junk back to their hive and my honey!

barney54 10y ago
Do you share you honey with your neighbors as a way of encouraging them to not use chemicals on their lawns and yards?
- bjelkeman-again 10y ago
  Yes we do. Fortunately using pesticides and herbicides isn't very usual in our nearby neighbourhood. But that is just anecdotal. We have had a very strong support for keeping our bees and been surprised how engaged people are. Stopping by, asking questions, asking when they can buy more honey etc.
hueving 10y ago
This actually brings up an interesting property discussion. Normally it's pretty clear when someone is doing something on their property that harms the environment of other people's property (e.g. releasing gases, etc). In this particular case, it's your bees that are going onto the neighbors property and bringing back chemicals. Clearly you can't control the bees (unless you encase them in a dome) so it's not quite analogous to letting a dog roam around the neighborhood... I'm very curious what would happen if e.g. you tried to sue your neighbor for harming your bees.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  I imagine the lawyer you asked about it would roll their eyes. There are restrictions on herbicides that can be used in most residential areas, I doubt you are going to get a court to override those rules and give bees priority.
  - bjelkeman-again 10y ago
    In Sweden there are several court cases where the highest court have ruled in favour of beekeepers, due to benefit to the ecosystem. And fewer (don't know of any) against. Swedish: http://www.biodlarna.se/website1/1.0.1.0/32/1/ http://www.biodlarna.se/website1/1.0.1.0/32/1/
- ajuc 10y ago
  I've heard of a case where some guy put a pot with poisoned sugar water on his lawn to kill neighbor's bees and the other guy sued him. Don't remember what the result was, but it wasn't dismissed as obviously no-issue.
ssmoot 10y ago
As a side note: I'm not a botanist or anything. This is just what I've read. But I remember growing up there being clover everywhere. It was vibrant, green, felt great under foot and flourished even in South Texas. You don't see that often anymore. The claim I've seen is that herbicides commonly used to treat weeds on lawns kill it. So I bought a couple 1lb bags off Amazon (I think about $10). We had a few weeds since we don't use herbicides (not out of principle or anything, I'm just not that into gardening). Anyways, the clover chokes out the weeds completely, looks great, seems to help the grass grow better, and is just nothing but a positive thing. Really happy with it. Some of my super-gardener neighbors might not appreciate it. It's never come up. But I like that even during droughts my lawn stays vibrant and green with minimal water.
- toomuchtodo 10y ago
  Adding this to my guerrilla gardening toolbox.
- mikekchar 10y ago
  Was going to post something based on my experience, but when poking around found this article which does a much better job than I could: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/brainwaves/outgrowing-the-traditional-grass-lawn/ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/brainwaves/outgrowing-th...
  - oever 10y ago
    Here is a fitting song to go with that garden. "Don't mow your lawn" by Ray Anderson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGZ6hCy_Pok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGZ6hCy_Pok
- jdnier 10y ago
  That brings back memories of being a kid with a large, untreated, clover-choked grass lawn. We ran around in bare feet all summer and at least once or twice a summer would step on a bee and get stung.
- jdnier 10y ago
  And clover is really helpful for bees. "UNH researchers also have found that white clover attracted the largest abundance of bees, and red clover supported the highest diversity of bees." http://www.fosters.com/article/20160509/NEWS/160509387 http://www.fosters.com/article/20160509/NEWS/160509387

by jly 10y ago

barney54 10y ago

Do you share you honey with your neighbors as a way of encouraging them to not use chemicals on their lawns and yards?

bjelkeman-again 10y ago
Yes we do. Fortunately using pesticides and herbicides isn't very usual in our nearby neighbourhood. But that is just anecdotal. We have had a very strong support for keeping our bees and been surprised how engaged people are. Stopping by, asking questions, asking when they can buy more honey etc.

hueving 10y ago

This actually brings up an interesting property discussion. Normally it's pretty clear when someone is doing something on their property that harms the environment of other people's property (e.g. releasing gases, etc). In this particular case, it's your bees that are going onto the neighbors property and bringing back chemicals. Clearly you can't control the bees (unless you encase them in a dome) so it's not quite analogous to letting a dog roam around the neighborhood... I'm very curious what would happen if e.g. you tried to sue your neighbor for harming your bees.

maxerickson 10y ago
I imagine the lawyer you asked about it would roll their eyes. There are restrictions on herbicides that can be used in most residential areas, I doubt you are going to get a court to override those rules and give bees priority.
- bjelkeman-again 10y ago
  In Sweden there are several court cases where the highest court have ruled in favour of beekeepers, due to benefit to the ecosystem. And fewer (don't know of any) against. Swedish: http://www.biodlarna.se/website1/1.0.1.0/32/1/ http://www.biodlarna.se/website1/1.0.1.0/32/1/
ajuc 10y ago
I've heard of a case where some guy put a pot with poisoned sugar water on his lawn to kill neighbor's bees and the other guy sued him. Don't remember what the result was, but it wasn't dismissed as obviously no-issue.

ssmoot 10y ago

As a side note: I'm not a botanist or anything. This is just what I've read. But I remember growing up there being clover everywhere. It was vibrant, green, felt great under foot and flourished even in South Texas. You don't see that often anymore. The claim I've seen is that herbicides commonly used to treat weeds on lawns kill it. So I bought a couple 1lb bags off Amazon (I think about $10). We had a few weeds since we don't use herbicides (not out of principle or anything, I'm just not that into gardening). Anyways, the clover chokes out the weeds completely, looks great, seems to help the grass grow better, and is just nothing but a positive thing. Really happy with it. Some of my super-gardener neighbors might not appreciate it. It's never come up. But I like that even during droughts my lawn stays vibrant and green with minimal water.

toomuchtodo 10y ago
Adding this to my guerrilla gardening toolbox.
mikekchar 10y ago
Was going to post something based on my experience, but when poking around found this article which does a much better job than I could: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/brainwaves/outgrowing-the-traditional-grass-lawn/ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/brainwaves/outgrowing-th...
- oever 10y ago
  Here is a fitting song to go with that garden. "Don't mow your lawn" by Ray Anderson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGZ6hCy_Pok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGZ6hCy_Pok
jdnier 10y ago
That brings back memories of being a kid with a large, untreated, clover-choked grass lawn. We ran around in bare feet all summer and at least once or twice a summer would step on a bee and get stung.
jdnier 10y ago
And clover is really helpful for bees. "UNH researchers also have found that white clover attracted the largest abundance of bees, and red clover supported the highest diversity of bees." http://www.fosters.com/article/20160509/NEWS/160509387 http://www.fosters.com/article/20160509/NEWS/160509387