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?).
I WATCHED A ZOOM lecture the other day that really put into words a lot of the ways my own deepening understanding of ecology is shaking up the way I practice horticulture—from spring cleanup, right on to the last chore of the active year. The lecturer was Rebecca McMackin, director of horticulture for Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City, where she leads the team that manages 85 acres of diverse parkland with a central focus on habitat creation of woodlands, wetlands, and meadows to build soils and support birds, butterflies, and other organisms.
We talked about the dynamic tactics they use and when and why–a whole different approach to spring cleanup, where the life cycles of animals (from insects on up) dictate what happens when, garden maintenance-wise. Like why some things don’t get cut back, and others that are still seed-laden when they do have their seeds collected and set aside, then returned to the spot after whatever cleanup is needed there.
(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)
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.