This year, thousands of 38 Degrees members are coming together and planting 60,000 packets of bee seeds across the UK. That’s the equivalent space of three major cities full of wild flowers! Below, you’ll find everything you need to know to get a packet of seeds and create habitats for bees in your local community. We’d love to see how you’re getting on with your seeds! Please share your photos us on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #BeeSeeds.
How to plant your seeds:
It’s warm enough to starting planting your seeds inside in a pot or windowsill box, before moving them outside in April. You could also start your seeds directly outside in April.
To plant them in a container, you could use a plant pot - but if you don’t have one available, you can use any small plastic container in your house. An empty yoghurt pot, an empty cosmetics tub, or the plastic tray that your supermarket fruit and vegetables come in would be perfect. It’s helpful to punch a small hole in the bottom of the container for water to drain, especially if your flowers are going to live outside.
If you’ve got some compost, it’s a good idea to mix it in with soil - but otherwise just normal, dampened, soil from anywhere outside will work. Place your damp soil in the pot and sprinkle your seeds on the earth, then cover them with 1 cm of soil, and lightly water again. Now all you need to do is place your container in a warm sunny spot, water every few days, or when the soil is dry - and before you know it, your bee friendly seeds will start to grow! From April, you can move your little plants outside in their container - and then sit back and wait for the bees.
To sow directly outside, April is the best time to do this. Find a nice sunny spot in your garden and sprinkle your seeds over damp earth. Cover them with 1cm of soil and water regularly and then wait for your bees to fly on in.
Our FAQs are below, but if you have any further questions please email emailtheteam@38degrees.org.uk
