Bee-Friendly Gardens, Insect Hotels & Hand Pollinating Tips
by
The Micro Gardener - Anne
(IC: blogger)
When we plant for bees, our gardens not only become more BEE-autiful, but also more productive. I'm sharing how to create insect hotels; hand pollinate your crops to boost your harvest; grow garden-friendly habitat for pollinators + choose bee-friendly flowers. Dig in!
By providing 'Bed and Board' for pollinators and meeting their needs, you can encourage them to take up residence in your garden. Bees need shelter (to rest & raise families); food (nectar & pollen) + water (to drink & bathe).
To be sustainable, I prefer to upcycle or reuse materials on hand. Natural fibres and supplies like bamboo; wood; broken pots, bricks or tiles; pine cones; corks; hollow plant stems; corrugated cardboard from old boxes; clay; bark and pruned branches are ideal materials to use. Avoid PVC or other potentially toxic materials.
When planting a bee-friendly flower garden, these are some helpful tips:
During an average collection trip, a honey bee visits 50-100 flowers. If you don’t have this many flowers in your garden, bees are likely flying next door to finish 'shopping' for food. If you don’t have room for a lot of flowering species, work with your neighbours to plant for bees. Create a bee-friendly zone in your neighbourhood.
Sometimes nature literally needs a hand. I've put together a FREE printable 'How to Hand Pollinate Fruit & Vegetables Guide'. It covers 2 methods I use to improve pollination and your harvest with illustrated steps. You may also find this handy.
There are loads more tips on boosting your harvest by making your garden more attractive to pollinators in this article. Click the link for more pics and details. If you missed Part 1 of this series on Pollination, you can find the post @ https://themicrogardener.com/4-steps-to-improve-pollination-and-your-harvests-part-1/.
I'd love to know what plants YOU grow to attract bees and pollinators to your garden, so please share in the comments.
Enjoyed the project?
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Published April 25th, 2015 10:09 PM
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2 comments
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Cora Binam on Apr 09, 2018
As a member of my local Bee keepers assosation, Thank you for your efforts, ideas, and enthusiasm!!!!
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