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Become a bee-friendly gardener

Here are some simple (and fun) things you can do to learn more and help save the bee.

Each and every one of us can make a difference, by encouraging bees into our own back gardens, patio pots and even window boxes.

Grow bee-friendly flowers
Make your garden pesticide free
Buy a discounted bee box
Find out more - relevant links
Bee-friendly flower seeds

Grow bee-friendly flowers

Brighten up your garden with some bee-friendly flower seeds
Plant wildflower seeds in your garden, patio pots or window boxes to provide essential nutrition for bees. A list of examples of wildflowers that bees find attractive is below.

Brighten up your garden with some bee-friendly flower seeds

• allow a patch of grass to grow long and densely plant an area of your flowerbed to provide bees with shelter from the rain or a sudden drop in temperature
• provide water for bees to drink - this can be as simple as a shallow edged dish of water with pebbles in it to help bees climb in and out
• reduce the use of pesticides in your garden - find out more with our list of facts.
• do not keep unwashed honey jars outside the back door. Honeybees may feed on the remaining honey and overseas honey can contain bacteria and spores that are harmful to the bees, which they may then take back to the rest of the colony
• protect swarms - if you see a swarm of bees, contact the local authority or the police, who will contact a local beekeeper to collect the swarm and give it a new home

Make your garden pesticide free

The Co-operative Group has prohibited the use of neonicotinoid-based pesticides, already restricted/banned in areas of Europe, on own-brand fresh produce. This also applies to produce in Midcounties stores as Midcounties is part of The Co-operative Retail Trading Group

Why prohibit the neonicotinoids family of pesticides?
These chemicals have been implicated in honeybee deaths and restricted elsewhere in Europe, most notably France and Germany. Neonicotinoids act on the central nervous system and in insects can cause paralysis, which leads to death, often within a few hours. Worryingly, these pesticides are also thought to build up in pollen, which the bees take back to the hive and feed the young, therefore leading to birth defects and development problems. Tests recently carried out in Germany, following large-scale bee die-offs, showed that 29 out of 30 bees examined had a build-up of the neonicotinoid, clothianidin. As a precautionary measure, The Co-operative Group will engage with suppliers to eliminate the usage of neonicotinoids where possible and until such a time as they are shown to be safe.

Buy a discounted bee box

Welcome bees into your garden by getting a bee box. This helps bees to shelter from the rain or from a sudden drop in temperature. Encouraging bees into your garden should also help you get bumper crops of fruit and vegetables.

Encouraging native bees into the garden with a bee box should help you garden bloom. This novel bee box is made out of FSC-certified wood, has a metal-pitched roof and is packed with pieces of bamboo that provide the ideal nesting site. NB: The 'solitary' bee species that use these nests won't swarm and don't sting.

As part of Plan Bee, The Co-operative has teamed up with GoneGardening.com to give members a 15% discount on FSC-certified bee boxes - £8.19 (reduced from £9.64, plus p&p).

To purchase your bee box please complete the following steps:

1. Click on the 'buy now' link below
2. On the left-hand side of the page, type in 'coop' and 'pa09' in the two eValue (discount code) boxes and press Continue
3. A message should appear stating that you have successfully entered the discount code. Press continue and you will arrive back on the homepage
4. Click on the bee box link in the featured products, or search for 'bee box'
5. This 15% discount is valid for 'Bee Nesting Box with Zinc Roof'

Find out more - relevant links

There are many organisations who do good work around bees. Here are just a few:

• Bee Farmers' Association of the United Kingdom
• Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders' Association (BIBBA)
• British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA)
• Bumble bee Conservation Trust (BBCT)
• Defra
• National Science Week
• RSPB - Homes for Wildlife
• Scottish Beekeepers' Association (SBA)
• Welsh Beekeepers' Association (WBKA)
• Wildlife Trusts

The Midcounties Co-operative is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Bee-friendly flower seeds

Below is a list of flowers good for bees (*denotes native to UK):