I need tips on things a mediocre gardener can do to help bees and insects

[Uptheapplesandpears]

I've been reading about what we're doing to the bees and all the insects, with alarm. I also saw this thread on twitter which has inspired me to make my garden more insect friendly:

twitter.com/paraicodonnell/status/1096764841300316160

We were already doing lazy stuff like not mowing the lawn that often and letting piles of leaves and mown grass hang around for ages before getting rid. I shall be starting a permanent prunings and grass corner from now on, and spending even less time removing weeds than previously.

However, I'd like to do something other than merely be idle. We have a couple of daffodils and bluebells and some wild berries already, all of which grow without me doing anything. I've been seeing these bee bomb things. They look pretty and idiot proof.

kabloom.co.uk/product/pollinator-beebom/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6pnb0eDF4AIVSbftCh2Dfgr1EAYYAiABEgLtovD_BwE

www.beebombs.com/

Can anyone recommend a good one? Live in the north, have both north facing and south facing reasonable sized gardens, not at all green fingered and have murdered every house plant I have ever had. But have been able to keep stuff alive outside somewhat, if someone else plants it and I just have to water. Or any other tips? This bloke talks about rosa canina roses. I like roses. If I got some and put them in the privet hedge would they grow?

We're pretty rubbish at proper gardening, but have a relatively neat low-maintenance garden! We've got lots of lavender in our garden, which the bees love - and we love watching them too! Having said that, we're in inner London, so the lavender does well here in our west-facing garden.

Not so great with thinking of ideas to attract insects though.

Another vote for lavender. You can just buy pots of it if you don’t fancy planting it in.

Bees don’t like red flowers I’ve heard so avoid those.

I love that I can now claim to be helping bees next time my mil makes this face at my leaf pile/ uncut grass.

Well, the thread pretty much covers it. I'd say the main easy things you can do are to make a compost heap, pile up some wood in a corner and chuck around the bee bombs. And don't use any weed killer, ever.

Yeah we don't use weedkiller and won't be starting. We do have wood too, good to know that's helping.

In terms of the lavender, would this be doable for an incompetent and do people recommend a pot or in the ground? For the bee bombs can I literally just put them on the ground, does it need soil?

Lavender is pretty indestructible (although I managed to kill a few over the years - but in window boxes at the front which is east facing). I don't think they like pots/window boxes that much - but I'm aware that other people do manage that OK. Ours in the west-facing back garden are all planted in flower beds so they, and their roots, can grow well.

(I'll try to find some pics on my iPad a bit later.)

Hmm. I could have a south facing pot.

Give it a big pot so it's got plenty of room to grow beneath the soil.

Lavender is pretty difficult to kill off. What about nasturtiums? they are pretty bomb proof too and bees seem to like them. To grow wildflowers you will need to clear space - they can't compete with lawn grass. I've not heard of bee bombs but you can get good mixes.

Sedum is also good.
Definitely get lavender

www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/p10115-sedum-herbstfreude-autumn-joy?gclid=Cj0KCQiAzKnjBRDPARIsAKxfTRAwE_6M8T8e-gblOEgG0lH3POllfedQkx3K1QLchPX-JU4nXhkEkTkaArvFEALw_wcB

Your best bet is plants that have simple flowers that are easy to access. A lot of plants grown in gardens have very flouncy flowers that bees, butterflies and other pollinators cannot get into, so if there is nectar in the flower, they can't get at it. So simple, daisy-style flowers are best. Aiming for a long flowering season is also helpful, so it's worth searching out plants that flower in winter and autumn as well as spring and summer, as pollinators are out foraging every day that is mild, sunny and not very rainy or snowy. As an example, Lonicera (which is the honeysuckle family) fragrantissima is a shrub like bush which flowers from late Nov/early Dec to late March (and smells nice too, which is a bonus), I have one of these and have seen bees visiting it most days.

Weedkillers are less of an issue than insecticides, but I don't suppose you would intend to use these either. Compost heaps and leaf mould heaps are also a good idea, as these are habitats as well as soil producers.

Rowan trees are excellent trees for smaller gardens - they don't grow too big, have flowers attractive to pollinators and berries later in the year that birds like.

Grow plants with daisy type flowers, honeysuckle, buddleia, but nothing with double flowers.

Right. I don't think we could fit a tree, we also have a small fruit one already that I forgot to mention. But there is a space that's stones now in the south facing garden that could be a flower bed. I assume we would just put soil over it, and then the bee bomb seeds and the other things people mention. And that should help the insects?

I found a couple of other offcuts of wood in the shed. They're outside now too!

Also we feed the birds most days, nothing much just throw out unused crusts of bread. But they seem to like it. Is this a positive thing for insects, negative or irrelevant? I like doing it but as far as I'm aware pigeons, crows and sparrows aren't as threatened as insects, so would stop if necessary.

Bread crusts aren't actually good for birds, and you will only attract big thuggish birds with that anyway. A bird feeder with bird seed in hung from your fruit tree would be more beneficial for them. It won't have any effect on insects (as you suspected) but all living things have an impact on each other in an entwined sort of way.

I'm not sure what you mean by a "space that's stones". What size of stones do you mean, like gravel, or bigger, like cobbles? If it was gravel it would be fine to pile topsoil on top of it, but cobbles and big stones should be moved so there are plenty of gaps around them. Annual plants don't have deep root systems as they are intended to grow, flower and die within the same year, but perennial plants need deeper soil as they will live a lot longer. A south facing border will get lots of sun and plants like sunflowers, rudbeckia, gazanias should do well there. A lot of herbs from the Mediterranean region like marjoram, oregano, thyme etc are sun worshippers and the flowers are beloved by pollinators.

There are quite a few websites selling plants which will indicate which plants are popular with bees, butterflies, etc. You don't have to buy anything but they are great for getting ideas and will have tips for successful growing.

Sort of big gravel.

Similar thread from the other day OP:

link

Lots of plant suggestions including easy ones. Do you have a sunny border? Shade planting is a bit more complex but still entirely doable

I took this photo in the garden centre last Sunday.

There were dozens of enormous bees on these hyacinths and on the hellebores, both of which I’ll be putting in the garden shortly.