{"id":5017,"date":"2026-07-31T18:13:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=5017"},"modified":"2026-07-31T18:13:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:13:57","slug":"feeding-bees-in-a-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=5017","title":{"rendered":"Feeding bees in a drought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"426\" height=\"946\" data-id=\"5018\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/irrigatedamonthlaterJulyagapanthuserigeronsalvia.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5018\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/irrigatedamonthlaterJulyagapanthuserigeronsalvia.jpg 426w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/irrigatedamonthlaterJulyagapanthuserigeronsalvia-135x300.jpg 135w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 426px) 100vw, 426px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"426\" height=\"946\" data-id=\"5019\" src=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/southplanternowater.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5019\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/southplanternowater.jpg 426w, https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/southplanternowater-135x300.jpg 135w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 426px) 100vw, 426px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Look at the difference a regular supply of water makes to a planter with a shallow depth of soil. After a few days without water, most of the plants appear dead. But a few weeks after a drip, irrigation system provides a trickle of water for 10 minutes every 12 hours, they plants soon bounce back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:700\">Here are a few steps for feeding and helping bees in a drought when there is a hose pipe ban:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">1. Prioritise watering flowering plants (or plants that are about to flower) in pots every morning or night with a watering can. Flowers that are drought stressed will retain nectar that bees and other pollinators need to give them the energy to fly, and sometimes they produce less pollen too.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">2. Prioritise watering flowering plants in borders and beds every few mornings or nights with a watering can.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">3. Keep saucers of water toped up with stones in them. Bees, mainly honeybees,  and hoverflies may alight on the stones to drink the water. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">4. Leave some grass long, and messy areas of your garden messy, as bumblebees may be nesting there, and will need shade the vegetation may be providing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">5. If your bee hotels are in a very sunny location, move them to a shadier spot if there is no longer any activity around the hotels. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">6. Grow a variety of drought-tolerant flowers (and shrubs) for short-tongued and long-tongued bees whereever you can &#8211; on a patio, balcony, rooftop, window box. And keep them watered when they are flowering. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">7. Plant dense shrubs where bumblebees can shelter from the heat and they provide cooler corridors when they are flying from one patch of flowers to another. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">8. If you are aware of the location of an underground bumblebee nest, try to provide it with some shade. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">9. Timed drip or trickle irrigation is specifically permitted by Thames Water for domestic use during the current hosepipe ban if it it meets several conditions: not handheld, delivers water drip by drip directly onto or beneath the soil surface, there is no surface run-off or pooling, no spraying, misting or jetting of water through the air. So a standard soaker\/drip hose kit with a battery timer and an inline pressure reducer should be compliant. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Look at the difference a regular supply of water makes to a planter with a shallow depth of soil. After a few days without water, most of the plants appear dead. But a few weeks after a drip, irrigation system provides a trickle of water for 10 minutes every 12 hours, they plants soon bounce [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[137,66,59],"class_list":["post-5017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","tag-bees-in-a-drought","tag-gardening-for-bees","tag-helping-bees"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Feeding bees in a drought - Urban Bees Website<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.urbanbees.co.uk\/blog_1\/?p=5017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Feeding bees in a drought - Urban Bees Website\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Look at the difference a regular supply of water makes to a planter with a shallow depth of soil. 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