Sounds like you have it covered.

I'd suggest wild mustard if you want a really good pollen source.  More so than sunflowers.  We've been experimenting with it a bit for a trap crop for flea beetles and after some reading and watching the amount of it growing on about 15 acres next to us I can say the bees love wild mustard.  I just recently read somewhere that wild mustard has an excellent pollen especially compared to sunflowers.

How many acres are you going to plant?  I have a some of my hives in front of a 25 acre clover/grass/alf-alf mix field and watch them fly during bloom across the river to soybeans if they are blooming at the same time, doubling or tripling flight time.

I let my hay field go to flower before mowing since I am not selling the hay and our boarders are far less worried about protein levels that some.

You could also plant a later season wildflower or encourage wild areas that focus on end of season blooms.

It takes a lot of land in bloom to matter.  If its just a matter of being bee friendly, in terms of a yard, then simply let it go, stop using fertilizers, and grub killers, and let it balance out.  Sow a nice mix of clover.  Give it three years and you'll have dandelions and clover o'plenty.

But unless it acres and acres of seeding, your bees are simply going to be mixing it in with whatever is growing at the time.

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106
http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com
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