How to attract bees to my garden?

[Lyndave]

I noticed very few bees around my garden. What do l do to attract more bees to my garden. I have had to manually pollinate my pumpkin , but l need bees to come around to my garden. Thankyou in advanced for your help

[EricL]

Hi @Lyndave

I suggest having a look at these discussions - Native bee and pollinator house by @mich1972 and Tips for starting a small garden to attract butterflies by @spar. Some of the other things you'll need to consider are stopping the use of insecticides and to start planting native flowers. At one point part of my lawn was overrun with Dandelions and when they started to grow flowers the bees came in from everywhere. I was very conflicted about pulling them out, but if I did not stop them they would take over my entire lawn.

Here is a link to our best advice: What can you plant to attract butterflies? ( we need all the pollinators we can attract )

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[mich1972]

Hi @Lyndave When we grow Edibles in our garden it’s really important to have flowering plants to attract Beneficial Insects, Honey Bees and Native Bees to help and also increase Pollination. I share a lot of this on my Instagram page Organicbees,  if you are interested 😄 

[Remarka6le]

Hey @Lyndave , 

We saw a drastic increase in our bee population once we introduced water sources to our backyard. We have a number of fountains and bird baths, but we placed a couple of these bee water feeders near our plants that need bees most and the population boomed. We also have around 6 bee hotels around our home so they have a place to stay. 

Hope this helps, would love to see an increase of bees at your home as well 😊

[mich1972]

@Lyndave Borage and Perennial Basil are brilliant attractors for Honey Bees, Native Bees and Beneficial Insects. The flowers are high in Nectar which provides food for the foraging hard workers ! Always have them growing near your edibles to help encourage and increase pollination. 🐝🐝🦋🦋🐞🐞