Gardeners and growers are encouraged to get behind the Bee Friendly Lyme Regis project and help our under-threat pollinators.
The project, run by Turn Lyme Green (TLG), focuses on transforming the town into a welcoming environment for pollinators.
If every household, allotment holder and business in Lyme Regis planted just a few bee-friendly plants, together it would create a connected habitat across the town.
Think of the three elements which will encourage bees – food, water and a place to nest.
Some top tips for feeding bees:
- Plant pollinator-friendly flowers, shrubs and trees to provide bees with nectar and pollen.
- Use peat free compost and avoid insecticides.
- If growing plants from seed, use ‘open-pollinated’ organic seed which is from plants pollinated naturally by insects, wind or water.
- Choose varieties that bloom from early spring through late autumn - single (open) flowers are best.
- Choose plants that ensure a continuous food supply.
- Adopt ‘No Mow May’.
- Ensure bees have something to drink by leaving a saucer in the garden with stones or pebbles to land on and some moss, if available.
Gardeners can also build homes for solitary bees, as not all bees live in hives.
About 70% of bees nest in the ground, so let a corner of the garden grow wild and avoid cutting everything back at once.
Bee hotels are also a good addition to a garden, ideally on a south facing wall, away from damp.
For more information about what you can do to help pollinators, visit www.turnlymegreen.co.uk/bee-friendly-lyme-regis or email questions to enquiries@turnlymegreen.co.uk.
The Royal Horticultural Society’s website www.rhs.org.uk also contains helpful information and joining the Uplyme and Lyme Regis Horticultural Society is a great way to learn more about plants.