excited I can help bees but need your help

[Madasafish]

Bees get vast quantities nectar and pollen from trees: yellow pollen from wiilow in spring, nectar from lime trees in summer, and ceanothus etc etc..

If you stand under the beech trees 100 meters up the road from our house, you can hear the hum of bees.

[4390evans]

If only it was like that here. I got some flowers ready for the garden today from homebase and i think i seen more bees there than round here.Igot quite a few that the bees were on in the shop hopefully.it will.just attract them over my.way.x

[Urban]

Make a nice log pile with all those logs. Will attract lots of wildlife. Possibly bees aswell

[rustylady]

If only it was like that here. I got some flowers ready for the garden today from homebase and i think i seen more bees there than round here.Igot quite a few that the bees were on in the shop hopefully.it will.just attract them over my.way.x

What sort of flowers did you get Evans?

[4390evans]

I got some scabious, holly hock, sunflowers,poppys, aster and some arabis seeds for next year. Ive some other stuff started in my garden and ill divide them and put into next doors x

[Two_Sheds]

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...oms_63361.html

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ees_37935.html

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ers_43948.html

possibly a few more ideas in there

What you can't do (with any wildlife garden) is just leave it to nature. It does need to be cultivated to some extent, otherwise the most invasive species will just take over (couch grass, dock, nettle, horsetail).

plants for bees - a set on Flickr

I'm getting to the point of not sowing anything much now, just taking out the unwanteds and then cutting back plants that gets too big or numerous. This week I've cut down all the red campion that's gone to seed because it's swamping the other stuff (roses, dahlias etc).

how our Bee Bar looks today

[4390evans]

ah yeah I read that in a fe places, With this land there seems to be some type of rockery in there like where you can walk into the middle of it even have a table and chairs (not that im going to just trying to explain the space) Ill only be going in once a month to take out rubbish, Ill keep on top of it and remove weeds etc but im gonna try and have it as natural as possible.

I was telling the girl in the shop about whats happening there as with the land not being touched for so long and many people complaining to the council, mp etc to get it cleaned up they wanna know whats going on anywhoo she went on to tell me she has honey bees nesting (is that the right term?) in her fence, she says you see them taking in bits of stuff and the honey is seeping out if the fence. I was wondering, if I was to nick a couple of these bees next year and bring them to the garden do you think they would settle here? Or should I leave it to nature?

[4390evans]

Also I think Ill be leaving alot of stuff in very large pots for a while so I can get the ground shaped in someway so its safe to walk on x

[veggiechicken]

Sorry evans but nicking a couple of honey bees and putting them in your garden won't work. They'll just fly back to their home
You may be surprised at how many bees are actually living on that piece of land already. If there are brambles, the bees will be have been there collecting pollen.
The thing is, there are lots of different species of bee. The well known ones are the honey bees and bumblebees - but I'll bet that not many people can recognise a honey bee in a lineup with other small bees. There are many different bumble bees too- and solitary bees. The thing to do is create a habitat that bees and other wildlife will be attracted too - then they will make their homes there Identification | Bumblebee Conservation Trust

[Seahorse]

You've got some very good advice and links above, so I won't bother repeating it but as no-one has mentioned it, put some bird boxes up. We have a lovely colony of bumble bees in one of ours. I wouldn't even think about having a honey bee hive unless you have the time, money and expertise though (there are courses run through the bee keeping association). Not wishing to be down on you but we have several hives and there's a lot more to it than you might think!

[4390evans]

can a hive not just be left alone? would I have to scrape the honey away? If this is so why would bees make so much?

[veggiechicken]

You have to manage a honey bee hive. They don't make lots of honey every year - sometimes you have to feed them to keep them alive. They can also carry disease and you have a responsibility to care for them as a beekeeper. There could be 40-80,000 bees in one hive and caring for them is no different to caring for any livestock . You need to know what you are doing and do it properly.
A bee doesn't have to be a Honey bee to be a useful pollinator

[veggiechicken]

Jen, Have a look at this post http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1149794
I thought I'd see how many bees visit this rose bush in 5 minutes - I lost count There were honey bees, several sizes of bumblebees, hoverflies and some others that I didn't recognise. The thing is, I don't "keep" bees of any sort, they come to the garden because I have plants that provide them with food and nectar. I have no idea whether they live in the garden or elsewhere, they choose, not me
The reason why they like this rose bush is that it has few petals, the stamens are easy to see and land on so they can gather pollen without difficulty. Simple, old-fashioned flowers suit bees far more than the multipetalled, fancy ones that tend to be sold these days.

[4390evans]

Aw they are lovely, I think Ive only seen about 2 honey bees and 4 bumble bees this year. Im not really looking to keep them like as a pet I just thought Id try and create somewhere they could come and be fed pollinate etc. Ill look further into the keeping of bees prob next year in the mean time I think Ill just stick to supplying them an abundance of food x