Nine Ways To Protect The Bees

A month or so ago, Small Footprints encouraged us to protect the bees for our Change The World Wednesday Challenge.

As you’ll be aware, we love taking care of our buzzy bees here at Chez Green.

Bees are responsible for pollinating one third of the food we eat.

So imagine for a moment, gathering all the food you eat in a week. Now remove one third of that food…

Are you feeling hungry yet?

Not only that, but bees provide us with honey which not only tastes great, but has huge medicinal benefits too. In fact, honey is one of our oldest and most revered medicines.

Here are nine ways you can protect the bees at home:

Native plants

Plant native flowering plants in your garden. Here, the bees love comfrey, thyme, clover, chive flowers, lavender, mint and borage. Learn more about bee friendly plants.

Vegetables

Plant a vegetable garden. Not only will you get food, but bees will enjoy a rich variety of pollen too!

Go organic

Bees can be harmed by pesticides. By allowing beneficial insects into your garden they will keep the pests to a minimum without the need for chemical control.

Pesticide free

Keep your lawn and garden pesticide free. Conventional garden treatment are not only harmful to us and our pets, but harm the bees too.

Companies such as London Lawn Turf sell Eco garden turf and can advise you on exactly the amount you need so there is no wastage.

Natural home

Eliminate chemicals from your home. Everything you use in your home ends up in the water supply, the earth or the air, so keep it bee friendly.

Water

Provide an all year round clean source of water for bees. This could be rainwater collected in an old container, a small garden feature or a birdbath.

Home sweet home

It’s easy to build a bee hotel in your garden. Alternatively, leave some dead trees or plants in your garden, and bees will nest in them.

Eat organic!

By eating organic food, you increase the demand for organic farming which means less pesticides in the environment.

Bee keeping

If you have the space and want to really make a difference, why not take up bee keeping? You’ll learn new skills and get a supply of delicious honey!

How about you – how do you encourage bees into your garden?