Pollinator Week celebrates and supports these crucial workers
Purple coneflowers produce both pollen and nectar, making them a favorite with bees, such as this furrow bee, part of the species of sweat bees. Kathy Morrison
What's your favorite pollinator?
If you said "bee," here's the perfect time to get specific. It's International Pollinator Week, through Sunday, celebrating and supporting pollinator health.
Honeybees are pollinators, of course, but they're not native to the Uniated States. California has more than 1,600 identified bee species -- all but a handful are native. Then of course there are flies, wasps, butterflies, bats, beetles, moths and birds that do the important work of pollinating plants and crops.
I'm fond of the little green sweat bees, but don't see them as often as I do the big lumbering carpenter bees that frequent my 'Hot Lips' salvia plant.
Whatever your favorite, pollinators are important to us. They provide one of every three bites of food we eat, according to the Pollinator Partnership, but they are threatened by urban growth, climate change and loss of habitat.
Here is the Partnership's guide for helping pollinators:
-- Plant a range of flowering plants, especially natives. (Pollinators need food through the seasons, so successful pollinator gardens always have something blooming.)
-- Reduce or eliminate your contribution to the use of pesticides. (Psst: Eliminate it! Pesticides too easily hurt the good bugs, too.)
-- Reach out to others -- inform and inspire! (Get the neighbors to plant for pollinators, too.)
-- Support local bees and beekeepers.
-- Conserve all of our resources. Use less and reduce your impact. (That organic waste bucket is being used, right?)
-- Support the work of groups promoting science-based practical efforts for pollinators.
For more information and inspiration, explore the resources at the UC Davis Bee Haven website, the Insect Connect website (part of the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources) or the Pollinator Partnership at pollinator.org
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Food in My Back Yard Series
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of April 27
Once the clouds clear, get to work. Spring growth is in high gear.
* Set out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash. Plant onion sets.
* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias. Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.
* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom. Late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce and cabbage seedlings.
* Weed, weed, weed! Don’t let unwanted plants go to seed.
* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.
* Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.
* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.
* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.
* Start thinning fruit that's formed on apple and stone fruit trees -- you'll get larger fruit at harvest (and avoid limb breakage) if some is thinned now. The UC recommendation is to thin fruit when it is about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Peaches and nectarines should be thinned to about 6 inches apart; smaller fruit such as plums and pluots can be about 4 inches apart. Apricots can be left at 3 inches apart. Apples and pears should be thinned to one fruit per cluster of flowers, 6 to 8 inches apart.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.
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