6 steps to a bee-friendly garden

Bees and other pollinators play a critical role in our environment. Around 1/3 of our food relies on pollination.

But bees are struggling to cope with habitat loss, pollution and climate change. Several species have already gone extinct in the UK.

We caught up with The British Beekeepers Association for advice on how gardeners can help out.

1.    Select your plants

A lot comes to mind when choosing plants for our gardens. Is it pretty? How much does it cost? Another question which we should be asking is how it will help our pollinators.

Cosmos, hollyhock, cornflower and scabious are just a few recommendations from the Royal Horticultural Society’s comprehensive list of Plants for Pollinators.

A spokesperson from The British Beekeepers Association said: “Planting flowering plants that come into bloom early in spring and late in autumn are especially valuable, as this is when pollinators are often most needy.”

2.    Cut back on cutting the grass

Does anyone actually enjoy mowing the lawn? Of all of the gardening activities there are, it’s easily the most tedious.

And our pollinators certainly aren’t thanking us for it; lawn flowers provide valuable nectar.

Embrace the wild, rustic look, at least in a section of your garden, and leave the dandelions and daisies to the bees.

3.    Provide a drink

It’s not all about nectar – bees and other pollinators need to drink too.

Set up a drinking station with fresh water to make sure they’re getting everything they need.

Fill a shallow bowl with clean water and add some small stones above the water level so they have somewhere to perch, as bees can drown in open water.

4.    Create safe spaces

“There are over 260 species of bee in the UK with a wide variety of nesting and forage needs,” said a spokesperson from The British Beekeepers Association.

They suggested: “More floral planting, leaving messy areas in gardens and care when doing spring garden clean ups can all help.”

The British Beekeepers Association spokesperson also advised that care must be taken with some commercially available bee boxes which are ‘lacking key elements’.

5.    Plant pathways

According to The British Beekeepers Association, bumblebees have a relatively small 'fuel tank' and need regular access to nectar.

A spokesperson continued: “Planting bee corridors of small patches of flowers at regular intervals as in the BugLife B Lines scheme can be helpful.”

6.    Help when needed

Unfortunately, we’ve all come across a tired bee at some point or another and wondered how to help.

The first step should be to carefully place the bee on a nearby bee-friendly flower, if safe to do so, in the hope that the nectar will revive it.

A spokesperson from The British Beekeepers Association added: “Bumblebees can sometimes benefit from feeding on a small amount of sugar syrup to revive them. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust advise this should be a last resort.

“Please never feed any bees with honey; some honey can contain bacterial pathogens and these can be extremely harmful to bees and cause very serious bee health issues.”

Follow The British Beekeepers Association for more tips on growing a bee-friendly garden.