iN VIDEO: Pollen covered bees busy at work in Kamloops garden
A couple of years ago avid Kamloops gardener Rupinder Sran Gill decided she was going to start adding bright flowers to her vegetable garden in hopes of attracting more pollinators, and her work has paid off.
Earlier this week, Gill took videos of busy bees covered from top to bottom with pollen, working away on her sunflowers.
“It was one of those gloomy days after a long work week and I went to the garden to see the bees and talk to the birds,” she said.
Gill said she has a tiny yard but does “square foot gardening” so every inch of the garden is producing and she grows things in stages so there is “always something blooming for pollinators to snack on.”
Three years ago, she was only growing vegetables but wanted to “do her part to help pollinators” by planting bright flowers and herbs.
“Flowers are the pollinators' favourite, and now my vegetables are flourishing like crazy,” she said. “I like yellow flowers but I plant other colours too, the bees are attracted to all the colours. I grow lots of herbs now too where bees like to go grab nectar and pollinate.”
Gill doesn’t put chemicals on her garden to protect the bees and next year she’s going to add mason bee houses to her small property.
She's seeing a growing number of other gardeners planting in ways that are beneficial for pollinators.
“No one can afford pollinators to disappear from the Earth’s surface so I’m doing my part,” she said. “I hope after seeing my little effort to keep the bees alive others will do the same.”
READ MORE: Weird-looking fungus pops up in Kelowna backyard
Ironically, Gill is allergic to bees, but it’s a risk she's happy to take.
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