{"id":12376,"date":"2015-03-18T15:25:30","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T15:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greensideup.ie\/?p=12376"},"modified":"2015-06-10T22:09:41","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T21:09:41","slug":"what-can-i-plant-in-my-garden-to-attract-honey-bees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/what-can-i-plant-in-my-garden-to-attract-honey-bees\/","title":{"rendered":"What can I plant in my garden to help honey bees?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I wrote a post last year that looked at five ways we can help bees<\/a> but since then I’ve taken beginners lessons in beekeeping. One of the lectures was about foraging and as a gardener I was curious what I could plant in my garden that bees would like to feast upon.<\/p>\n As it transpires, we don’t need to plant that much as long as we have hedgerows nearby, we don’t spray the “weeds” with herbicides and we leave the bugs that naturally share the earth with us to do their own thing. Whilst we can certainly make life easier for honey bees by planting some tasty delights, it seems that bees enjoy foraging among the prolific blooms in the hedgerows as much as they do the more formal, floral arrangements in our gardens.<\/p>\n Ever since a colony of honey bees set up home in a hive in our garden (you can read about it here)<\/a>\u00a0I’ve been intrigued by what the bees were doing in there, have noticed how much brighter and more prolific the fruit and flowers in the garden have been and how the garden somehow feels more alive and vibrant with them buzzing around.<\/p>\n We left the bees to do their own thing last year, allowing them to settle into their new home, with occasional visits from our neighbour to check on them. It wasn’t until I joined the South Kildare Beekeepers<\/a>\u00a0for their excellent Beginners Beekeeping course, that my obsession really began to kick in.<\/p>\n Honey bees are simply fascinating.<\/p>\n I’m learning the more traditional form of beekeeping in the beginners course, where bees are checked, manipulated and their honey harvested. However, I’m very attracted to the idea a more natural approach and have been advised to read the Barefoot Beekeeper as well as this PDF from Abb\u00e9 Warr\u00e9<\/a>. For now I’m learning all I can from the experienced beekeepers in Athy, with the intention of switching over once I understand more about bees.<\/p>\nNatural Beekeeping<\/h2>\n