How to Start a Pollinator Garden or Habitat.

Published in

Age of Awareness

5 min readMay 6, 2021

I am in awe of the beautiful pollinators, bees, butterflies, and birds, that visit my backyard habitat. It’s as if they know that it was made just for them. The idea of the habitats are near and dear to me; it saddens me to think that so much of our wildlife is suffering and in danger of extinction.

I recall growing up in Miami, surrounded by flowers year round, established fruit trees, luscious palms ,and pollinators all around. Bees and beneficial insects were everywhere. There was vibrant life in most gardens. When I set out to prepare the garden, I had no idea so many pollinators would find their way here. yet somehow, they did. Other gardeners have commented, and I concur, It is like in the movie, Field of Dreams, “If you build it they will come.”

No doubt this is a great project, physically, mentally, and spiritually. This would even be an excellent science lesson for children and an opportunity to get them to appreciate their natural world. There are lesson plans for this and some schools even have programs to encourage the students to connect and properly steward their environment.

In creating a habitat, the goal is to provide an environment that is natural, and includes, food, water, shelter, and nesting spaces. It is very important to remember to add avoid any chemicals in your garden or sprays to plants where there will be delicate pollinators. It is not a difficult project, and can be a work in progress. The important thing is to get started, and it will come together.

Steps:

Find the native plants for your area. I use this web site. https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/Plants. It is best to include flowers, fruits, nuts, and seeds. This site has natives to attract birds. https://www.audubon.org/native-plants
Once you find the best plants for your area, you will have to select plants and a location that are a good match. So if your choose plants that are full sun, your location should have adequate light and look at those types of characteristics of the plants and your chosen location.
Plan your layout, when placing your plants, you will want to include shrubs or trees for shade, also areas with plenty of sun.
Prepare the soil for planting. The preparation will depend on the condition of your soil, but in general it should include organic compost and/or nutrients, and never use chemicals.
Plant your native plants, remove any non-native or invasive species. That information is specific to your area and the university cooperatives usually provide excellent resources.
Provide a clean water source, with a stone to serve as a landing pad for the pollinators.
Include nesting boxes for bees.
Include old logs or branches where pollinators can take refuge.

Once you’ve planted your garden, cover with organic mulch. Like any garden or fresh planting, until the plants are established they will require more watering, and care. If you’ve planted native species, the garden will eventually care for itself with minimal interventions from outside, but you will have to make sure the water supply is clean.

I’ve been applying permaculture principles to my yard for five years, working on converting my yard into a food forest. Pollinator gardens and wildlife habitats are the norm in permaculture. The idea to is support nature and not disturb anything down to the microscopic level, whenever possible. Let nature decompose organic healthy material and return it to the soil as nutrition. It all should work like a forest does, that it takes care of itself. Nothing is wasted, but everything is recycled and turned into something useful and beautiful.

These permaculture principles, such as composting, have improved my soil and it shows as the plants are healthy and more animals, not just pollinators, come to gather some food. I have visits from Egrets, raccoons, possums and and even an armadillo. They come to get worms that are a part of a healthy soil. All of these animals each do their part for the environment and it is quite a majestic and peaceful scene everyday. I would encourage you to get started and soon as possible and you will see nature respond with beautiful sights, sounds, and scents.