When it comes to autumn yard and garden work, by doing less, you'll be doing more for pollinators. Here are a few tips for pollinator-friendly gardening:
Leave some leaves. Leaves provide nutrients, insulation, and essential cover for pollinators.
Provide sunny areas with bare, mulch-free soil to host ground-nesting pollinators, such as bumblebees and hoverfly larvae.
Keep rocks, sticks, logs, and dead trees or stumps for burrowing or taking cover.
Pixabay, Autumn Wood Foliage
Maintain a supply of early and late-blooming plants to provide food for pollinators when other sources are scarce.
Grow plants in groups so pollinators can easily find them and conserve energy in gathering food.
In the spring, protect pollinators by waiting until temperatures are consistently 50 degrees and above before cleaning up your yard and garden. This gives pollinators a chance to safely emerge in the spring.
These simple gardening practices give pollinators the chance to keep pollinating year after year.
Stacy Sola is a Ramsey County Master Gardener Volunteer.
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