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'Bee' cautious of pollinators when preparing your yards and gardens

Everyone wants the perfect green grass to make their homes sparkle during the summer, but are some people taking it too far to get that?

According to Dr. Courtney Mason, a Canada Research Chair in Rural Livelihoods and Sustainable Communities at Thompson Rivers University, keeping parts of your yard natural can be a huge help to pollinators such as native bees, moths, flies, and other insects.

"All kinds of other pollinators rely on things like leaf litter around your yard," said Mason. "So I think the issue is that everyone is ingrained to sweep up all of our leaves in the fall and sweep them away right in the spring and get that perfect green lawn going, that green golf course lawn. But really, that can be a major, major impact because all these pollinators, including moths and butterflies, overwinter in these areas."

<who> Photo Credit: File Photo

Mason explained that many insects are finishing their overwintering period, though some are still sleeping underground, in leaves, under sticks, and in other areas. He adds that scrapping these areas of your yard is much like throwing away this year's pollinators.

"A lot of the homes in the city get rid of all their leaves. They take them up to yard waste in the fall, and sometimes I'm guilty of that too, and then in the Spring, the first thing we do is get rid of the rustic. We do the trimming of our trees, fruit trees especially, and get that sort of yard waste. But it is really, really important that I would emphasize to a lot of people who are interested, would be to leave a little bit of space on their lawn that is natural... Anything that is an organic matter that comes from the trees and stuff."

"This is part of the evolution. The ideal lawn was this green, massive water suck grass that's not even native to the area. There's been a real transition in the last 20 years to kind of plant native plants because we know they're better for birds and pollinators. We've taken out some grass, put rock in and native plants that require less water and are more drought resistant. This is again another conversation that is part of that evolution where people are part of being educated about how important that organic matter is in a natural kind of state."

<who> Photo Credit: File Photo

Mason mentioned that pollinators do so much for the environment, not just breathing new life into flowers.

"This conversation about overwintering is about recognizing the value that pollinators have, not just for our own gardens and our own fruit trees, but of course those things attract everything up the food chain. Everyone wants birds in their yard, but they often don't want to support that insect life that supports the birds."

"Everyone wants these great gardens that look really beautiful and really productive, but we often don't do the things that support that."

In closing, Mason went on to say that even wasps play a crucial role in gardens, and if you want fresh tomatoes, it is best to let them stick around.

<who> Photo Credit: File Photo

"Everyone doesn't want wasp hives, well, wasps, I can see how they're a pain in the a**, they come around food, you're out enjoying a beer and they're in your beer, and you get the odd sting, I get all that, but at the same time, they want perfect tomato plants and wasps are one of the most important species to that. They eat aphids, and aphids eat tomato plants and give tomato plants disease... But wasps go along tomato plants and eat all the aphids for you."

Bees, wasps, and other pollinators are now active in creating new nests so keep some of your yard natural. Save the bees and other pollinators!



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