Devonshire June July 16

GARDENING
Our Humble Garden Worker
Without doubt, bees are one of our
most important insects, doing the
valuable work of pollinating flowers,
helping to ensure our fruits and
vegetables crop successfully.
There are many ways you can help our humble
bee, which has seen massive declines in their
population recently. Firstly, it's worth saying
that use of pesticides in the garden should
be outlawed, even if you're not concerned
about the wildlife in your garden, you should
be aware that pesticides are basically poisons,
humans are no more immune to poisons that
insects, plants and animals - so it's wise to
garden without the use of pesticides for the
benefit of all.
To encourage bees and to ensure they've
sufficient food, it's great if you can plant beefriendly
species that provide lots of what the
bees like - nectar and pollen. Species such as
Allium, Apple, Aquilegia, Bell heather, Borage,
California lilac, Coneflower, Comfrey, Daffodil,
Dahlia, Escallonia, Forget-me-not, the list is
extensive and is available at the Bumblebee
Conservation Trust's website or the RHS Perfect
for Pollinators resource. Make sure you plant
clumps of bee friendly plants in sunny places.
Note that double or multi-petaled cultivars
of plants are best avoided as they often lack
pollen and/or nectar. Also there are pollenfree
cultivars of some plants that should be
avoided, such as sunflowers that are grown
as florists' flowers.
You can also help the bee by providing nesting
sites in your garden. If you have plants in
your garden with hollow stems, herbaceous
plants stems or bamboo canes with diameters
ranging from 2-8mm are ideal. Cardboard
nest tubes can be bought in garden centres.
Some solitary types of bees can nest in the
ground or in bare soil and short turf - Editor.
Cottage gardens rule
in Devonshire!
These days it's often you see gardens that are
more concrete than greenery if you know
what I mean. Hard landscaping is great for
structure and purpose, but for me, you must
always balance it with softer areas to make a
garden into a garden. It's an easy option to
install a low maintenance garden, particularly
if you're short on time (or help), but there really
is no substitute for greenery and flowers, it's
what summertime and gardens are all about.
Right - charming, rambling old cottage garden
in Sidmouth - sometimes a casual approach
can work much better than a regimented
formal scheme, particularly with older
properties.
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