How to Attract Bees to Your Vegetable Garden
March 10, 2009 – 1:00 am by Lindsay
It’s no secret that bees will improve the output of your backyard fruit orchards and vegetable gardens. Planting bee-friendly goodies will attract these great little pollinators, but you don’t have to stick all sorts of odd wild flowers in your garden (when gardening space is limited, it makes sense to plant things that you and the bees will love). If you’ve ever watched bees zip in and out of your strawberry patch, you know there are plenty of edible plants that attract bees as much as they attract humans!
Here’s a look at some edible plants that will bring bees to our vegetable gardens and backyard orchards:
- Tomatillos — The tomatillo is the little green Mexican tomato used in making salsa and other Mexican dishes, and it grows anywhere regular tomatoes grow. It doesn’t require a lot of care, but the bees love it (and the salsa maker in your family will love it too!)
- Blackberries and raspberries — Who could resist such sweet fruits? And the thorns don’t seem to bother the bees nearly as much as they do us.
- Mustards — If you let some of your mustards bolt (flower), then they’ll attract mason bees.
- Radishes — Here too if you leave some in the ground long enough to bloom, the bees will enjoy visiting them. How many radishes do you need for a salad anyway?
- Mint — Members of the mint family are attractive to long-tongued bees. Examples include many popular herbs such as sage, mint, oregano, and lavender.
For more information on plants that attract bees, check out the following sites:
