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Time to take a closer look at the nations favourite pollinators. My knowledge of bees is pretty basic: bumble, honey and mason, which is lousy considering there are 270 species in the UK and 16,000 known species on the planet. So today I thought I would take time to see who is hanging out in my garden. Catching them on camera is very tricky and I only have a hit rate of identifying one species - the banded white-tailed bumble bees. However it is good to acknowledge the plant

Adding flowering plants to the veg patch will encourage pollinators for the crops and brighten up the area, and after it has rained is an ideal time to plant out. The ground is already wet which will encourage the roots to grow downwards and giving the plants a good start. Both the weather report and the sky indicate it is definitely going to rain again today so I won't need to water them in. I have spare lavender and helichrysum plants, drought tolerant shrubs that are just

Here's how to make a bee hotel to attract solitary bees to your garden.

It's going to be a toasty Easter Saturday. Sit back and enjoy your garden. It's a perfect time to enjoy some garden related reading. I am reading 'A Sting in the Tale' by Professor of Bumblebees at Sussex University Dave Goulson. I would also thoroughly recommend his book 'The Garden Jungle' which could well change the way you think about gardening. That and Nigel Dunnett's Naturalistic Planting Design are two books that really make me think about why I garden and how I can e