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Pollinator Week 2021 Bee Kind To Our Pollinators
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Karen Bell is director of Keep Liberty Beautiful.

We are doing a lot of work in our Pollinator-Friendly Garden located at the Liberty County Community Complex in Midway.  The Reading Garden is shaping up very well. We are getting it ready to be certified as a butterfly garden.  KLB is working with several summer camps and programs to spread the word about how important it is to have gardens and how vital our pollinator friends are.  Some people may think they don't have a green thumb (like me) or don't have space or time to garden.  Here are some great gardening ideas that you can use at home. 

Elizabeth Flaherty wrote an article, "24 Genius Gardening Hacks, you'll be glad you know" This was a fascinating read, especially if you are like us here at Keep Liberty Beautiful. You live by the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle lifestyle. She gave such a wide variety of uses for old sponges, toilet paper rolls, recycled aluminum cans, and much more. Here are a couple of ideas I hope you find useful.

Plant-in-a-Pot Landscaping Design:  Ever wish you could reorganize your garden after seeing how the mature plants look?  Here's an intelligent way to do it. You'll need a bunch of pots of the same size, so they'll nest in each other. Put your plants in doubled containers, and then bury them at ground level. Whenever you want a change, lift out the top pot and put it in a different one. This method is also really slick for bringing plants indoors over the winter. This method is also excellent for quickly changing seasonal plants and allows for easy experimentation with the color and placement of plants and flowers.

Saving Soil with Old Cans: For deep planters, fill the bottom with old cans and plant pots. The cans and pots improve drainage and create air pockets for better aeration and healthier soil.

Cardboard Seed Tubes:  For an easy and green way to start seeds, save your toilet paper and paper towel tubes. Cut the tubes into 2-inch lengths and set them in a waterproof tray. Fill the tubes with potting soil and plant your seeds. When the seedlings are ready to move to the garden, plant them right in their cardboard tube. The cardboard will decompose. Be sure to keep the tube below the soil surface so it doesn't absorb moisture away from the roots.

 Healthy Plant Hydration:  Water settling at the bottom of pots can lead to root rot. To combat this problem, cut up old sponges and put them in the bottom of the pot. The sponges retain moisture and create necessary air space. They also help prevent water from flushing out the bottom. The sponge acts as a water reserve and keeps moist soil longer. These hacks helped reduce the yellow spots Mrs. Pyles saw appearing from improper watering. 

This week is National Pollinator Week, June 21, 2021 - June 27, 2021, so let's talk about all the free service our local bees, butterflies, and other pollinators provide so that our gardens can thrive. Pollinators are so crucial to our environment.  Mrs. Lisa Choeun, the KLB Volunteer Coordinator, has scheduled a lot of great activities.  Please visit our website www.keeplibertybeautiful.org and Facebook page for information.   

What is pollination?  Well, simply put, pollination is the transfer of pollen in and between flowers of the same species that starts the fertilization, which ends in the successful production of a plant!  Pollinators' excellent work help gives us the food we put on the table and the simple smile we get from seeing a beautiful flower bloom.

This week we celebrate all that Pollinators do!  Here are some ideas on how you can make pollinators' jobs a lot easier:

  1. Plant a pollinator-friendly garden with various flowering plants to give a succession of bloom from spring to fall. 
  2. Include lots of native plants in your garden.  
  3. Include plants to feed all stages of pollinators' life cycle. 
  4. Minimize the use of pesticides, even organic ones. 
  5.  Go wild and plant lots of wildflowers! 
  6.  Provide a source of water. 
  7.  Don't be too tidy. Let your garden be as natural as possible without causing harm to your plants
  8.  Build bee housing
  9. Most importantly, spread the word, share your knowledge.  

Pollinators would be appreciative of just the little things that we can do off this list.  KLB, throughout the week, will provide free pollinator planting kits to help start your garden.  You can go to our Facebook page and register to get one. We also have contests and other giveaways scheduled.  To find out more about Pollinator Week or sign up for a kit, check out the Keep Liberty Beautiful Facebook page.  You can also contact us at (912) 880-4888 or klcb@libertycountyga.com

 

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