How to Make a garden Pollinator friendly

In this article I will talk about “how can you make your garden much more pollinator friendly” and thus improve  efficiency in yielding crops.


So lets start with:

What is pollination and who are the pollinators?

Pollination is a process of moving pollens from one flower to another flower of the same species and thus producing fertile seeds. It is a compulsory process for
flowering plants.
The pollinators who help in pollination can be inanimate like wind, water or it can be living species like Bees, Butterflies, Wasp or smaller birds (like Hummingbird).

Why they need our help?

A pollinator like bee feeds on the pollen from flowering plants and in turn pollinate it to grow fruits. These fruits are not only consumed by humans but also by various species living in this planet. They are vital to the ecosystem and their are hardly any alternative available to humans to pollinate such a wide range of flowering plants.
Several species of bees and butterflies have lost their habitat due to excessive deforestation and use of pesticides. We can at least do a bit from our side to increase their population or it will hurt ourselves in the long run.

How can we help them? 

Here are some of steps you can take to make a Garden much more Pollinator friendly:

1. Plant native plants: Pollinators are most comfortable with native plants. Most of them have a particular choice of plant for their feeding. A foreign plant might not provide the pollinator their required pollen. Plant different varieties of plants so you would get a diverse mix of different pollinators.

Here are some Plant preference for different pollinators:
a. Bees: They prefer blue, yellow and purple coloured flowers with sweet fragrances. Ensure your garden have enough native plants of these features; you dont wanna miss “The most active pollinators”, do you?
b.Butterflies: Though they normally feed on any nectar rich flower; their preference is always platform shaped sunflowers. Keep them in your garden and you will never miss those beautiful creatures.
c. Moths: Plants that are white in colour and have strong sweet smell are most preferred by moths.
d. Others: There may be other types of pollinators in your locality. Study their habitat and behaviour and try to match these in your garden.

2. Plant quite a few plants together for creating a better attraction to the pollinators: it will increase their foraging efficiency.

3. Plant in such a way so that you get blooming flowers through out the year. It would give the pollinators enough motivation to come to your garden though out the year and not in a particular season.

4. Provide nesting opportunity: There can be different types of pollinators in your garden so their needs for building nests would be different. Keep small piles of branches, wooden logs etc for bees and wasps to build their nests. Plant some of the plants which are conducive for butterflies to lay eggs.

5. Stop using pesticides all together you definitely dont want to kill your visitors after inviting them to your garden.

6. Have patience: It takes time for plants to grow and bear flowers. Pollinators will eventually find your garden. It might take some time for them to locate your garden in case it is far from their nests. So have patience.

7. Help others to create pollinator friendly gardens: Share information about pollinator friendly gardens. Help others around your locality to build such garden. It will attract pollinators to their gardens as well as yours.


Use these information and other valuable resource available on internet to educate yourself and apply the knowledge in your garden.



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How to make a Pet Friendly Garden

If you have pets and you also want to do gardening you need to consider two major issues.

1. Pets can provide certain damages to your garden
2. Your garden may cause some harm to your pets.

Now lets consider those two points in detail and the steps to counter those problems.

Damaging impacts of pets on the garden:

Like it or not, pets have a tendency to destroy the vegetables which have been planted.

Urination is a very common phenomena. Dogs tends to urinate in the gardens. Sometimes it is so toxic that it can kill grasses. The best you can do is to put some water over the place to dilute the impact. Remove any dog poo immediately and dont wait for they to dicey.

Open Garden space is heaven for cat littering. Dont keep any garden beds open. If you dont have anything to grow, cover it with mulch or plastic. Open garden beds are the place where cats prefer to littre.

Building a fence around the vegetables or the garden to protect the plants. Here is an article you should read on building fences. 

In case of cat this type of fencing might not work. So what you can do is use plastic forks and plant them evenly(not more than 8 inches apart) in your garden with the pointed side upwards. The best part of using plastic forks is cats will not get injured and also learn to avoid the garden.

Plant thorny plants like roses. This will discourage pets like dogs to enter your garden.

In case you have cats, building a small separate garden with catnip and grasses is a very good idea. It can distract the them from your prized scalp.

Larger plants are generally less disturbed by the pets than the smaller ones. So in case the the plants are very tine right now use some kind of cage to protect them till they grow bigger.

In some extreme cases you might have to use different repellants (it should be pet friendly) to keep them away.

A garden can also harm the pets:

Now consider the second problem. How much we may want our pets to stay away from the plants chances are that they would reach there. So it is for the sake of our pets, we have to select our plants wisely.

There are several plants that are hazards to pets and can create a lot of trouble if they come in contact with those. Avoid them at any cost. Most of the dogs dont chew any plant but small puppies some times tend to do so.

Dont go for chemical herbicides or fertilizers. Being organic is the first thing you can do to keep your pets safe. While applying any kind of fertilizers or pest repellants or weeding your plot keep your pets inside your house and dont let them into the garden.

In case you find your pets to act unusually like vomiting, wobbling or salivating excessively consult your nearest veterinary for guidance.

Having pets and a garden is all you need to spend your quality time. If you follow these tips you can enjoy both without sacrificing the other.

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