This year, we’re creating houses for the bees and bumblebees for the garden and today we cut the wooden parts for them.
These are the 3 simple houses for wild bees. We cut them from an old piece of wood that hadn’t been treated with anything. The holes are 7mm in diameter and about 100 mm deep.
This bumblebee house will be lined with dry grass, pet hair at the centre and have a passage to the hole in the front. Much like the mouse holes they love to make their own. The holes on the back wall are for ventilation.
The bee houses are ready to hang on the back of the garage since all they needed were holes. It was too wet outside to gather nesting materials for the bumblebee house, so I hope to finish the construction of that tomorrow.
I’ve also sown seeds for lots of yummy plants for the bees. Planting native species from your area provides them with great food sources. More wild pollinators will come if you have a greater diversity of plants in your garden.
I don’t use any pesticides or chemical fertilisers and I hope you don’t either.
All of these things help the bees, and in the end, also help us.
These insects need our help. Here in Norway, we have 173 species of bees and 35 species of bumblebees. A third of Norwegian bees are on the Red List (endangered) and 12 of them have not been seen in Norway for the last 50 years and have probably disappeared. In other countries, the situation may even be worse.
Have you done something similar to help insects or animals?
Maybe you have some great ideas for things you (or other people) can do to help. Leave a comment below
