The Natural Gardener
While out watering the plants the other day I heard a little buzz by my feet. A small bee – I think it was a white-tailed bumblebee – was crawling along the patio, slightly dazed and with no apparent wish to fly anywhere. It was tricky to avoid treading on it if I carried on going about my business, so I put my hose down and watched it.
Bees are prone to bumbling into my windows, so I thought perhaps it had thumped into the conservatory panes a bit too hard and needed a moment to gather itself. But it stayed put, drowsily ambling along the slabs. It was clearly tired from a long day of flower foraging.
At this time of year this sleepiness is common; late summer can be a time of flagging gardens and fewer flowers, and bees have to expend lots of extra energy finding nectar-rich ones to feed from. If they’re few and far between it can spell disaster. It’s said that even a bee full of nectar could be just 40 minutes from starvation!
After waiting 20 minutes or so to see if it was just resting, my little bee was still struggling and in the way of my feet and my cats’ paws, so I had to help. I tried to move it out of the way on a piece of card and find a suitable flower to put it on, but sadly he was having none of my toadflax and borage and plopped weakly back to the ground. So I had to offer up a teaspoon of sugar water, which my bee readily drank. This solution of half white sugar and half water should only be a last resort – it’s like giving someone a can of Coke to give them energy – it’s a good temporary fix if you’ve eliminated all other options! Happily, after a few minutes my bee flew away – I hope he found some tasty flowers.
The key, then, to really helping out our bees isn’t opting for manmade solutions, but to ensure your garden – and the neighbours’ if
possible – are always filled to the brim with a bounty of bee blooms. Sow comfrey, phacelia and borage seed now to help them out with quick-grow, late-season food.