A garden that feeds bees from March to October is not a difficult garden to make. It simply asks you to choose plants that flower for months rather than weeks, to leave a few things a little untidy, and to think about the whole season rather than one glorious week in June. Get that right and your borders will hum from the first warm day of spring until the last asters fade.

Why a Long Season Matters

Different bees need different things at different times. Queen bumblebees emerge from hibernation in early spring and must find nectar immediately if they are to establish a nest. Honeybee colonies are building up their numbers through the same weeks. Solitary bees have short, staggered flight periods across the year, so a species on the wing in July needs food in July and nowhere else.

The practical upshot is that gaps matter more than peaks. A border stuffed with flowers in June but bare in August is far less useful than a modest planting that always has something open. Aim for three or four different plants in flower at any given moment, and you will have covered the year.

Spring: Feed the Emerging Queens

Spring nectar is the scarcest resource of all, so plant generously for it.

• Lungwort (Pulmonaria) is unbeatable for early bees, flowering from February in pink and blue on the same plant.
• Hellebores, especially the stinking hellebore, hold nectar through the coldest weeks.
• Crocus, winter aconite and grape hyacinth planted in drifts under trees give queens an easy landing pad.
• Flowering shrubs and trees — willow, hawthorn, apple, cherry and currant — produce enormous quantities of nectar and pollen in one place.
• Honesty and forget-me-nots self-seed freely and bridge the gap into May.

And yes, leave a few dandelions in the lawn. They are one of the best early sources there is, and a patch of unmown grass will repay you many times over.

Summer: The Long-Flowering Backbone

This is where you get real value for money. Choose perennials with a long flowering window and cut them back after the first flush to encourage a second.

• Catmint (Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant') flowers from May to September if sheared after its first burst. Bees adore it.
• Salvias — Salvia nemorosa and its relatives — repeat-flower reliably well into autumn.
• Hardy geraniums such as Geranium 'Rozanne' will keep going for months with minimal fuss.
• Penstemons, scabious, knautia, verbena and lavender all offer open, shallow flowers that bees can actually reach.
• Single-flowered dahlias and cosmos carry the display from August into October.

Plant in groups of three or more rather than dotting singles about. Bees forage by preference and will return again and again to a generous patch they have learned.

Herbs: The Hardest-Working Plants in the Garden

If you only make one change, let your herbs flower. Oregano and marjoram in bloom are among the finest nectar plants in Britain, and a single plant will be covered in bees for weeks. The same is true of thyme, sage, rosemary, chives, mint and fennel.

Grow them in a sunny, free-draining spot — a gravel strip or a few pots by the back door is plenty — and resist the urge to cut them back before they flower. Rosemary gives an early spring bonus, chives bridge late spring, and oregano carries the height of summer. Borage self-seeds happily and refills its cups constantly with nectar. Let parsley and coriander bolt too; their small flowers feed hoverflies and the smaller solitary bees.

Late Summer and Autumn: The Final Larder

Autumn is when many gardeners run out of steam and the bees run out of food. Asters, Japanese anemones, sedums and late-flowering salvias will all keep going into October, and single dahlias are worth their space for this reason alone.

Ivy is a vital plant in the autumn larder, flowering late when almost nothing else does, though only mature ivy blooms. If you have a boundary wall or fence it can climb, leave it be.

Small Changes That Make a Big Difference

• Plant for as much sun as you have. Most nectar plants flower best in six hours or more.
• Keep a shallow dish of water with pebbles in it so bees can drink without drowning.
• Avoid all pesticides and weedkillers. There is no safe time to spray a plant you have grown for bees.
• Leave seedheads and hollow stems standing over winter — they shelter insects and cost you nothing.
• Do not deadhead everything. A little seed left to set keeps self-seeders coming back for free.

None of this requires a large garden or a large budget. A sunny border, a few pots of herbs and a willingness to let things flower a little longer than usual is all it takes to turn an ordinary plot into a reliable, season-long larder for the bees that share it with you.