Garden Patch – Bee Friendly Herbs arrive at the Farm (Part 1)

At the farm we’ve got a little patch of ground left over from the introduction of our new orchard of fruit trees. Rather than leave it unloved we wanted to plant it up in some way that would also help out the bees.

So what to do? Maybe a wildflower meadow featuring lots of bee-friendly flowers? Certainly that would look lovely and attract not just our own honeybees but the many species of solitary bees and bumbles that are such important pollinators.

Not entirely the Suburban Bee Company way though. We seldom give up an opportunity to grow something tasty. So it’s good to know there are plenty of plants our little pollinating friends love to visit that are edible for us too. We’re talking the world of bee-friendly herbs, of course.

We’ve noticed our little herb patch at home can be quite a draw to the bumbles and our own garden bees. A mix of herbs means flowers will come out at different times during the year and provide sustenance through the season.

Here are a few of the Suburban Bee Company must haves, in no particular order …

Chives

All round kitchen friend and splendid with omelettes, salads, mixed with sour cream on a jacket potato. We grow chives in clumps. They come in many varieties but the common chive will produce purple flower heads set amidst the long green tubular leaves. The flowers, by the way, are edible and look great in salads. They possess the same mild onion flavour of the leaves. Bees absolutely love the flowers.

Chives are a pretty robust plant and thrive in sunny or lightly shaded spots. They benefit from being cut back fairly regularly which is lucky in a delicious and widely used herb!

Rosemary

A firm favourite with us, rosemary grows into a woody shrub with fragrant green needles lending a lovely mediterranean feel to the herb patch. Fresh rosemary is an excellent herb to flavour stuffings, stews and soups and matches lamb perfectly.

Rosemary likes a sunny spot with well drained soil, and certainly you should avoid water logging. It flowers from April to June and perhaps again in September in the UK with lots of tiny attractive flowers ranging from white to blue to purple, depending on your cultivar. We’ve been watching the bumbles and honey bees flock to our garden rosemary shrub this week as the flowers bloomed.

Borage

One of those historical herbs that fell out of favour, borage is a large leafy plant that usually generates blue flowers featuring 5 triangular petals and flowers from June to September in the UK. The flowers are edible with a honey-like taste and the leaves can be eaten fresh in salads or as a dried herb. In Spain and Germany, borage is often used in soups and we’re told featured here in the UK as the garnish served with that classic summer cocktail, the Pimms cup,  before the ubiquitous cucumber chunk replaced it.

Borage is an annual herb but self seeding will mean that it continues to populate the garden year after year.

Wild Bergamot

A native of North America, wild bergamot can be used as a fresh or dried herb. The flowers are also edible. The plant imparts a delicate citrus flavour and whilst not related to the bergamot orange of Earl Grey tea fame, was certainly used as a substitute historically when mixed with black tea.

Wild bergamot is a particular favourite for bees and pollinators and provides a great source of nectar from the pinky mauve flowers from early summer onwards. The plant thrives in lightly shaded areas and whilst not happy in waterlogged conditions does prefer its roots to be kept moist. These things can reach up to 2 to 3 feet tall (60-90cm) and are perennials.

We’re also planting sage, thyme, coriander and lavender. We’re giving mint a miss this time, although again this is very good for pollinators. You just have to be careful it doesn’t run amok in your garden!

We’re hoping to return to the herb garden later in the season to bring you another blog on how it’s all been going.

A little extra reading

Want to join in and create a bee friendly herb patch of your own? We found these these web resources useful:

Happy planting!

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