Karl's Garden Blog

I was talking about my plans to attract alternate pollinators and beneficial bugs with my mom, and she commented that she had always planted flowers in with the vegetable garden because her grandmother had. She had no idea why, and didn’t even give it conscious thought, but she mixed impatiens, local wildflowers, carpet flowers like Alyssum, and tried to always have something blooming in every season.

Side note: Great-grandmother Hrica was far before her time. As she harvested produce from her garden, she restored and enriched it by burying organic matter like plant waste, sticks, leaves, vegetable scraps, and eggshells in the dirt as she turned it. Funny how many of our “organic practices” have been practiced all along.

To modern backyard farmers who have really put some effort and study into their gardening practices (or stupid hacks like me that make mistakes until they finally do some research and figure it out), it’s obvious: Flowers attract bugs that pollinate, bugs that eat plants, and bugs that eat bugs.

My mom’s habitual list of practices are good ones.

Research what local bugs you have that pollinate (your state’s agricultural extension or your local Master Gardeners likely have a list along with what plants attract which bugs) and try to provide flowers they like plus a good habitat. In my area, we have a number of pollinators that become active in the early season, and lay eggs or nest in particular diameter holes bored in wood. I’ve placed a few blocks of wood with the right diameter holes in the top of my garden.

Alternate pollinators are sometimes far more efficient than the honeybees that we know and love. One species of green wasp here in Texas can pollinate 500 blossoms per hour, while most common species of honeybee are limited to twenty or so. Honeybees produce the happy side effect of honey, but you don’t want to rely on them … especially until scientists understand colony collapse disorder and figure out the cause and any workarounds.

Research the blooming seasons of your plants, and try to have ones blooming in every season. A good example is some of the local wildflowers I’m planting — their seeds should germinate this week, but I won’t see actual flowers for another 100 days after germination. That’s a long time! On the other hand, all of the Lupinus seeds should start blooming here fairly soon.

Place the plants in various places around your yard and garden, and not just at the edges. Some bugs will travel short distances, but some bugs will travel longer distances and hit every plant in between the two they’re really searching for.