How to encourage bumblebees in the garden
So
what do you do if you want bumblebees in your garden? You need to
provide three types of habitat --- foraging, nesting, and hibernating.
Like honeybees,
bumblebees can be encouraged by having some steady
nectar-producing plants around. Clover is a top choice since it
blooms all summer long, and I can report that our bumblebees
are definitely thrilled by our clover-filled lawn. It helps to
mow the lawn in sections, too, so that there are always bits in bloom.
As for nesting and
hibernating --- some folks buy special bumblebee
boxes like the one shown here, but that seems like a waste of cash to
me. Instead, you can turn a flower pot upside down in an out of
the way spot and cover it with a lid. The bees use the pot as a
protected entrance to the underground burrow where they live. It
goes without saying that you shouldn't rototill near the bumblebee nest
site so that you won't disturb their home. Of course, the easiest
solution is just to leave some areas of your yard completely alone to
grow into native plants and provide a natural nesting and hibernating
ground.
| This post is part of our Bumblebee lunchtime series.
Read all of the entries: |
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.