Bring Bees To Your Garden With These 4 Tips

El Paso springs and summers are very long. It means a long grow season and a lot of chances to attract bees to your garden. Bees are very important for agriculture and one of the ways you can help maintain the local population is to know what kind of garden to plant and how to maintain plants that bees like.

1. Lawns suck - Literally. They are terrible water hogs and because they don't flower, they are useless to bees. You have to use not only a lot of water but artificial fertilizers and pesticides to keep them green and lush. The better thing to do is get rid of your lawn and plant a field of flowering plants instead. If you insist on using fertilizers and pesticides...

2. Use natural fertilizers and pesticides - Ladybugs, spiders, and praying mantises can be introduced to your yard as natural pesticides. You can also make your own natural fertilizers from things around your home and kitchen. Click here for tips on how to make your own.

3. Plant bee-friendly flowers - There are a lot of flowers that bees just love. Daisies and marigolds are great bee flowers and you can plant them in pots all over your yard or in the ground for a pretty flower bed. Some other great plants for bees include lilacs, lavender, wisteria, mint, sunflowers, poppies, honeysuckle, lantana, and snapdragons.

4. Bee water - Bees need water, but they also need a way to drink it without drowning. Get a shallow pot saucer, the kind you put under a pot to catch water, add pebbles so that the tops of the pebbles can stick up out of the water. Add fresh water every day or so but don't submerge the pebbles. Don't forget to add fresh water every other day so the bees will know they can always count on you.

If you really want to get some great gardening tip, follow the El Paso Master Gardeners Facebook page.