Very interesting stuff. Bearbio, could you explain the pollinator garden approach? The mint plants act as some sort of catalyst?
I did not realize some plants are self pollinating.
Basically, you dedicate part of your garden to non-producing plants that the pollinators like. Fortunately, many of these are herbs, especially the mints or ornamentals.
Members of the mint family are very aromatic because of the oils they contain. You can identify mints by their square stem and alternating pairs of leaves (each pair of leaves is 90 degrees different from the previous and following pair.) They have a multitude (i.e. "millions") of flowers and grow well up into most areas. Many or most a perennial. I have found that basil and culinary sage die each year but catmint, oregano, peppermint, etc are all winter-hardy. You can usually find some type of ornamental sage at your local nursery. Other veggies (tomatoes, cukes, etc) also attract pollinators. In the SW, Indian Tobacco is hummingbird pollinated and some yuccas are bat-pollinated, while others are moth pollinated.
In my area, oregano has taken over the herb portion of my yard (a common problem with mints) as have the peppermint and cat mint. By dedicating a good portion to these plants, it doesn't take long to start attracting the pollinators. In about 5 years, we went from a few plants to a thicket of mints in two small areas about 30 feet from my veggies. The number of bees went up dramatically and the number of species went from maybe half a dozen to over 15 different bee species and from one or two butterfly species up to about 10.
So basically, by lumping a variety of plants together, you attract the pollinators. Using different species attracts different pollinators. You can usually get an idea from the shape of the flower. Small flowers are likely pollinated by ground nesting bees (miner's bees, mason's bees) and honey bees. A trumpet shape is probably butterflies and a long narrow trumpet is a bat or hummingbird pollinated species. Moths and butterflies also have long tongues. For instance, a fig is basically an inside out cluster of flowers. A wasp flies in, lays her eggs, and in trying to get out spreads pollen to the female flowers lining the inside. The male flowers are arranged around the opening, so the wasp is coated with pollen as she enters.
We do not use pesticide. An old time "rule" was that mother nature got 10% of the yield. We're below that. We do spot apply Round-Up sparingly.
We have been removing two aspens (actually one with a 12-15' sucker). We just cut down the last of the big one. We left about 6' of the stump standing. After we finish killing it (with a cross, garlic, and wooden spike), I'll fill the south-facing side with as many 3/8" holes as I can drill to make a bee condominium for the bees to over-winter in. An untreated 4x4 post about 4' high can be used.
I also have a raised flower bed with a 6' high frame==that has a 1x2' bat house on it, for bats to hibernate in. Took 15 minutes to make out of scrap plywood.
