Easy Ways to Attract Bees to Your Vegetable Garden

By Scout Nelson

Bees are vital for a healthy and productive vegetable garden. Many vegetables, such as cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and squash, need bees to pollinate their flowers. Without pollination, these plants cannot produce fruit. Even crops like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants benefit from bee visits because the vibration from their wings can boost yields.

To get better results, it’s important to have many bees visiting your garden. Most fruit flowers only stay open for one day and may need several visits from bees to produce good fruit.

To attract bees, start by offering them food. Grow a variety of flowers that bloom from spring through fall. Plant flowers near your vegetables or mix them in the garden beds. Flowers in clusters are easier for bees to see and visit.

Annual flowers like cosmos, marigolds, sunflowers, and zinnias are great choices. Perennial flowers such as coneflower, blazing star, rudbeckia, sedum, and aster keep bees busy all season. Herbs like basil, chives, thyme, sage, borage, and bee balm also help attract bees when they bloom.

Bees also need fresh water. A birdbath or a shallow tray of water with rocks inside gives bees a safe place to drink.

For shelter, place bee houses with hollow tubes for nesting. Some bees nest in the ground, so leave a small dry, bare patch of soil for them.

As they can harm bees. Always identify pests before spraying. Use safer options like neem or spinosad, and apply them in the evening when bees are less active.

Photo Credit: depositphotos-simazoran