Bees and other pollinators are in decline, and you may be wondering what you can do about it without putting in too much time and effort. Since lawn care practices are often detrimental to bees, altering your lawn care in a few ways may help to improve bee and pollinator diversity and numbers in your yard.
Here are a few of the ways you can support pollinators with your lawn care practices.
1. Go easy on weeds
While grass does produce pollen when it blooms, bees tend to love pollen from brightly colored flowers such as dandelions. If you dump herbicide on every dandelion sprout in your lawn, bees will never get the chance to forage there. As such, you could refrain from hounding specific pollinator-friendly weeds if you'd like to support bees.
In addition to dandelions, bees tend to love flowers such as clover, deadnettle, chickweed, and henbit. These may be options you want to consider for your lawn.
2. Let grass grow a bit longer
Cutting your grass every two or three weeks, instead of every week, can allow pollinator-friendly plants like clover enough time to produce flowers and offer pollen and nectar to your bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. It's an easy step to take. In fact, it may save you time and energy and it can be a significant help to your local bees.
3. Choose predators instead of pesticides
Sadly, many pesticides can cut a swath through bee populations in addition to killing your lawn pests. So if you have a pest that could be controlled by a predator such as nematodes or lacewings, consider introducing one of these beneficial predatory insects to your lawn rather than spraying pesticides right away.
4. If you must spray, use targeted sprays
Predatory insects may work better for some issues than others. If you do end up needing to spray for pests, choose one that's targeted to the pest at hand and won't kill bees. Be careful, because some sprays may kill bees even if they're considered organic. Neem oil, for instance, can kill bees. Choose one that uses active ingredients known to be bee-friendly.
5. Leave a wildflower border
Even a small strip of lawn that you don't mow (or mow less often) can provide some flowers for bees. If your HOA won't let you leave weeds to grow in your front lawn, consider leaving a border in your backyard by your fence, perhaps, or around landscape trees. It should be left a bit longer so the wildflowers can grow.
These are a few possible steps you could take to help pollinators such as bees in your area. Your local lawn care company can help you decide on the best lawn care strategies for your lawn. For more information, contact a company like Rock Solid Services LLC.
Share27 April 2021
About a year ago, I realized that part of the reason the plants in my yard kept dying was the fact that they were planted in the wrong places. I didn't pay much attention to which plants needed certain amounts of light, and it was costing them their lives. Several of the plants were really struggling to live, and it was really hard to see. I realized that if I ever wanted to make things right, I would need to create a landscaping plan that would work well for the natural landscape of my yard. This blog is all about understanding landscaping.
