WHAT FLOWERS DO YOU PLANT in the vegetable garden to encourage good pollination of your food crops? That was the great question raised the other day in the Urgent Garden Question Forum by member NanZ. Want to hear the many answers (or better yet, come on over and give one of your own)? Here’s your free ticket to come listen in (OK, it’s always free, but you can’t blame a girl for trying to sound extra enticing, can you?).
THE LECTURE that he’s been giving for a number of years is not-so-subtly called “Kill Your Lawn.” Ecological horticulturist Dan Jaffe Wilder knows that starting over and creating an entire native habitat instead of a lawn isn’t for everyone. But Dan just wants to grab our attention and get us to start to make some changes at least in the way we care for the turfgrass we do want in our landscapes. And maybe give up a little square footage of it to some other kind of more diverse planting, too, like the wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana, inset). Alternative, more eco-focused styles of lawn care, along with some lawn alternatives is what he and I talked about on the podcast. Dan is Director of Applied Ecology at Norcross Wildlife Foundation in Wales, Massachusetts, and its 8,000-acre sanctuary. He’s also co-author with Mark Richardson of the book “Native Plants for New England Gardens.”
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What a great question… and an easy one since there are so many! I’ll have to take a listen…
I always plant marigolds around my tomatoes as it supposedly helps keep bugs away. Seems to work for me. :)
Calendula and sunflowers are favorites in my veggie garden.
Welcome, Angie. Those are two I have used here, too. The calendulas always self-sow the following year, and then they bloom so early…which is also nice. Hope to see you again soon.
I have found that caryopteris attracts tons of bees. We have a two acre food bank community garden and will be planting pollinator attracting plants all through the fields…wildflowers, sunflowers, cosmos, etc. Perennials will be planted on the borders (caryopteris and buddleia among oithers)………………. We also have three beehives going in the adjacent fields. We hope to increase production and are very interested in responses you get.
Any kind of herb.