A colourful and diverse mixture of Borage, Buckwheat, Calendula, Crimson Clover, Cornflower, Dill, Coriander and Phacelia designed with bees and other beneficial insects in mind. Grown as a green manure or perfect to fill any garden gaps, you’ll rejoice at the colourful riot of flowering plants amongst your edibles.
Seed Sowing
Broadcast the seed in May – July onto well prepared soil. Rake in gently just to cover the seeds. Alternatively you can direct sow thinly in drills 30cm apart, allowing you to weed in between the rows.
To ensure bees and other pollinators have an abundant source of nectar and pollen throughout summer do a number of staggered sowings to maximise flowering time.
Transplanting
Bee Mixture works best if direct sown.
Plant Care
Keep the area weed-free and watered during hot spells. You can mulch around the plants to keep in moisture and prevent weeds. Deadhead to prolong flowering. Some of the taller growing plants in the mix may need support, especially in windy growing conditions.
Challenges
Having a dense mix of plants can create the perfect habitat for slugs and snails. If there isn’t enough ventilation between the plants you may also have problems with downy or powdery mildew so make sure to give plants enough space and keep weed free to reduce overcrowding.
Harvest
Ideally this mixture will be grown for bees and other beneficial insects, meaning it isn’t harvested and left for those creatures to forage. If you do want to bring some of the blooms indoors to enjoy, ideally harvest the flowers in the morning when temperatures are low and plant water content is high. Plants will arrange better if left to sit in water for a few hours after cutting.
Culinary Ideas And Uses
All flowers in this mixture apart from Phacelia are edible and make a delightful addition to salads, desserts or ice cubes with their pops of colour and delicate forms.
Most popular Flower Seeds
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Calendula – Orange (Organic)
£2.28 – £3.90 Add to basket This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageCalendula – Orange (Organic)
Also known as ‘Pot Marigold’. This is the classic calendula, producing abundant large orange blooms over a long season. We love calendula and would never go a season without it. It is really easy to grow and loved by humans and insects alike. There is something magical about finding bumblebees sleeping in calendula flowers early in the morning. The flowers are edible and make a great addition to salads. The petals have good medicinal properties and can be taken as an infusion in hot water or turned into a powerful tincture. Calendula’s medicinal actions include but are not limited to: anti-inflamatory, astringent, vulnery, and anti-microbial.
(Approximate seed count – 125)
£2.28 – £3.90 -
Bee Mixture – (Organic)
£3.50 Add to basketBee Mixture – (Organic)
A colourful mixture of Borage, Buckwheat, Calendula, Crimson Clover, Cornflower, Dill, Coriander and Phacelia.. The bees and other beneficial insects in your garden will love this mixture of flowering plants. The nectar will provide them with sugar they need for energy and the pollen contains protein and oils that bees collect to raise the brood.
We rejoice in this bee mixture particularly as it has a diverse range of flowering plants and makes our vegetable plot look beautiful and filled with colour. The edibles amongst the mix we use to jazz up our summer salads.
(Approximate seed count – 5 grams)£3.50 -
Nasturtium – Trailing (Organic)
£2.58 – £6.95 Add to basket This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageNasturtium – Trailing (Organic)
A colourful annual with edible flowers and leaves . Trailing mix of bright greenery and different shades of orange, yellow and red coloured flowers. Both leaves and flowers are edible, they taste peppery, hot and sweet.
We love having nasturtium flowers dotted around our land. They attract the bees and just make a beautiful addition in summer salads.
£2.58 – £6.95 -
Sunflower – Giant Yellow (Organic)
£2.20 – £4.00 Add to basket This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product pageSunflower – Giant Yellow (Organic)
A very large yellow variety of sunflower, producing impressive blooms up to 30cm in diameter. No surprises here! This is a sunflower that does exactly what it says on the tin. Tall and sturdy plants producing huge single yellow flowers. The flowers are much loved by bees and if you leave the plants over the winter they provide a valuable ecological role as winter bird food (the seeds) and a habitat for many insects (the stems). If you have heavy clay soil, incorporating the remains of the plants into the soil in spring will lighten the soil due its high carbon content.
We always grow loads of sunflowers, dotted in amongst our other crops. They are really easy to grow and bring such a shameless joy to the garden. They are pure flower and nothing else!(Approximate seed count – 30)
£2.20 – £4.00
