Ubuntuberg Bee Food Seed Mix

Create a layered flower patch with blue borage, climbing single nasturtiums and tall Red Sun sunflowers. The three components grow at different speeds and heights, giving visiting bees and other flower-feeding insects a changing display rather than one short flush.

Ready to grow a longer-lasting pollinator patch? Follow the Ubuntuberg Seed Mixes Grow Guide — Bee Food for component depths, germination, support, succession sowing and regional timing.

Quick Grow Facts

• Named Components: Borage Azure Blue (Borago officinalis), Nasturtium Climbing Single Mix (Tropaeolum majus) and Sunflower Red Sun (Helianthus annuus ‘Red Sun’).
• Current Allocation: 5 g borage (about 250 seeds), 10 g nasturtium (about 80) and 5 g sunflower (about 100).
• Listed Mass Ratio: 25% borage : 50% nasturtium : 25% sunflower. This does not promise the germinated-plant ratio or an even share in every handful.
• Seed Form: The named component listings identify raw, unpelleted seed. Raw is not proof that a delivered lot is chemically untreated; never eat sowing seed.
• Position: Full sun in cool-to-warm weather, with afternoon relief for nasturtiums during extreme inland heat.
• Sowing Method: Direct sow into separate labelled pockets where possible. If the seed is physically blended, sow into a fine, free-draining nursery strip and expect uneven emergence.
• Component Depths: Borage 5 mm; nasturtium 10 mm; Red Sun sunflower 3 mm. No one depth is ideal for the full bundle.
• Germination: Each component is listed at 7–14 days, but suitable temperatures differ. Nasturtium prefers cool-to-mild conditions; sunflower needs a warmer seedbed; no exact borage temperature is printed on the current label.
• Pretreatment: No pretreatment is required for Red Sun. Sow the other components dry unless the delivered lot label says otherwise.
• Final Spacing: Borage about 45 × 60 cm; nasturtium about 30 cm with support; sunflower 50–60 cm.
• Growth Form: Bushy borage at about 30–50 cm, climbing or trailing nasturtium to about 2 m, and upright Red Sun sunflower around 150 cm.
• Flower Timing: Current labels give borage about 50–80 days, nasturtium about 4–6 weeks and Red Sun about 100–120 days. Do not expect synchronized bloom.

Planting Plan

• Place sunflowers behind the shorter borage and give nasturtiums a trellis, fence or arch.
• Keep the seed zone evenly moist until emergence, then water deeply at soil level without waterlogging.
• Avoid rich, high-nitrogen feeding around nasturtiums because it can favour leaves over flowers.
• Use small component-specific sowings for a longer display rather than scattering the full bundle on one day.

Regional timing: In the winter-rainfall Western Cape, use mild spring or autumn conditions for borage and nasturtium and spring to early summer for sunflower. In frost-prone interiors, sow after hard frost risk. On the humid coast or in the KZN Midlands, prioritise airflow and morning watering. In hot-dry or subtropical interiors, avoid forcing nasturtiums through peak heat.

Safety: Grow this bundle for flowers and pollinator interest. It is not a blanket claim that every plant part is suitable for eating. Follow the delivered labels and use only crop-appropriate controls.

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