Bees play a vital and irreplaceable role in pollinating our flowers, fruits and vegetables. The more bees in your garden the healthier, more productive and more pleasant a place it will be. Yet bees are declining rapidly and many people, even if they do not wish to keep bees themselves, are asking what can be done on an individual basis to help the bee. This book is a response to that request. It will demonstrate in one accessible volume how each of us can play our part in providing a bee-friendly environment, no matter how much gardening space and/or time we may have. It includes: * How bees forage, what bees you can expect to find in your garden and what plants are best for them. * Why honey bees are so important; what they need to thrive and how they detect and access those requirements; and what varieties of plants are best suited to provide those needs. * How the gardener can offer and maintain a bee-friendly garden, followed by a season-by-season account of what beefriendly plants are in flower and when, and what jobs the gardener can be doing during these times to help bees thrive. * A gazetteer of selected bee-friendly plants, arranged by type of plant in seasonal sub-sections. * Illustrative, practical planting plans, including a culinary herb garden, a potager, a wild flower garden, and a 3 seasons traditional border.

This book will give you the knowledge and confidence to use your own herbs to make inexpensive wellbeing and domestic products from your own garden, without the need for costly commercial preparations, and with an eye to the more natural cultivation of useful herbs, in harmony with nature and in tune with our environment. It offers, to the budding herb grower and experienced gardener alike, a wealth of easy-to-follow advice and achievable projects on: *Cultivating and using herbs for your health, first-aid, wellbeing and beauty *Growing and using herbs to enhance your surroundings and living spaces *How to grow, harvest, dry and look after your herbs *The best designs for your herb garden space *Comprehensive A to Z of first-aid, cosmetic and household herbs