About Your Free Bee Bombs
If you would like to skip to information on how to plant your bee bombs please click HERE. For more information about what these little bee bombs are and why I include them with every UK based order, please read on.
WHY ARE BEES SO IMPORTANT?
Bees are truly amazing little things that play a very important role in maintaining ecological balance and biodiversity within our natural world. They are vital to the pollination of both the food we eat and the trees that filter our air. They are also essential in the pollination of shrubs, bushes and flowers that provide habitats to so many of our bird and insect populations.
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The reason the health of our ecosystem is so fundamentally linked to the health of our bees is because these fuzzy little chaps are perfectly adapted to carry pollen from plant to plant on a much larger scale than any other pollinator.
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Apples, pears, strawberries, apricots, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, broccoli, asparagus, almonds, vanilla and coffee are just a few examples of foods that come from plants that are predominantly pollinated by these hard-working little invertebrates.
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Bees are also responsible for pollinating over 80% of all global wildflower populations, meaning not only are they vital to the food we eat, they also play a huge part in keeping our countryside beautiful and vibrant.
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Globally there are over 20,000 known species of bees, with more than 270 of those found within the British Isles.
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​Our Farmers here in the UK are heavily reliant on this large variety of bee species to help them pollinate the many different food types that they produce.
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This is because each different species of bee has a unique set of physical characteristics that make them far more suited to pollinating certain plants types over others. For instance, garden bumblebees have longer tongues than other bees, which makes them more suited to pollinating deep flowers such as honey suckles and foxgloves. While the red mason bees feeding habits mean that they are 120x more effective at pollinating apple blossoms than honeybees.
It is estimated that it would cost the UK at least 1.8bn a year to employ people to do the work of pollinators, yet bees do it for free.
OUR BEE POPULATIONS DESPERATELY NEED OUR HELP!!
Despite the vital role they play in our ecosystem, bee populations are in rapid decline.
In the UK alone we have lost almost one-third of our bees within the last decade, 13 native species have been lost entirely and a further 35 more are under increasing threat of extinction.
These heavy losses have been linked to a combination of different stressors, including loss of habitat and food sources, climate change, exposure to toxic pesticides, and disease.
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Since WWII we have lost 97% of all our wildflower meadows and open grasslands, leaving bees with very little natural habitat. It is further estimated that only 6% of the habitat within the UK that is marked as a protected wildlife site have favourable conditions for pollinators such as bees.
This loss of habitat is believed to be one of the main drivers in the decline of bee populations.
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Planting wildflowers is one of the best things that you can do to help make your garden a more bee friendly place and in return bees will help to ensure your other plants such as strawberries, tomatoes and apples will produce fruit for you to enjoy.
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This is why I have chosen to include 4 Bee Bomb with every UK based order placed on my website.
WHAT ARE BEE BOMBS ??
Bee bombs are small clay balls containing 26 different species of bee friendly wildflowers.
Each bomb is made from a combination of clay, compost and approximately 30-40 UK native wildflower seeds.
The clay is there to help protect the seeds from predators and the compost is included to give each seed the nutrition it needs to grow.
The bombs contain a mixture of seeds from the following bee friendly flowers: Common Poppy, Yellow Rattle, Red Clover, White Clover, Sainfoin, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Common Knapweed, Greater Knapweed, Marjoram, Loosestrife, Agrimony, Oxeye Daisy, Foxglove*, Vipers Bugloss, Yarrow, Borage, Corn Cockle, Corn Flower, Clary, Meadow Cranesbill, Musk Mallow, Field Scabious, Ragged Robin, Small Scabious, Teasel, Kidney Vetch
*Please be aware that foxglove is poisonous if ingested
HOW TO PLANT YOUR BEE BOMBS
Bee Bombs are really easy to grow and require absolutely no gardening skills.
All you need to do is find a clear area of soil somewhere in your garden and throw the seed balls down, making sure they are around 15cm apart.
Leave them alone to soak up rain and sunshine and eventually each little seed will blossom into a beautiful, bee friendly wildflower.
Please be aware that wildflowers can take a little longer to grow than other flower types. Depending on conditions these little balls could take up to a year to establish, so please be patient and let nature take its course. If you’d like to help your seeds along you can water them through any dry spells we might experience, but it is not an absolute necessity, the flowers should eventually bloom all by themselves.
The best time to scatter your balls is spring or early autumn, but they should eventually bloom no matter when you choose to plant them.