The Buzz word is bees

[Cabibel]

Now the Spring seed sowing season is upon us, rethink your approach to your garden and go for the single species flowers and aromatic herbs to give the bees a chance . Double flowered blooms may look more impressive but the bees can't extract nectar from them, and this goes for butterflies and hoverflies too. The single flowers are often more fragrant, an additional attraction for all insects.

Bees are our chief pollinators and deserve our protection. If you're really keen you can get one of the bee houses that are commercially available for bumble and mason bees, and these can be hung from trees and fences.

If you haven't already seen Sarah Raven's excellent TV programme on BBC2 'Bees Butterflies and Blooms' check it out on i player.