Bees n Beans.co.uk - natural gardening
Gardening and Pruning Services
We absolutely love to garden. We take great pride in what we do and are always trying to learn new things.
Bees'n'Beans gardening services include:
Regular Maintenance - Bi-weekly visits to keep your garden looking great throughout the spring, summer and autumn. We mow lawns, maintain flower beds, put in bedding, bury bulbs, water, maintain shrubs and trees, prune, weed, clean ponds - you name it! We generally make two-hour visits.
Help to Grow Your Own - Let us start a vegetable patch for you. We'll can also help maintain it if you find you need some help or advice.
Garden Design and Make-Over - A cost-effective, informal design and planting service that won't blow your budget. We'll also give you a great deal on plants and labour.
One-off Blitzes - If you just have too much to do or need a helping-hand with a special project. 
Some of our general policies about our gardening: We don’t believe in standing around talking or drinking coffee; we do this in our own time after we have finished. If we are rained off we will phone or e-mail and arrange another time, not just leave you guessing. Next, we prefer to work together and charge at a rate which reflects that you get two hours work for every hour we are there.
Please call us for a free estimate or a chat about your gardening needs.
Fruit-Tree Pruning
We studied pruning with Peter Barwick at Blackmoor Nurseries and, after a few years of pruning our (approximately) 50 trees, decided to offer this service professionally. We love pruning and take care to preserve the tree for many years to come. It is beneficial to have your fruit trees pruned every year, and the tree rewards you with larger fruit and a reliable crop. Please contact us for a free estimate.
Time to Prune
The time to prune depends on what kind of tree it is:
February/March - Apple, Pear, Quince
September/October - Plum, Greengage, Cherry, Peach
About Bees'n'Beans
Last Updated (Monday, 07 November 2011 14:18) Written by SuenMike Wednesday, 19 August 2009 00:00
Hello and welcome to the Bees’n’Beans website!
It’s now the autumn of 2011. We have put all the gardens to bed and are watching the bees gradually form into their winter clusters for the next few months. How we are going to miss them until spring!
We had a great year and watched most of our beginning bee-keeping students start their first hives, which was incredibly gratifying. We participated in Boris Johnson’s baby, Capital Bee, and taught bee-keeping to representatives of area organisations – Capel Manor College, Friends of Streatham Cemetery and The Walpole Estate, Woolwich. We will continue with them in the spring and help them launch their maiden hives.
But we must admit, it was a lousy honey year for us. It seemed that many other bee-keepers experienced this as well, but it made us conclude that next year (after three years of teaching), our main concern is going to be about taking care of our bees. So we have made the decision that we are not going to teach the beginning bee-keeping class in 2012. (But there’s good news so keep reading!)
2011 was also good to us in that we helped to form a new bee-keeping club in Croydon: the Country Park Bee Keepers Association. Andy Williams, a Parks Coordinator for Croydon Council, encouraged us to start keeping bees at the South Norwood Country Park and, together with former students, we found ample enthusiasm and support for the club. The good folk at the Country Park helped to create an apiary and we currently have two hives. We hope to become a veritable bee-keeping force in the Croydon/Crystal Palace area – so watch out!
One of the Association’s goals is to teach beginning bee-keeping so if you would like more information, please send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
We are also starting a Queen Rearing group and plan to sell good-quality queens for a good price. Please email the club ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) if you are in the market for a queen next year and hopefully we can help you out.
Mike and I also may have a few nucleuses and queens for sale so please keep us in mind, as well. You can contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
We will be hibernating most of the winter but we are hawks when it comes to emails, so feel free to get in touch.
Here’s to the bees!
Cheers,
Sue’n’Mike
Taster sessions - for families and friends
Last Updated (Sunday, 20 September 2009 09:49) Written by SuenMike Monday, 11 August 2008 22:13
We will be running taster sessions, by appointment, we can introduce you or your whole family to the delight of a bee hive. With proper protective clothing and our supervision you will have a unique experience and we hope you will be inspired by our bees!
Call 07773 201439 to make arrangements with us.
Bee-Keeping Classes
Unless otherwise stated courses are based at Forster Road Allotments Community Building (near Elmer’s End Station.) See map below or go directly to Multimap.
