My recipe for a buzzing garden
By Rowena Grew from South Lincolnshire
We can all do our bit for bees, no matter how small your pot or plot! We took on a large garden 13 years ago and it evolved with our family. Over the years it has had swings, slides, trampolines, ride-on cars and paddling pools, but it has ALWAYS had plenty of insect love. We enjoy nothing more than sharing our garden with “minibeasts” and pollinators a-plenty. It really is no trouble to create a haven for them in a space that can also be used for fun, relaxing and entertaining.
We have a large lawn that we could never keep weed free. It was a battle we never won and soon realised when we stopped fighting that nature won! In the summer our lawn is a blanket of beautiful clover flowers. They look and smell delicious, not only to us but to bees, lots and lots of bees! We can lie beside them and enjoy their merry buzzing while we immerse ourselves in a book with the sunshine on our faces.
Within our flower beds we have a pond and clumps of wildflowers, a much nicer term than ‘weeds’! Ragwort, red campion, teasels and coltsfoot all open up their flowers to insects and attract more beasties to our garden than the fancy horticulturally-created blooms. Of course we have those too, but there really is room for all! The giant mullein tower over the herbaceous beds and we watch the bright caterpillars fatten and one day disappear into the ground to emerge as moths.
Growing food for the family – bumblebees love tomato and courgette flowers
Our hedges are abuzz with ivy, clematis and forsythia. Kind on the eye and even kinder to our resident insects. We love having a colony of Tree bumblebees nest in our roof every year – they head straight for the hedges as they emerge from our fascia board on humming helicopter wings. Invertebrate gardening makes for an easy life too…don’t worry about clearing beds for the winter or removing the dead heads, the hibernators love those welcoming retreats.
I’m a great advocate of budget gardening; make cuttings, collect seeds, buy from fêtes, roadside stalls and garden gate sellers, especially if they’re in your neighbourhood, you know the plants will thrive in your soil type and climate as someone else did the trial for you!
Grow from seed – nothing can beat the privilege of watching a set of leaves emerge from a tiny seed, knowing you nurtured it and are now a proud plant parent! You’ll be amazed how easy it is and I can confirm before you’ve even started that you’ll be hooked when you get your first flowers or veg.
Fill your beds with self-seeding flowers and you’ll have guaranteed colour, insects and happiness all summer long. What could be more glorious than a display of glowing sunflower faces covered in furry bottomed bees? Happy invertebrate gardening! May your blooms be full of wildlife and your heart full of pleasure.
