Home gardens provide a habitat for birds and insects. Choosing plants that support these “friends” can help you keep the “foes” of your garden to a minimum. After spending time and energy getting your kitchen garden a.k.a.“Victory Garden”installed, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing crops stressed by pests impacting the harvest you have worked so hard to achieve.
Plant stress and insect damage can be minimized by building your soil, paying attention to the health of your crops, and keeping a diverse mix of plants in the edible garden. Working to attract pollinators and beneficial insects can also help decrease the chances of a pest infestation. Why not let the good guys eat the bad guys?
Planting flowering plants inter-mixed with your vegetables is one way to encourage pollinators. I like to use herbs or edible flowers in my raised garden beds. That way I know I can pick any of them to use in my cooking without having to remember which were edible and which were not.
For edible plants that produce “fruits” like eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, and squash pollinators are a critical part of the production life cycle. These types of plants have flowers (both male and female) that need to cross pollinate in order to make the vegetable that we want to eat. Without that transfer of pollen from male to female flowers the plant will not set fruit and provide those delicious items you have been waiting for.
I always plant flowers near my fruiting plants. Borage is easy to grow and flowers throughout the season. They can grow quite large but the bees love those blue flowers. Nasturtiums are another easy to grow edible flower that adds a pop over color to the garden beds when tucked in between fruiting plants. Both of these plants are annuals (only live one season) but I have found that the easily self seed, and given our mild winters, they will often produce again the following year without replanting.
Birds and bees also need a consistent water source during this hot dry time of the year. You can support them by building a bird and/or bee bath in your yard and keeping it filled with fresh water. Bird baths are self explanatory but bees need a shallower place to land. Build your own bee bath by using a shallow dish and filling it with marbles or stones. Then fill the container with water so that only the tops of your marbles or pebbles are exposed. This will provide a safe landing spot for the bees when they come to drink.
Next time you are walking in your neighborhood - see if you can spot these pollinator habitat supports being placed near fruiting plants!
Hope you are all enjoying this lovely weather and getting Good to Grow!