How do bees help put the food on our plates?

Fruit

Growing fruit such as strawberries and apples provides bees and other pollinators with pollen and nectar while the plants are in flower, then at harvest time you will have delicious fruit to eat and share.

Use these resources to make the most out of your school garden and grow fruit all year round:  

Fruit in containers 

Strawberries for free

Fruit calendar
 

Broad beans, peas and French beans all have flowers too. This is good news for pollinators who can visit the flowers to gather pollen and feed on the nectar, and great for us as we can harvest and eat the lovely vegetables. A vegetable garden is an excellent teaching resource and will provide great enjoyment and satisfaction to all involved. If you are new to vegetable growing, check out this article. 

Learn how to grow these tasty vegetables: 

Broad beans

French beans

 

Herbs 

Herbs add flavour to our food and many of them have flowers that bees and other pollinators love to visit. For example chives, marjoram, fennel, borage, rosemary, sage, hyssop, lemon balm and thyme. Chives have purple flowers loved by bees, and the leaves are very tasty in salads and sandwiches. Chive plants are also easy to divide to make more plants to grow and share - learn how to divide potted herbs here.

Easy herbs to grow

Alternatively, why not design a poster to teach people about the importance of pollinators in food production? Share your creations with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Bee Garden at St George's Primary School

Snow in the Bee Garden (Image credit: St George's Primary School)

Have you had snow this winter? Plans to get plants for pollinators into the ground at the Bee Garden at St George’s Primary School, Camberwell were delayed due to the snow last month. The cold weather and hard ground would have made planting too difficult. We are looking forward to them being planted this month instead – look out for an update on this.