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flowers (the bees just can't get to the goods).Here's a list of some of my favourite plants for bees:1. Allium2. Aquilegia3. Birds-foot trefoil4. Borage5. Campanula6. Cardoon7. Catmint8. Chives9. Clover10. Comfrey11. Cornflower12. Cranesbill geranium13

magnet for bumblebees.There are a few green manures to sow now, suitable for a range of soil types:1. Grazing rye (Secale cereale) improves soil structure. Sow from August to November and dig in the following spring.2. Winter field bean (Vicia faba

feeding, nesting and hibernation preferences. Tongue lengths determine which flowers the bees can feed on, so grow flowers with long corollas like red clover, honeysuckle and foxgloves to attract long-tongued bumblebees like the commmon carder (Bombus

on, so I hardened them off quite abruptly by putting them outside.Against all odds, my chillies burst into new life and vigour. I repotted them in fresh compost and sowed seeds of red clover around the base of their stems, to act as a green manure. I

without feeling guilty. I can't wait for my first nettle soup of 2011, perhaps accompanied by a wild salad of hairy bittercress, orache, fat hen and clover.If you're waging a war on garden weeds, why not view them in a different light and start eating them

I'm not one for manicured lawns. I think lawn weeds are pretty. I'd really like clumps of bird's foot trefoil, dandelions, daisies, creeping buttercup and self-heal growing among the grass in my garden. In fact, I've just planted some clover

a short flight to the raspberries, comfrey and clover he grows.If you want wildlife nesting in your garden, then build log and leaf piles, start a compost heap, leave a messy area, plant nectar-rich flowers and dig a pond. You could also use an old

. This worked a treat. I caught around 10 bees and placed them all in a jam jar. Then I lifted the nest into the box, emptied the jam jar on to the nest and let the bees settle. An hour later I took them home with me.Since then, the buff-tailed bees (Bombus