How to Make a Bee Hotel

Solitary bees are excellent pollinators, but they can struggle to find nesting sites. A home-made nest looks attractive and provides them with a home, as well as ensuring bumper harvests.

When to Start: Summer
At Its Best: Autumn to winter
Time to Complete: 30 minutes

Materials Needed:

• clippers
• bamboo canes
• modeling clay

• raffia or string
• small terra-cotta or plastic pot

Cut Lengths of Bamboo

Use sharp clippers to cut short lengths of bamboo canes that will fit into your pot. The natural variation in diameter will attract different bee species.

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Push Them Into a Pot

Fill the base of a terra-cotta pot with modeling clay and push the cut bamboo canes firmly into it. Continue doing this until the pot is packed tightly.

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Hang Your Hotel

Tie raffia or string firmly around the pot and suspend it from a hook or attach it to a wall. Choose a sheltered, sunny site, and angle the open end of the pot downward so that the bamboo canes do not fill up with water when it rains.

Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-DK - How to Grow Practically Everything © 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited