Over 560 wild bee species live in Germany and many are threatened with extinction. However, we urgently need them to pollinate crops and ornamental plants together with honey bees and other insects. By ecologically conscious gardening, you can help ensure the survival of at least twenty percent of the wild bee species that occur. How - you will find out in this article.
Colorful flower meadows are a paradise for bees
File of the wild bees
- Almost all wild bees, with the exception of bumblebees, are solitary animals. For this reason, they are also known as hermit or solitary bees.
- Some species are as small as 1.3 millimeters, while others grow to over 2.5 centimeters.
- Many wild bees live in underground burrows. Some need nesting aids, which are becoming increasingly rare in our well-structured green spaces.
- Wild bees can sting. However, they do not even defend their nests and only sting if you step on them or accidentally clumsily press the little animals when cutting back plants.
How do I make my garden bee friendly?
It is quite easy to create a comfortable home for these animals with sufficient food sources and to successfully attract them to your own garden. However, many of our cultivated plants with double flowers do not provide any food for wild bees. Therefore, create a colorful flower meadow in spring. You will be amazed at how it starts humming and humming in no time.
Create a wildflower meadow:
Simply reserve a corner of the garden for wildflowers and herbs, which will provide the wild bees with a richly laid table. Since sowing seeds in the lawn does not work because the flower seeds cannot germinate in the dense green, you should proceed as follows:
- Completely remove grass and weeds.
- Wildflowers love poor soil. Mix humus-rich substrate with sand and some gravel and smooth the surface with a rake.
- When choosing the seeds, make sure that they only contain native wild plants.
- Mix the seeds with four times the amount of sand.
- Spread evenly and press down.
- Never cover the seed with soil, as wild flowers almost always germinate in the sun.
If field flowers such as poppies or cornflowers predominate in the first year, this is normal. These are also valuable food for wild bees. From the second year, other wild herbs become established and a natural plant community forms.
Do not mow the wildflower patch all at once, as this would suddenly deprive the wild bees of all food sources. Use a scythe for this as the grass is too high for the lawn mower.
Creating natural habitats
Provide a variety of breeding opportunities. Some wild bee species lay their burrows in weathered wood. They not only use dead wood for this purpose, but also old fences or the somewhat neglected boards of a compost heap.
Do not cut dry stems of ornamental plants back to the ground in autumn. Wild bees like to build their nests in the vertical, pithy stalks. On the other hand, horizontal tubes, such as those often seen in wild bee hotels, are hardly accepted.
Provide suitable nesting holes made of clay or wood. Clay-jointed walls are also extremely popular. Unfortunately, they are rarely found anymore, so they fit in wonderfully with natural gardens and are suitable, for example, as a visually appealing border for beds.
tips
Wild bees are even happy to accept a patio paved with slabs as a habitat, provided the joints are filled with sand and not grit (€46.95).