The Easiest Way To Help Out Pollinators This Spring [Week 11]
Amanda Drews, 2 minute read
There’s a really easy way to help out your local pollinating insects. And that’s to do nothing at all this Spring when it comes to cleaning up your garden.
Well, nothing yet at least.
Sometimes when we’ve had a long winter and that sun is finally shining, we just want any excuse to get outside! Even if it means working by cleaning up the yard and the garden.
But wait!
Before you go cleaning up all the debris and digging up the leaves and stems that have been sitting on your lawn all winter, take a moment to think about what purpose they might serve by just leaving them there. What could have laid its eggs in those leaves? Or what might be hibernating in those stems? Ok, with insects it’s actually called diapause but we can say hibernating to be more general.
There are many insects that are beneficial to us that overwinter in our gardens.
9 species of butterflies in Minnesota including the red admiral and the mourning cloak, overwinter in the adult stage. Others spend the winter as caterpillars or in a chrysalis. There are also beneficial bugs and beetles that may be in there that are important for your garden. Some common ones listed on Bachman’s gardening site include ground beetles, ladybugs, parasitic wasps, lacewings, lightning bugs, beneficial nematodes and the praying mantis. When they are left alone and hatch before pests, such as aphids, you will already have a leg (or 6) up on defending your garden.
We are all becoming more aware of the decline in bees lately. Apples, cherries, blueberries and many other foods we eat are dependent on bee populations. The agricultural production value of bees and other pollinating insects is estimated to be around $16 billion a year just in the United States alone! Not to mention the beautiful flowers we enjoy that they help pollinate.
If you must clean up your garden in the spring, here are some tips from savvygardening.com on how to do it the right way.
- Wait until there’s at least one week of temperatures that are consistently over 50 degrees F. Think about what time of year it is and if that week has been unseasonably warm or not. Is it likely to stay warm or are they still predicting days of snow?
- If you have to cut plant stems, do so very carefully and loosely spread them into a pile.
- Leave 8 inches of stem left. These will serve nicely for the next winter and should soon be covered up by new plant growth.
- Bundle the stems and hang them up. This can also serve as brooding chambers for bees throughout the summer.
- Wait to mulch so the insects overwintering under the soil can easily emerge.
1). Nothing. Just wait to clean up your garden until later in the Spring or Summer. Wow! That was easy!
2. Learn about the basics of composting and why we should be doing it in Week 12.
