Gardening legend Monty Don has warned gardeners not to panic in the event of swarms of bees arriving this summer as longer days lead to the pollinators looking for places to set up home. The much-loved green-fingered presenter said: “Swarming bees are a sight that can be alarming at this time of year, but in fact, they are highly unlikely to attack or bother you at all. The queen will leave her hive looking for a new home, taking with her thousands of male worker bees”.
Don explained that the bees tend to circle “furiously”, making lots of sound “like a hundred motorbikes”, they will eventually settle on a branch in a giant cluster and move on. According to the British Beekeepers Association most swarms occur on warm sunny days from “May to the end of July usually between 11am until 4pm”.
The association website explains: “A real honey bee swarm can be extremely dramatic involving many thousands of bees in a large noisy cloud. However, they normally settle into a cluster within 15 minutes.”
If a swarm does not move on for some time, gardeners are advised to contact their local beekeeper.
The association added: “Most honey bee swarms are not aggressive but please do keep away and leave them alone” and “bee swarming is natural and the bees are just looking for a new home.”
A local bee swarm collector can be found using the British Beekeepers Association website.
Giving more gardening advice, Don said regarding roses that June is “their time” of the year and in order to keep roses flowering for as long as possible, his secret is to deadhead them on a daily basis.
He said: “Do not just pull off the spent petals but use secateurs and cut the spent stem right back to the next leaf or bud below it.”
Some types of flowers, such as Rosa rugosa or Rosa moysii, grow hips in the autumn and will only develop later on if the flowers are allowed to set seed and fruit. With this in mind, he suggests basking in the sight of the flowers for as long as possible and not deadheading, so that they can develop their pear-shaped rose fruit.
Something to be mindful of in June is weeds, as the warm weather helps give them the boosts they need. Be mindful of this and regularly weed vegetable plots, preferably in dry weather, using a garden hoe.
Don continued: “The secret of effective hoeing is to always do it in dry weather and preferably in the morning so that the weeds will cut cleanly from the soil and then dry out and die during the day. They can then be raked up in the afternoon and taken to the compost heap.”
It may be a good idea, the expert suggests, to selectively remove the smallest fruit before the tree makes the decision for you, and therefore, you’re not losing your biggest and juiciest picks. By reducing the clusters on each spur to just two fruits that aren’t touching, you’ve got the best bet of well-ripened results.
