- In partnership with Clipper Teas and their campaign,
"A world without bees."
Hello, and a very warm welcome back to the garden.
Now, the other day I was having a tour around this farm
and they were telling me
how they felt this huge sense of responsibility
to provide food for their community,
but also to create space for nature.
Because they realize what a privileged position they were in
to have the land to do so.
And as a gardener, I share those same responsibilities,
albeit on a smaller scale.
Yes, I may not be able to feed a village,
but I can feed my friends and family,
and also provide a space for nature
that will benefit thousands of bees, butterflies, insects,
and other wildlife.
So every single year I'm always stunned
how the smallest of actions
can create the most amazing things
to happen in the garden.
And this video is gonna be filled with ideas
on how to work with nature, specifically pollinators,
to not only benefit the wildlife,
but also to benefit us.
For many of us,
gardening gives us the opportunity
to connect with the natural world.
And we share this space with other life forms.
And when possible,
it's certainly my escape from the hustle and bustle
of modern life.
So in order to have a successful garden with minimal inputs,
we must embrace both the limitations and the possibilities
that nature has to offer.
For example, the black birds have a real thing
for our prized grapes.
But without bees and other pollinators,
we wouldn't have any squash.
Gardening is as much about growing food
as it is striking a balance.
And being 100% organic
really makes the world of a difference.
This month is Organic September,
which is both a celebration of,
and a campaign for organic products,
producers, brands, and principles.
To celebrate Organic September on this channel,
I want to focus on one of the most amazing things
about gardening.
And that is pollinators
and why we can't afford to overlook all of their benefits.
The first thing that I have to mention
is there's something so grounding
about being surrounded by pollinators as you're gardening.
And you're seeing how the habitat that you're creating,
are benefiting countless butterflies, bees,
and hover flies.
Now, according to the Soil Association
who were the founders of the Organic Movement,
they say that for every 10% increase
in bee friendly habitat,
bee numbers and diversity increase by a whopping third.
Now I can really attest to this because this growing season,
I put in extra measures to grow more plants
that I can share with pollinators.
And I can honestly say
that I'd never seen so much pollinator activity
in this garden.
And I was just blown away with how easy it was to do that.
Before I show you what techniques and plants
have been the most effective,
I want to dive a little bit deeper
into why organic is so important.
The trouble with a lot of non-organic food production,
is that often it has a detrimental impact on biodiversity.
Using things like monoculture cropping, pesticides,
and chemicals leaching into waterways.
For example, the nitrogen fertilizers
used in conventional farming
lead to terrible water conditions in our streams,
lakes, ponds, rivers,
and end up going into the sea
where they create dead zones,
which means no life can happen.
And the use of these artificial fertilizers
are banned by organic standards.
So I'm just here making myself a cup of tea
and it's all boiling nicely.
And I've teamed up with my favorite tea brand,
which is Clipper.
And they're driving awareness this month
on the wide-reaching benefits of buying organic
when it comes to pollinators.
And they've partnered with the National Trust
to support and donate to their meadows appeal,
which works to restore meadows and help save our wildlife.
In the UK, we've lost 97% of our wildflower meadows
since the *1930s.
And 72% of butterflies have disappeared
in the last decade alone.
So if you want to find out more about that great cause
and what Clipper is doing to support our pollinators
and organic producers, there'll be some links down below.
And right now,
I'm actually going to enjoy some dandelion tea.
And the reason why I'm drinking dandelion tea
is to remind myself to mention one of the easiest things
that you can do to help pollinators in your garden.
It's, no mow May.
So if you have a lawn, don't mow it through May.
Because there's actually a lot of flowers there
that are going to come through
and really support our pollinator populations.
And every little bit,
every little lawn makes such a big difference
to the wider spread and diversity of our pollinator numbers.
Not only here in the UK, but across the world.
Imagine if we all increased our bee-friendly habitat by 10%,
and the kind of impact that would have on our pollinators.
The good news too,
is that you don't have to sacrifice space for growing foods
because it's possible to integrate bee friendly gardening
and plants,
along with intensive high productivity gardening.
Because tasks in the garden are starting to wind down a bit
as we move into autumn,
a great project to do is to actually create seed bombs,
pollinator seed bombs.
Which not only an effective way to plant bee friendly plants
in and around your garden,
but also around your neighborhoods
with a little bit of guerrilla gardening.
Seed bombs are really easy to make.
What you want to do is to mix a small handful of seeds
with a medium handful of clay powder,
and then a large handful of compost.
And then pour in a bit of water to mix it all together.
And if it's a little bit to wet,
just put in a little bit of compost
to help create a nice texture.
Then roll these into small kind of golf ball sized
seed bombs,
and put them in a sunny spot to dry out.
For my seed bombs, I'm using snowdrops.
Because snowdrops are an essential source
of natural and pollen,
for those early pollinators in the late winter
that are starting to emerge and come out
and when there isn't really much else available for them.
The first place that I'm gonna bomb with Snowdrop seeds
is actually gonna be under this cotoneaster.
There's a nice semi-shaded area.
And just as a quick side note,
this cotoneaster, in early kind of summer,
doesn't look like much when it comes to flowers,
but this is just buzzing with all sorts of pollinators.
It really shocks me.
So what I'm gonna do is drop those under here.
On the screen now,
a list of plants that make perfect pollinator seed bombs.
And something to prioritize if possible
is to choose those that flower on either side
of the growing season.
'Cause usually this is when
there are the least amount of flowers available in nature.
Now, let me show you some ways
of boosting your bee friendly habitats in your garden
without sacrificing space for food crops.
And the first idea is using a technique,
which I'm using behind me,
called island blocks.
Island blocks simply cap the end of a raised bed,
and one side have some kind of flowering vertical structure.
For example these runner beans
that bees love their red flowers.
And then the rest of the cap
comprises of this polyculture planting
of edible annual flowers and herbs.
Something that I do constantly
is search for crops that provide multiple benefits.
For example, I've got dill here
and also some coriander growing around it
that provides an excellent food crop
when it comes to the leaves and also the seeds.
But the halfway between these two, are their flowers.
And the pollinators love the flowers of these herbs.
But the most incredible of them all is borage.
And it's a plant is always swamped by honey bees
and bumblebees, and it flowers right through the season.
So just planting one extra plant
is gonna make a massive difference.
For example, this borage plant here is a single plant.
It's cascading over the side of the raised beds.
I would probably guess has around 10, 11, 12, honey bees
just busy working, enjoying the flowers.
They're also something that us humans can enjoy as well.
Pot marigolds make another excellent edible flower
that you can grow in your garden.
And they're a great way to add splashes of color
in and around your raised beds,
which, let's be honest,
being in a vegetable garden are often surrounded by green.
I do fit in a couple of non-edible flowers as well
in the garden.
I've got this white cosmos that the honey bees
seem to absolutely adore.
And I've grown them right in the very corner
of this raised bed to grow outward.
So it isn't actually taking up any space.
Perhaps the easiest and the most effective thing
that any gardener can do to really help pollinators,
is right at the start of spring,
allow your pak choi, your mustards, some of the turnips,
and also your kale,
to run to seed in March, April and May
for those beautiful yellow flowers,
which the pollinators so desperately love.
Because apart from things like dandelions,
there really isn't much available to them.
And I was shocked by the amount of activity
that was in our solar tunnel early this spring,
where the bees were coming in and really foraging
for that so precious nectar and pollen.
A more unusual tip
is to actually leave some apples on your trees
to either rot on the tree or to fall down,
because this is what red admirals absolutely love.
They're my favorite butterfly.
And one point we counted 11 red admirals
on this one apple tree.
Because it's Organic September,
I have a challenge for you.
And that challenge is to choose
one of your household food or drink staples,
and choose and buy the organic alternative.
Now, of course, one of the easiest things to start with,
is your tea.
Just like I love using Clipper Tea,
if you just opt for say having your breakfast tea
or your morning tea be organic,
that's going to make a difference.
Now, if you drink organic tea, choose a different staple,
such as potatoes, flour, maybe sugar or even coffee.
I truly believe in the power of marginal gains,
which is simply the theory of making small,
incremental improvements
that when added together make a really positive difference.
By choosing that organic alternative
and supporting organic producers,
you're also supporting the pollinators.
On average, organic farms have 75% more wild bees.
So what's the one staple you're gonna switch to organic?
And also, how are you gonna make that 10% improvement
and bee friendly habitats in your own garden?
Let me know down below.