Continuing this week’s theme of “Bees Needs” we asked Melita to tell us how she created a wild garden for bees!
Hi my name is Melita and I’m a friend to bees. I have a tiny front garden that’s south facing, so I decided to give it back to nature . I’m not a green fingered goddess by any stretch of the imagination, so I wanted a quick fix that could do it’s own thing and encourage nature back.
I started with the bigger shrubs. I brought a Buddleia as I knew butterflies would come and a Ceanothas. The Bees love this and its colour and smell is amazing. I put a lilac in the middle. Again a lovely the smell and bees go mad for it. Then I chose one corner, dug it over and brought two boxes of seeds. One was for attracting Bees and one was for Butterflies. I sprinkled them over the patch of earth I had cleared and watered.
Within a few weeks I had a mass of green shoots. At first it looked like loads of weeds but then all the flowers started to come out. It looks so pretty and as I say I don’t need to touch it. I just give it a water if we have a dry spell.
And the most important thing is my tiny garden is full of colour and wildlife ,masses of bees, butterflies and I’ve even had a humming bird hawk-moth which is so beautiful.
I would encourage anyone to do it! Now I can look out my window and watch all the busy bees, tiny birds and butterflies. All I need now is a bigger window!
Melita Brett
If you’d like to create a wild garden for bees, this “Bee Kind” app from the Bumblebee Trust is fantastic, for suggesting plants you can grow so that bees have nectar all year round. See their website for more tips too.
