Is this your yard? No shame! Many people inherit landscapes like this when they move in and haven’t found the time to make a change. Check out the sidebar for resources on how to get started on a more pollinator-friendly landscape!
You don’t have to remove the whole lawn at once if it seems overwhelming. Even a small insect-friendly garden area or changes in how you manage the lawn can make a big difference.
This Xerces Society article also has some basic and easy steps: https://xerces.org/blog/bee-friendlier-with-your-lawncare
Check out the sidebar for resources on how to get started on a more pollinator-friendly landscape!
That's what I'm here for. Thanks!
Even a small insect-friendly garden area can make a big difference.
I appreciate the regular advice here, and that is what I'm starting with.
It's not perfect, but I spread a lot of regionally appropriate clover all over my existing lawn. By getting a variety of colors it means I get pretty flowers, it doesn't grow tall which keeps the neighbors from being too unhappy and I regularly have a decent number of polinators just doing their thing.
It hasn't killed the grass, but it is doing a good job stunting it.I'm still occasionally required to mow by code, but when I do it doesn't eliminate the flowers and just lops off the top few inches of grass and clover.
This!!! I love the Xerxes Society! I need to save your comment because it really does seem overwhelming at first, and I want to let people know every bit helps, even a few flowers in the early spring or fall!
The bees are dying because of neonicatinoids in RoundUp presticides.
Yes, neonicotonoids probably kill bees.
But if we want to be taken seriously, we need to be knowledgeable about the subject. Neonicotonoids are a class of insecticides. Roundup is a herbicide (glyphosate). They can both be bad, but they are bad in different ways.
And parasitic mites
Both are factors
Several years ago, developers cut down a giant tract of woods practically across the street from my house in order to build a brand new housing community. Cookie cutter homes with early 90's Tim Burton level "perfect lawns" stretching over hundreds of acres.
I started taking my walks down that way, since at a minimum they had sidewalks along the entire stretch making my evening walks a bit safer than trying to navigate the roadsides without them.
A couple of springs after the monstrosity was built, there was a house where about 1/4 of the lawn was covered in the mounds of ground nesting bees. I specifically chose my walking path each day so that I could go by there to witness the spectacular display. It was so neat watching the bees, males hovering over the mound nests fighting off rivals and trying to entice females. The melodious buzz of hundreds of bees dancing around the entrances to their nests was the highlight of my stroll.
Then one day I walked by and the owner of that yard was outside talking to someone from a pest control company about how to get rid of the bees in their yard. I'm not one to intrude on people, but since I was stopped at the intersection due to traffic and I overheard the conversation, I did mention to them that these mounds would be gone in a matter of days regardless of whether they were sprayed or not, and that the bees are non-aggressive natives that wouldn't/couldn't sting you and posed no threat.
A week or so later there was a sign in the yard with some statement that basically said to avoid touching the grass, keep pets and children out, dangerous pesticides had been sprayed.
The optimist in me wants to believe that something I read is true, and it basically stated that traditional pesticides are not usually very effective against ground nesting bees because the adults are short lived anyway, and most of the commonly used pesticides bind to soil and therefore don't usually penetrate deeply enough down into the soil to kill the larva/offspring.
I dead ass had a pest company come to my door and offer to flush my lawn with pesticide to get rid of all the bugs in it. I said "my guy, did you know that global insect populations are crashing and we're heading towards complete ecological collapse? I recognize everyone's gotta get their bread, but this is pretty bad stuff you guys are doing." He seemed interested and moved on. I doubt he quit the company, but a boy can dream.
Edit: no HOA, and my neighbors dgaf, so I can be a proud dandelion enjoyer. Planting tons of natives, we'll see how it goes.
Or the obvious, these bugs keep the yard healthy
I'm sorry, he wanted to exterminate your garden?
That is the stupidest thing I have heard in ages.
edit: as in, stupid on the pest company.
I mean that's a growth market if you can convince people it's something they need.
The best part is it's outdoors, so the bugs will come back and then you get repeat business! I bet you even get some whales who get you out for it every month!
This is actually how "entrepreneurs" think. They'll come up with these evil, manipulative schemes and think they're being clever.
No drop of rain blames themselves for the flood.
I highly recommend clover yards. Minimal upkeep and they help nature. They also require like 60% less water and stay green longer. Only grow to about 4-6” so you don’t have to mow.
Lawns are giant funko pops for the modern suburbanite home owner.
Still get knocks on my door from companies wanting to help me with my yard.
No thanks.
Bunnies made homes in leaves, I get to watch a red-tailed hawk hunt in my backyard with their adolescent hawks, baby deer taking naps in the grass, the turtles still visit and have a places to lay their eggs (small pond on property), peeper frogs in the spring, lightning bugs like crazy in the summer, 3ft garder snake that suns in the bushes / front steps in the summer, birds have taken over the bushes and my dogs get to chase bunnies and watch the birds from the windows.
Besides this being a remenant of slave ownership, look how many slaves I have to keep my lawn perfectly manicured type thing, it's just another capitalist shit storm they sell you to keep you from seeing what's really going on and paying more for things that are ultimately killing you, us, everyone.
