Bee Friendly Tips for the Garden

We have been planting lots of bee friendly plants in our garden this year.  We already have quite a few plants that attract bees, but we have been following some of these hints and tips from Tony Gray an expert bee keeper at bee charity Adopt-a-Hive:

• Don‘t use pesticides: Bees won’t want to visit your garden if you’ve sprayed this everywhere so try not to use one – it’s not very welcoming! If you have to use one, choose the least toxic one you can find
• Use local native plants: Bees love native plants much more than exotic flowers. These plants adapt well to the chilly British weather and don’t require much looking after – plant some of these and your bees will be completely at home
• The more colour the better: When bees are buzzing through the air, they’re naturally attracted to colour as this helps them find the yummiest flowers full of nectar and pollen. Colours including blue, purple, white and yellow help to attract bees
• Group lots of flowers together: Clusters of lots of flowers all together look a lot more inviting. Allow four feet or more in between each clump to give the bees some space to land and take off
• All shapes and sizes: No two bees are the same, so make sure you have lots of different shaped flowers so every type of bee is welcome
• Have a range of plants flowering all season: Some bees like to fly in spring and some in the summer so make sure you have a range of plants for them to feed on throughout the seasons
• Location: Bees prefer sunny spots in the garden with a little shade – they love to wear their sunglasses. They also like some shelter from strong winds – otherwise, it’s a bumpy landing!

For more information about how you can help to save the bees, visit www.thehiveadopt.co.uk

Miss A loves the TV series The Hive – On Disney Junior currently.  We were lucky enough to receive one of the Mookie ‘The Hive’ toys for her to play with.

If you visit the hive adopt site you can see that currently they have a lovely competition this summer for families who have purchased toys from the range.  They are also hoping to raise awareness of the plight of bees in the UK, and I really hope this is the case.

We will continue to do our bit, and the next thing on our to do list is to adopt a beehive.

The See Saw (rrp £14.99) that we were sent is part of a set of playground toys, including a merry-go-round.  I think our favourite in the range is The Hive play set, it looks great, I think that’s on Miss A’s birthday wish list now!