Planting forage before growing season?

watou wrote: »

Hello, I'm looking for recommendations on what I can plant in the ditches and margins (in damp West Cork) that will be good forage for bees. I would like to get started ordering and organising as soon as possible so it's of value next year. Ideally it would be attractive to both bees for forage, and humans to look at. I own three fields that retired horses graze in, and the ditches around these approx. three acres already have plentiful briars and nettles. There are other areas that have scrubby grass that could be replaced with colourful forage plantings. I want to stick with non-invasive, preferably native Irish species. Thank you in advance for your advice.

From now till April is a good time to add some bare root trees. Alder, hazel, willow, wild cherry, crab apple, rowen, guelder rose, whitethorn and blackthorn are just a few which should all be good food sources and should have a long enough flowering season to provide for a while. Horse chestnut and sycamore would also be good but if you have horses I think the seeds of both may be poisonous. Laburnum would be a good option too but also poisonous. Bare roots would be readily available in any good independent garden centre (future forests Kealkill might be an option) and shouldn't be more than €1-€2 each. Will be a number of years before see much flowers on trees though except maybe the willows
For margins any number of "weeds" should do. If you can keep the horses out of them. Trefoils aren't very palatable to horses AFAIK and are nitrogen fixing so might be an option. Not sure if they grow too well on heavy/wet ground. I usually only see them in ditches and roadsides here. If you can let the horses graze the margins late in the year it will help keep briars etc under control.

watou wrote: »

Thank you @yosemitesam1 and @PoorFarmer for your advice. I know a guy at a garden centre not far away and maybe it's time to get some whips planted. I think about scattering wildflower seeds but our soil is so heavy and wet here, and will the crows just eat all the seed anyway? I've never kept bees before so I just want to lay a feast out for them.

In late spring / early summer bees do well with native flowering species such as daisy, dandelions, hawthorn, elder etc. The important thing is to have late growering plants which allow hives to build up reserves for the winter - In Ireland the number one plant is ivy - which bees depend on a lot.

I would also suggest seeding various self seeding brassicas such as rapeseed into your grassland as these are very attractive to bees and other insects.

As above if you have horses - don't plant sycamore.

I read that one good tree was equivalent of an entire acre of flowers.