We always try our hand at growing herbs that we use and dry. This year we also have a bee garden of sorts. We are planting flowers around our yard for bees, and bonus for us, they look pretty and it turns out I don’t kill them as fast as I expected to.
Growing a Bee Garden
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There are so many great reasons to have a bee garden. One is that the population of bees is low, everywhere. We want to keep them around. One reason we want them in our yard, in particular, would be that we have a vegetable garden as well this year.
What do bees do? Pollinate. Without pollination, we wouldn’t have fresh fruits and vegetables.
Location
Make sure you have a lot of sun in the area in which you plant your garden. Generally, about 8 hours of sun is recommended.
Plants
Floral plants are grouped together to attract attention. Make sure that you have a lot of sun, at least six hours worth.
The different blooming time of flowers is important to take into consideration too. You want flowers blooming all summer long. Do you know what the first flower is in the spring (at least around here) is? Dandelions. Yup, those weeds are a bee’s delight.
Teaching Children
Teach your children about the importance of having bees around.
If your child enjoys honey, make sure to mention how we get honey: honeybees! bees make honey, but they get their supplies from flowers, in the form of nectar. Nectar is like a sweet juice contained inside the flower, and it is made up of water and sugars. That must be a tasty drink for the bees!
Bees are essential to the survival of many ecosystems, as without them many plants could not reproduce. Bees pollinate more plants than any other insect.
How do your kids feel about bees? Are they scared of them?
I know mine were until they learned to just leave them alone because the bees don’t want to hurt us. Now that they know more about them, they aren’t scared anymore, but are interested and want them around.
Books to Check Out:
