About

Our aims and why supporting bees is important for your garden and the planet.

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Introduction to Bee-Friendly Gardening

Welcome! Here at Bee Friendly Gardens, you can find all you need to know about supporting bee populations and wildlife in your own garden. We have a host of gardening tips and crafts to try that you and the kids will enjoy getting stuck into. It doesn’t matter if your garden is big or small, we have guides for how to transform your space into something beautiful! Bees and other pollinators are extremely important for our gardens, as well as for growing food, and supporting the environment, which is why all our tips are focused on creating wildlife friendly spaces and giving bees a boost!

Our goal is to help people create beautiful natural spaces that they and their family will enjoy, and to help their garden grow into a haven for local wildlife.

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Why it matters

Bees play an important role in the ecosystem by increasing biodiversity. They do this by pollinating wildflowers, plants and trees, which helps them to grow and spread. These plants then go on to support countless other insects and animals. Around 90% of all plants rely on bees to pollinate them, so without bees these plants wouldn’t be able to grow or spread, and the species they support would begin to decline rapidly.

Bees & Farming

Bees are also vital for farms and food production, as bees are responsible for pollinating around 75% of all food crops. Bees are highly efficient pollinators, and they can cover a large area very quickly. Without bees to pollinate crops, the Woodland Trust estimates that farmers would have to spend a huge £1.8 billion every year to manually pollinate their crops instead.

So whether your focus is on food production, helping the environment, or making your garden bloom – it simply can’t be done without bees!

The Bee Decline Crisis

Unfortunately bee populations have been in decline for some time. Globally, bee populations have decreased over 40% in the US, and around 35% across Europe since the 1980’s.

The WWF reports that 17 different species have gone regionally extinct in the UK already, with many more under threat of extinction. The decline in bee populations has been driven by the increased use of pesticides in farming, as well as habitat loss and habitat fragmentation caused by human activity.

Helping out at home

There has been a decline in the number of households that have a garden in the UK, with many front gardens now used for parking, and the trend of replacing green back gardens with Astroturf or patio for low maintenance. We’ve all had to make concessions for the modern world, but it’s possible to support bees and wildlife even in the smallest of spaces, and making just a few small low-maintenance changes can make your garden more nature friendly, as well as looking more beautiful too.

Check out our articles to find out more about which plants and flowers and best for bees, as well as plant care guides, garden crafts and more!