# Two Quick Questions (Veggie Gardens and Yield)



## AHGoodwin (Mar 22, 2014)

Question 1: So I know some people with large veggie gardens keep bees to help their garden, and this is something I would love to do as I had thought of keeping bees anyways. My question though is, will the honey bee any good? I've seen clover honey, and wildflower honey, and such, but never seen vegetable honey. Is this because its not any good or what?

Question 2: I know yield is very subjective but would it be safe to assume an average hive could produce at least enough for my personal use? I don't need or even want to sell, just about 5lbs a year is all I need


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## Ceilismom (Jul 16, 2011)

I think your bees will produce wonderful honey on your vegetable garden plus whatever else blooms within their foraging range, which is larger than you might think. Most honey that you see for sale comes from hives that were placed near alfalfa fields, almond orchards, apple orchards, etc. In other words, near a large, single agricultural crop. The bees pollinate the crop, and the beekeeper gets honey in return. Because the nectar was harvested from essentially a single crop source, it can be called by that crop source. Wildflower honey means honey that comes from an assortment of blooming plants. That's what your bees would produce.

If the bees have an ample supply of nectar, you should have no problem harvest 5 lb.s of surplus honey from the bees, after the first year. Most years, a good deal more than that. In a drought year, you might need to feed them through the summer and might not get to harvest any honey. The good news is that it keeps practically forever, so as long as you have some surplus from a previous good year, you won't have to go out and buy your personal supply.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Stop and think a moment: how enticing would the name "carrot honey " be? No, the marketers call carrot honey simply "honey", and leave it at that! They do the same with onion honey and the honey from weeds, of course! 

Honey from a vegetable garden tastes just FINE! It is only the name that sounds odd, and so instead the marketers add a little honey from orange trees and call it "orange blossom blend", which sounds much nicer than calling it "carrot honey"


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## AHGoodwin (Mar 22, 2014)

That's great to hear. Thanks so much for the help!


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## ganoosh (Dec 6, 2009)

Not sure where you live as that can have a lot to do with the amount and type of honey that your bees will produce. 

I can say though from my personal experience (only 2 years now with bees) living in a very dry area, 10 inches of precip a year, my hives have produced on average 70-90#s per hive. They will also travel several miles from their hive to get nectar and pollen so I wouldn't be too concerned about your honey tasting like anything but delicious. 

Not to mention that we get Rabbit Brush blooming in the fall which is pretty strong smelling stuff that produces a dark honey, but people will buy all the late season honey I can bottle with high percentage of the rabbit brush nectar even though some people can't stand the plant for help with allergies. A side note I have noticed that the pollen from Asparagus is a crazy orange-red color which facinated me as the bees were all over the tiny flowers this summer.

I'd say go for the bees and join your local beekeeping group as they are so fascinating and there is so much to learn about them.


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## AHGoodwin (Mar 22, 2014)

I live in the White Mountains region of NH. Zone 4b according to USDA map.

I am glad to hear that about the yields. With that much honey, I should be able to just leave plenty for them and not have to buy food sticks. 

I am still very much in the research stage at this point. I love the idea of having bees, but I want to make sure that they are going to be able to earn their keep and it seems like they will. Next step for me is researching how to keep the bears away!


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Good strong woven wire electric fence.

 Al


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## johng (Feb 14, 2009)

Most garden plants that bees work do not produce much if any nectar to make honey with. (Cucumbers,squash,melons) stuff like that. They do produce some pollen that the bees use. One of the reasons I started thinking about bees was because of my garden and I can say without a doubt my squash and cucumbers have a much better set than they did before the bees. 

Your bees will make plenty of honey but, not from your garden they will also work any nectar producing plant within two miles of your house. The USDA puts out state averages on how much a hive produced for the current year. I think on the low side its about 40lbs and on the high side is around 80lbs. So you should easily be able to make enough honey for personal and family and friends use. Hope this helps.


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