This plan came about quite serendipitously. I was approached by a beekeeping friend of mine to redesign his back garden. He was tired, he said, of looking out on to a mangy rectangle of lawn with a few scraggy plants making a desperate attempt to grow in the borders surrounding it. (His words, not mine, but I have to agree with him!) And, being a beekeeper, he thought it was about time he put into practice what he was constantly advising others to do, and that was to provide a decent location for bees to flourish.
As well as being a good place to keep his bees, he wanted his garden to be attractive for him and his wife. His specifications included having a paved area near the house big enough for a table and chairs, a lawn, space for a shed and a greenhouse, and somewhere to grow some vegetables.
His request came at just about the same time as I was just putting finishing touches to some of the planting plans for this book. The solution was obvious: why not use some of the plans I had already created and bring them together in one garden? And so the Beekeeper’s Garden was born.
You will see from the key that I have included five of the plans (and one of them twice). They will all have to be adapted slightly to fit the spaces allocated to them, but the overall essence of each of the designs can be preserved.
Bed 1, near to the beehives (B), comprises an extended version of the Native Naturalistic Border. This seemed to me an appropriate type of planting to have in proximity to the hives.
Nearby is a water trough (T), which will provide a source of water close enough to the hives for the bees to find it, but not so close that they will be disturbed when it is topped up.
I have added a tree (2) to the garden in the shape of a crab apple, Malus ‘John Downie’, which will have a beautiful display of blossom in the spring and provide a pollination partner for the other apple trees in the garden. Other apple trees can be found in Bed 3, the Large Cottage Garden
Border. They are trained as espaliers against a post and wire ‘trellis’ at the back of the border (D), which also loosely divides the ‘bee’ area from the ‘leisure’ part of the garden.
Standing in the border, and in line with the centre of the patio doors to make a focal point when viewed from the house, there will be a sculpture, or artwork. My friend hasn’t quite decided what form this will take; it may even be a sundial. (I have suggested a life-size model of him in his bee suit but his wife was not impressed!)
In the ‘leisure’ part of the garden, either side of the lawn and the paved area, are two Large Traditional Borders (4 and 5), which are tweaked a little in order to be accommodated in the space.
To add height to the whole garden, and to divide the ‘leisure’ and ‘utility’ areas, I have incorporated a pergola, up which climbers such as Clematis or Rosa can be trained.
As well as a shed and greenhouse in the ‘utility’ area, I have included a cold frame, lean-to (somewhere dry to keep the wheelbarrow, pots, and so on), compost bins and a comfrey (Symphytum) patch (for making comfrey fertilizer). There is a separate area (7) for growing bush fruit (gooseberries and currants, both black and red) and cane fruit (raspberries and blackberries). This is next to the vegetable garden (8): the original plan, which included a number of flowers, will be altered so that they (the flowers) will be replaced by vegetables. The beekeeper is keen on growing some shallots and onions and these will be incorporated into Bed A. In Bed B there will be some more peas and French beans. Bed C will have some cabbages and Brussels sprouts added to the kale and broccoli, and in Bed D there will be more carrots and some celeriac.
Bed 9, which faces north, is where an extended Shade Border will be planted; next to it, in Bed 10, the Cultivated Naturalistic Border will find a home.
Hedges (H), partly made up of hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), sloe (Prunus spinosa), dog rose (Rosa canina), and honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum), already surround the garden on three sides; they make an ideal boundary for bees, not only in terms of providing food, but also giving shelter from the prevailing south-westerly winds.
As far as the hard landscaping goes, the patio area and some of the paths will be made by re-laying the York stone slabs that are already in the garden. The other paths will be made from self-binding gravel edged with setts. The self-binding gravel is hard-wearing, relatively inexpensive and will sit well in the rural location.
All in all, I think the bees will be happy with the overall design – and I hope my friend will be too!