World Bee Day is on 20th May so it’s a good time to invite you to take a look at some simple tips from The Bumblebee Conservation Trust to help make a real difference and create a bumblebee friendly garden.

Why is this important? Bumblebees are hard-working insects that provide a vital pollinating role, but their numbers and those of other insects, are in decline.

With 24 species of bumblebee in the UK, your gardening space, however small, can attract a surprising range of bumblebees.

Here are three top tips to attract many different bumblebees:

• Provide flowering plants from early spring to late autumn and winter. Bumblebees forage for nectar and pollen for much of their annual lifecycle. Choose plants with long flowering times, and keep them flowering by ‘deadheading’ as flowers die.

• Grow flowers with different shaped flowers – some bumblebees with short tongues forage on open, simple flowers such as apple blossom while bumblebees with long tongues can forage on deeper tube-shaped flowers such as foxgloves.

• Plant flowers in clumps or clusters of the same type if you have space, to help bumblebees save energy and get from flower to flower more quickly

The Bumblebee Trust provides a range of resources to help increase awareness a new, easy to use ‘Gardening for bumblebees Getting started’ guide is now available, with ideas for all kinds of spaces regardless of the size, from gardens, through to patios balconies and even windowsils please download it here Gardening for bumblebees getting started Guide

Nature and the environment is important to us and Greenacres Direct are proud to be Bumblebee Trust Corporate Members and we ensure all our products are; wildlife, bee and pet friendly, and we also offer a range of organic garden fertilisers.