Resolutions to Help Pollinators
A new year means new resolutions! My personal resolutions are to build garden boxes out of reclaimed bricks and seed native plants in my backyard. There are many other things you can do to support pollinators this year.
Become a Wildlife Gardener
Choosing a patch (big or small) of turf grass to transform into a beautiful native garden is a great way to help native wildlife and pollinators. To help pollinators you should plant species that bloom in the Spring, Summer, and Fall to ensure there are nectar resources year-round.
Some of my favorite native plants are Purple Prairie Clover, Golden Alexander, and Bee Balm!
Create Nesting Sites
You can create natural nesting sites by leaving logs on the ground to break down or leaving your cut plant stems in the fall. Brush piles can also provide a great nesting area. Bee hotels can also create needed nesting sites for our pollinators although they require careful maintenance to keep disease and mite numbers low.
70% of our native bees are ground-nesting. Help them out by creating access to patches of bare soil and avoiding tilling while they nest. Another way to help ground-nesting bees is to consider mulching with compost instead of wood bark mulch – it has many of the same benefits such as weed suppression, and water retention, yet allows for nesting and improves your soil!
Some pollinators only lay their eggs on specific host plants. For example, the Monarch butterfly’s host plant is Milkweed.
Another is the Regal Fritillary with their host plant, Violets.
Planting specific host plants for pollinators is another great way to create habitat!
Reducing Pesticide Use
Reducing pesticide use has a HUGE impact on local wildlife health! Whether it is insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides, or fungicides, they hurt and can kill beneficial insects like pollinators. They are designed to kill, and they do that well. Pesticides can also become dangerous runoff when it rains and wash away into rivers or waterways.
According to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, American homeowners use up to ten times more chemical pesticides per acre on their lawns than farmers use on crops. You will need less pesticide if you create better soil health by composting, aerate the soil so insects have an easier time incorporating organic matter, and use Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
There are plenty of alternatives to using pesticides in your garden.
Here are some options:
- Use your hands the old-fashioned way! I love getting my hands dirty when I garden. It makes me feel connected to nature.
- Add barriers like fencing or mesh to keep pests off of your plants.
Be mindful by only using pesticides when absolutely necessary. These are times like battling invasive species or infestations. Use targeted chemicals for specific issues and avoid broad-spectrum or systemic pesticides that harm everything they come in contact with.
Create a Water Source
Pollinators need water too! Bees use water to help regulate the temperature of their hive and feed their young. Bees can’t swim so it is important that any water source you create is shallow and has some sort of hard surface scattered in it. You can make your own pollinator watering station easily.
You can use a bird bath if only add a little water and add rocks.
You can also use a hummingbird feeder filled with regular tap or rain water! No need to add anything. The bees will gather on the fake flowers and drink to their heart’s content. Hummingbirds will also still visit for a quick drink.
If you have rocks or glass marbles you can fill any container with them and a little water. This gives pollinators plenty of places to stand and drink from.
If you want a self-filling watering hole, you can even use a gravity-fed pet feeder. Just add rocks to the bottom bowl to prevent drowning.
