Save the Bees: Creating an Eco Friendly Garden with The Grass People

What has an eco friendly garden got to do with saving the bees?

Just over 18 months ago I bought my first home, and my first priority was renovating my garden. I wanted lush green grass, vibrant borders and a vegetable patch. Little did I realise my priority would shift towards finding ways to create an eco friendly garden as I discovered just how important bees are to helping your garden thrive.

I soon learnt that I needed to plan my garden to attract pollinators, otherwise flowers wouldn’t bloom and vegetables wouldn’t be germinated! I saw this first-hand earlier this year when growing courgettes. Some of the fruits turned brown at the end due to not having been germinated. Fellow gardeners said that they germinated their courgettes by hand, as bees and other pollinators were hard to come by in their gardens. This is when I realised I needed to plan my garden wisely to attract bees.

When The Grass People asked me to work with them as part of their Save the Bees campaign, I was thrilled at the chance to share my thoughts on why pollinators are essential to our gardens.

Planting wildflowers is the best way to attract pollinators to your garden

Save the Bees by creating an eco friendly garden through your choice of flowers

So why should we save the bees?

Bees provide much more than just honey. Honeybees are just one species of bee, which they are kept by beekeepers in managed hives. The other 19,999 species are all wild species of bees – 270 of these species have been recorded in the UK.

Bees are an essential part of the ecosystem.

Bees are what’s known as a “keystone species”. This means that the world might very well fall apart without them; if all the bees died out, so would most other living things.

Thanks to bees, we can eat fruit and vegetables. We can drink coffee and snack on nuts and seeds. We can wear cotton. Many animals depend on them for their own sources of food (fruits, nuts, berries and other vegetation), as well as their habitats. These humbles little bugs really don’t get the credit they deserve!

Bees are declining in numbers.

Last year the BBC reported that a third of British wild bees and hover-flies are in decline. Friends of the Earth reports that 35 UK bees species are under threat of extinction, and all species face serious threats. 

This is due to a variety of factors. A decline in natural habitats means bees are without a home; since the end of the second world war, the UK has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows. The increased use of pesticides in farming has a devastating effect on bees, affecting their ability to navigate and reproduce. The effects of climate change mean that seasons are shifting and flowers and fruits are blooming at different times – so bees are in the wrong place at the wrong time. [Source]

It’s essential now more than ever that we take action to save the bees, and we can do so by creating an eco friendly garden full of wildflowers.

Wildflowers are much more than just a pop of colour: they help the ecosystem thrive!

The Green People’s Bees and Pollinators Wildflower Mix will help you have an eco friendly garden

How The Grass People are helping Save the Bees

The good news is, we’ve all got the power to create change. The total coverage of gardens in the UK is 432,964 ha which is one fifth the size of Wales! 87% of UK households has a garden – so the majority of us have space just outside our door to create a space that will save the bees! [Source]

The Grass People have launched an exclusive Bees and Pollinators Wildflower Mix in their range of seed mixes. This pack has been picked with care to ensure that the selection of wildflowers will attract bees and other pollinators, whilst providing colour to your garden. This pack is ideal for most soil types so chances are your garden will love them!

If you don’t have a full garden, you can plant The Grass People’s Bees and Pollinators Wildflower Mix in pots and place them on your balcony or terrace, or plant them in a window-box. If growing vegetables in a small garden is possible, then growing some wildflowers to save the bees most definitely is. Planting wildflowers is one of the best ways to have a more eco friendly garden as you’ll be directly helping the eco-system thrive.

Buy Bees and Pollinators Wildflower Mix

The Grass People’s Wildflower Mix is a must if you want to attract pollinators to your garden

Have you planted wildflowers to save the bees? Do you have an eco friendly garden?

Thanks for reading!

Abbi X

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post and I was compensated to provide coverage about the Green People’s Save the Bees campaign. All opinions are, as always, my own.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on them and purchase something from the linked site, I’ll earn a tiny (and I mean tiny!) commission at no extra cost to you, which contributes to running this blog.

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