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Artichoke Hotel
At our allotment there seems to be a proliferation of Jerusalem Artichokes. You can’t give them away for want of trying, and you will often hear the almost pleading cry of “do you want some artichokes?” followed by a scurry as allotment owners hurry in the other direction. It’s no wonder really, their tiny indistinguishable yellow flowers are far from eye catching, they spread like wildfire, only to be outdone by couch grass, and their kitchen use? Well a couple of bites and one may well blow the house down with the resulting methane. Its not good, I can tell you, even my cats avoided the duvet that night. However, I have finally found a positive use for such a plant, and that is in the construction of insect habitats!
Last year my insect hotel was kind host to a happily nesting group of female Mason bee’s. Solitary by nature, they will often nest together, filling hollow tubes with mud to make tiny chambers enclosing solitary eggs and delicious delicacies for their hatching offspring. And whilst these insect hotels are readily available from many garden centres, not only are they far from cheap, but I’m sure that the sustainability of the components is worryingly low.
Simple components: Wood (or pre-made box), hollow sticks (bamboo, artichoke)
Inspired to make my own, especially as the happy drone of a single female probing vacant tubes on my existing hotel filled my ears, I suddenly realised that the hollow stems of Jerusalem Artichokes are practically perfect. Done on the cheap, all you need is some wood to make a box shape and some hollow rods to place inside for nesting. Being the typical hoarder that I am, I found a vile old shelf unit which was languishing dustily in my garage and within 30 minutes a new hotel was complete. Don’t worry if some of the stem is obscured by pith, I’ve found that the bee’s simply remove this, saving you the job! Simply cut the hollow tubes into equal lengths so that they are the width of the wooden box. Cram as many in as possible so that the structure becomes rigid and then hang in a sunny position, preferably near a water source for those thirsty buzzing girls. It won’t take long before you have a lot of happy campers.
Not all tubes have to be bee friendly, an assortment of wildlife will take up residency
Placing on a south facing warm wall, above the other, my clematis will quickly clamber up and provide necessary shelter for other happy insects to frequent this new abode. And due to not all the rods being a bee friendly size, there is plenty of room at the inn for other garden friends! Its easy, its very cheap, and is great for getting Mason bee’s in particular (very good pollinators by the way) into the garden.
Place in a sunny spot to encourage the bees
4 Responses to Artichoke Hotel
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