How sowing a bee bar can be fun and help nature

Children are often our most ardent eco-warriors, helped in part by having an affinity with nature. They love nothing more than helping the wildlife that visit our gardens.

We can join in with them by building bee homes, putting out food for the birds and by growing plants and flowers we know bees and bugs will love. Bees are particularly attracted to plants that move, rather than static ones and wild rather than cultivated flowers.

Helping bees by growing a bee bar is not just about making your garden look pretty with wildflowers. This is a project that your child can do that will really make a difference.

Honey, solitary and bumble bees are slowly dying out and several species have already become extinct thanks to a mystery illness among honey bees, pests and loss of habitiat. However, they play a vital part in the fruit and vegetable production of this country.

You and your child can help by sowing and growing the following plants, either in a specially designated border (why not get them to make a Bee Bar sign) or, as many people consider bee friendly plants to be weeds, why not grow them in a pot:

• Borage: I buy this in pots from the garden centre. Not only is a useful herb (the leaves taste like cucumber and the flowers look good frozen in ice cubes) but the bees love the bright blue flowers, which bloom all summer

• English lavender: this is one for all the senses. It positively hums with bees in the summer and gives off a strong scent in hot weather

• Poppies: these are easy to grow from seed and can be sprinkled onto prepared soil that has been finely raked. Sow these in a pot in early summer and they'll be flowering in the autumn. Remember to dehead them to encourage more flowers

• Poached egg plants: these yellow and white flowers are very easy to grow from seed and wonderful planted around the edge of a vegetable border

• Red clover: best grown in a pot as it's considered a weed, the seeds can be bought from garden centres and is usually listed as a "green manure"

• Chives: bees love the purple blooms on these so try to leave some of the plant to flower

• Teasel: this would look striking in a pot with some poppies and low growing clover in the front. Not only do bees like them but goldfinches are partial too and can be planted at any time of the year

• Ox-eye daisy: with its simple yellow and white flowers this is an attractive one to have in the garden, blooming from early summer into autumn

• Thyme: flowers throughout the summer with tiny pink flowers that the bees love

• Wildflower seed or plant mixes: if time is not on your side, you can buy wildflower plug plants or seed mixes which contain all you need for attracting bees.

For more ideas on attracting bees to your garden, check out this article on five ways children can help save bees
and once you have, there's some fun children's activities to do. Of course, attracting more bees into your garden might increase the chance of more bee stings, but this video shows what to do if your child gets stung.

Photo credit: Debbie Webber