Oh, and I don't spend every waking fucking moment on the weekends, mowing, raking, moving specific nature into another spot, all for vanity's sake and to turn around and do it all over again.
Or go get gas, spill it filling up the lawn mower, further pollute the atmosphere etc., (my stuff is electric anyways).
So many benefits to this.
Take your time and energy back.
Stop fighting nature.
Let the planet live like it wants.
Do you just let your grass grow wild or planted something like clover like others are suggesting?
For now, I let it grow wild and mow it in certain areas because the grass grows so long and thick it's like a foot tall shag rug standing up. My dogs get lots in it and there's a ton of ticks if I don't.
I also already have wild strawberries, clovers, etc. and I'm happy for those to take over the yard. But I want to add patches / areas of native wild flowers eventually. Help the pollinators out some more.
There's a place, in my state, that sells native griund cover and even gives tips on how to 'kill' your yard and replace with native ground cover.
I also didn't specify, my backyard is all open and I've let that go completely. It's really fun to see how nature has taken it back.
Part of the front is fenced in, to keep the dogs safe, but that's the only part I do any mowing in, so I can see my pups when the grass grows too long.
Thanks for asking!
What do you do with yours?
Not my lawn. I've been selectively breeding my yard to only have highly drought tolerant native plants. My neighbor brags about his st Augustine monoculture and the $400 a month water bill to keep it alive, but always asks me what my secret is because I literally never water, fertilize, or poison it (besides with specific poison for invasive fire ants).
Although I am planning on seeding clover this year, largely because I plan on urban farming in my backyard, but I won't complain about the nitrogen fixing in the front either.
Your lawn sounds far more interesting than his. I hate the cookie cutter, artificially green lawns.
I think it looks better, but I'm an outdoorsman at heart so I prefer nature.
What do you use against fire ants?
We planted clover; it blooms (great for pollinators), spreads fast, is very comfy to sit on, absorbs shock better when you fall on it, has a max length that's much shorter than grass, so you don't really need to mow the lawn unless you prefer it short and leaves less space for other undesireable plants to grow, while not needing much water to stay green (saving water). It's pretty great honestly!
Little fact: clover is edible, so if you feel like eating clover nectar, you'll be able to. I know some people might find that weird, but it tastes very good, which is why many farmers let their bees collect clover nectar to make their honey (it makes sweet/tangy delicious honey, due to how sweet clover nectar tastes to begin with).
I've always wondered what it must be like to be a cow and just eat the floor
You don't eat the leaf of it, you pick the petal and suckle the nectar out... it's one of the rare flowers that you can eat the nectar of. Also if you ever ate broccoli and cauliflower, congratz, you ate a flower, like a cow would.
Clover sucks if you got children that step of the bees.
I don't understand what you mean? I was around plenty of clover as a child and never got stung once, neither did my siblings. It's not that hard to avoid bees/wasps/bumblebees. Besides, most times they are too busy buzzing around the clover flowers (when they are in bloom that is) to even be bothered that you're there to begin with. The bloom doesn't even last that long.
If you teach the kids to respect their environment and be cautious during blooming time, they are pretty good at avoiding getting stung/bit by the pollinators in general.
Fucking... Don't tell me to look both ways before crossing the street, tell the cars to wait! That's why I need childism.
I live in a van, I've spent a lot of time deep in the woods all across the US. There are still hardly any insects when the nearest lawn is dozens of miles away. This is almost definitely related to industrial scale pollution effecting the entire ecosystem not just just localized habitat destruction.
I live in California's central valley. It's a big area that's kind of similar to the serenghetti in terms of ecology in that it's technically a desert purely by rainfall measures, but it's a seasonal wetland in practice. Suffice it to say that bugs used to be off the fucking hook here; if you drove for forty minutes, your car was caked. Now, you barely get six bugs. Scared the shit out of my nature-loving mom when I pointed that out.
Our first one of the year earlier this week
Incorrect. The earth is sick, infected with a particularly nasty strain of the Human virus. The fever may take a while to kill the infection, and may take a few species with it, but temperatures rise, and rise.
Nope, not my yard.
Its not even blue!
Pollinators HATE this one simple trick!
Native plants ftw! Did anyone look into pocket forests too? I'll try to pitch it on my next community meeting
Feel free to ask questions or post about your ideas on !treehuggers@slrpnk.net. Right now it's mostly news but I want to see more content like that--people taking action to reforest the earth.
Current contents of my yard:
Misc cardboard garbage (the bin fell over due to wind recently)
An exhaust pipe (the mounts broke, and I'm getting rid of the car soon anyway, so it was easier to just tears it off)
Misc trash wood and furniture (indoor building projects)
An old crappy looking car (because for the next month I will still be driving an old crappy looking car)I may not be helping the bees, but neighborhood cats love the "terrain"
Also, I'll be supporting a local dumpster rental as soon as the building project and shit weather is over, hopefully in a week or so.
