There are so many uses for lavender making it an invaluable herb to grow in your garden. I love to grow large pots of lavender by the doors to help repel insects from getting into our home. The same effect can be achieved by placing large pots of lavender and lemongrass at the corners of our gazebo to help give us a bug-free backyard entertainment space.
A great way to attract bees to your yard is to give them a safe and clean water source. Place a couple of glass bowls or pie tins in your yard and fill with rocks or glass pebbles from the dollar store then ad water leaving the tops of the rocks visible. This will allow the bees and butterflies a safe space to stop and take a drink without the risk of drowning on a hot summer day.
Feeding the bees is a great way to attract them to your garden. Early in the spring and in the fall when blooms are limited you can sit fresh-cut fruit in your grade to attract and feed the bees so they can survive. Last year we discovered this trick unintentionally. The toddler left a couple of slices of watermelon around the yard and the bees went wild in our yard. As an end result, we got an extra crop of veggies from our garden from a few straggling flowers we never expected to develop.
Provide the bees with shelter. While we often think of bees like honey bees, there are thousands of other bee species that do not live in large hives. Solitary bees need a place to live. A great way to do this is to take a small tree chunk of a fallen tree and drill holes of varying depth and width then lay it on its side. You can buy a premade chemical-free bug solitary bee house like one from BarefootSwan on Etsy.
Clover used to be the standard in lawn across the country. People wanted a lawn with plenty of clover to help maintain a dark green and plushy yard even in times of drought and summer heat. Go back to this and add clover to your yard to provide the bees with flowers while covering lowering your yard maintenance. With a little work and time, you can eventually eliminate the need to mow your lawn more than once or twice a year if you desire.
Creeping thyme is a beautiful but expensive ornamental ground cover. Replacing a portion of your lawn with creeping thyme will leave you with beautiful flowers that reduce the need to mow a section of your lawn while providing food for the bees.
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