Bumblebees for the Veg Patch

[Lotsaveg]

I see British Bumblebees are being sold this year by Harrod Horticultural as a live nest for the garden!

No more problems with getting the runner beans to set.... I hope!

[Two_Sheds]

My sister had a colony in her lawn last summer, it was fascinating. The bees were very active, but didn't bother her four small children at all

[Lotsaveg]

It always amazes me how they are able to fly and are never a problem in the garden. I really like the look of the wooden lodge that goes with the hive they're selling. Can just see that painted gloss white and sitting on my patio!! Need to remind the wife it's my birthday soon!!

[Aberdeenplotter]

I had a bumblebee nest under my garden shed year before last. The really big ones. I was so disappointed that they didn't re-appear last year. On investigation, I was told that bees have really bad memories and when they leave the nest to hibernate, they simply forget where they were the previous year and go look for an old mousehole or similar to build a new nest in.

[ginger ninger]

I was going to re-pot my blueberry last year and had the shock of mi life when the compost started to buzz. There was a big Red Tailed bumble bee nesting in the compost, so I left it well alone.

[chris]

I see British Bumblebees are being sold this year by Harrod Horticultural as a live nest for the garden!

No more problems with getting the runner beans to set.... I hope!

What, they're selling live bee colonies? I've not seen owt on their site - interesting mind.

[Aberdeenplotter]

What, they're selling live bee colonies? I've not seen owt on their site - interesting mind.

I thought all bumblebees had protected species status but after doing a little googling it seems not. Are bees a protected species in the UK? - No

[Lotsaveg]

What, they're selling live bee colonies? I've not seen owt on their site - interesting mind.

I can't get the link to copy on here, but just put Beepol Bumblebees Harrod into Google.

[Kristen]

I can't get the link to copy on here

I'll have a go

Beepol Bumblebees from Harrod Horticultural

[chris]

Thanks that's great. If I didn't have such a young child I'd probably buy it, but Ic an see her banging on it etc - so maybe in the future.

[King Carrot]

Unbeknown to me I had a hive set itself up in the dry stone wall of the shed, last spring. All I could hear for a couple of weeks was this buzzing sound when I was digging or working away - it was driving me crazy, no one else could hear this buzzing so I put it down to my dodgy ears. I only discovered them when I rested some wooden framed mesh netting against the wall before I fixed it across a tunnel door. When I went to pick it up there was a queue of bees waiting to get in and out of their holes.

Had a great year for pollination on everything so I’m hoping they’ll still be around – things did seem very quite in September around the wall so I’m not sure if they made it or not.