Small spaces, big possibilities

You do not need a meadow, a paddock or even a proper back garden to make a real difference to bees and butterflies. A window box, a balcony, a courtyard, a narrow strip of front garden beside the path — all of it counts. Pollinators forage across a whole neighbourhood, drifting from one garden to the next, so every nectar-rich patch is a link in a chain. Your few square metres might be the bit that joins two larger gardens together.

The catch is that in a small space you have to be deliberate. There is no room for plants that look pretty but offer nothing, and no room to leave half the plot fallow. Think of it as a compact, high-performance planting scheme: nectar-rich flowers, a shallow source of water, and one or two undisturbed corners left alone for shelter and nesting.

Plant for a long season, not just midsummer

Most people buy whatever is in flower on a sunny Saturday in June, which is why so many small gardens feed pollinators brilliantly for three weeks and then go quiet. Bees and butterflies need food from late winter through to the first frosts, so aim to have at least two things in bloom at any point between March and October.

• Early spring: wallflowers, forget-me-nots, pulmonaria, hellebores, crocus, and the dandelions you should absolutely leave alone.
• Late spring to early summer: alliums, chives, hardy geraniums, honesty, and apple or cherry blossom if you have room for a small tree in a pot.
• Midsummer: lavender, catmint, oregano, marjoram, thyme, borage, phacelia, cosmos and single-flowered dahlias.
• Late summer and autumn: sedum, helenium, rudbeckia, Michaelmas daisies, and ivy flowers, which are a lifeline for late bees and red admirals.

One rule matters more than any other: choose single, open flowers over double ones. Frilly, multi-petalled bedding may look lavish, but the nectar and pollen are often hidden behind layers of petal where insects cannot reach them. A simple daisy-shaped flower beats a ruffled showstopper every time.

Nectar-rich plants that earn their place in pots

Container growing suits pollinators perfectly, provided you water diligently and use decent peat-free compost. These are reliable, generous and easy to find at any garden centre or from seed:

• Lavender — compact varieties work well in a sunny pot; clip lightly after flowering, never into old wood.
• Catmint (Nepeta) — flowers for months if you shear it back after the first flush.
• Oregano and marjoram — let a few stems flower rather than picking every leaf; the bees will thank you.
• Borage — sow direct in May and it will seed itself around forever. Brilliant for bumblebees.
• Phacelia — an inexpensive green manure that doubles as a pollinator magnet. Scatter it in any bare patch.
• Verbena bonariensis — tall, airy, see-through, so it never crowds a small border, and butterflies adore it.
• Hylotelephium (sedum) — a late-season feast, covered in bees well into September.

Plant in generous drifts rather than single specimens dotted about. A bee foraging on a patch of catmint will work it efficiently; one lonely plant is easy to miss entirely. Even in a tiny bed, group three or five of the same thing together.

A shallow drink makes a real difference

Bees need water, especially in hot spells, but they cannot swim. A deep pond or a steep-sided bird bath is a drowning hazard. Instead, put out a shallow dish — an old saucer, a plant tray, a glazed bowl — and fill it with pebbles, gravel or glass marbles so insects can land safely at the water's edge.

Top it up every day or two in summer and place it in partial shade so it does not evaporate or overheat. Butterflies will also use damp patches of bare earth, so if you have a corner of open soil, keep it slightly moist and leave it be.

Leave a corner undisturbed

This is the part most tidy gardeners find hardest, and the most valuable. Many solitary bees nest in bare ground, old mortar, or hollow plant stems; butterflies and lacewings overwinter in dead leaves and seed heads.

• Make a small log pile in the shadiest corner, ideally with the cut ends facing south to catch the sun.
• Leave stems standing over winter — teasels, sedum, fennel and buddleja all have hollow stems that solitary bees will use.
• Allow a patch of nettles in a pot or behind the shed if you can spare it. Nettles are the caterpillar food plant for peacocks, small tortoiseshells and red admirals.
• Keep a warm, sunny stone or two. Butterflies bask to raise their body temperature; a flat slab in full sun will be used daily.

Gentle habits that keep the garden buzzing

Avoid insecticides entirely, and think hard before using weedkillers on anything in flower. Leave seed heads on teasels, coneflowers and honesty through the winter — they feed birds and shelter insects. Delay the big autumn tidy-up until March, letting fallen leaves sit under shrubs. Feed your pots with a potassium-rich tomato feed in summer to keep flowers coming, and deadhead regularly so plants put energy into new blooms rather than seed.

Above all, be patient. A new small garden takes a season or two to be discovered. Put the right flowers in, keep the water topped up, resist the urge to tidy everything, and the bees and butterflies will find you.