Create a buzz in your garden with a bumblebee hive
Friday, 25 March 2011 11:55 AM
Bees are essential for a well-pollinated garden – and now you can guarantee their presence with your very own, working bumblebee colony.
The Beepol Garden Hive comes complete with a live colony of native UK bumblebees housed in a maintenance-free hive. Inside, there's a queen bumblebee, 40-50 workers and bee food – all you need to get your garden buzzing again.
The hive utilises a simple but effective one-way system, with one door through which the bees can leave the hive and another for them to enter through.
How does it work? Well bumblebees don’t like having to fly out of a hive – the refined creatures prefer to use steps – but they don’t mind flying back in. So when you want to move the hive in order to pollinate another area of your garden, simply shut the 'out' door, wait until night time when they've all returned to the hive, shut the 'in' door and shift the hive to another spot.
Beepol Bumblebee Lodge
Why is pollination important in a garden, and how do bees help?
Without pollination, fruit and vegetables don't set and yields are reduced. Bees are nature's answer to the problem, because when they land on a flower, their feet pick up pollen which travels with them to the next plant they visit, at which point it transfers onto the leaf or petal they're on.
It has been widely reported that the bumblebee population is dwindling and thus it's becoming increasingly difficult for gardeners to entice them in. Historically, the only solution would be to plant bee-friendly flowers, but now that you can buy a working bumblebee colony, the work is done for you.
Why are bumblebees better for pollination than honeybees?
Bumblebees visit more flowers than honeybees and are also capable of carrying heavier loads. What's more, they are happy to fly around at slightly lower temperatures than your average honeybee, and use 'buzz pollination' which helps pollinate a wider variety of plants.
Bumblebees will pollinate beans, runner beans, strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, apple, plum, tomato and pepper plants, and many more besides.
Although bumblebees don't live through the winter like honeybees do, the queen will produce new queens (which will hibernate) before she dies.
The Beepol Garden Hive costs £64.95 + £4.95 P&P from HarrodHorticultural.com. You can also buy a wooden lodge (which includes a hive in the set) for £124.95 + £4.95 P&P.
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