How to Attract Bees to Your Garden for Pollination

Attract bees to pollinate your garden.

Bees play an important role in the growing of some vegetables. Many garden plants produce both male and female blooms. Bees moving from a male flower to a female flower during feeding will pollinate the female bloom. Without bees to pollinate the bloom, the flower will wither without producing fruit. You can always grow plants that attract bees, but if you have a limited amount of space and want to grow cucumbers and squash, for example, you will need to use other methods to entice bees to your space. Does this Spark an idea?

Things You'll Need

• Melon rinds
• Soda and beer cans
• Shallow containers
• Sugar and water

Instructions

1. 

   Bees are attracted by the juice of melons.

   Place watermelon or cantaloupe rinds in and around your garden. Bees are attracted to the sugar contained in watermelon and cantaloupe.

2. 

   Bees love the taste of soda.

   Open cans of soda or beer and set them in and around your garden to attract bees for pollination.

3. Pour leftover soda or beer, or drinks that have gone flat, into shallow containers, and place these containers in and around the garden.

4. 

   Sugar water is similiar to nectar, a bee's natural food source.

   Make a solution of equal parts of sugar and water. Pour the liquid into shallow containers and place them in and around your garden.

References

• Bees4kids.org: How to Attract Bees to Your Garden
• Apartment Therapy: Attracting Bees and Butterflies Into the Garden

Resources

• Urban Bee Gardens: The World's Star Pollinators