I took up urban beekeeping more than a decade ago with the best intentions. I wanted to help to save bees from the many threats they faced in the countryside – the modern farming practices that douse crops in toxic pesticides and rob bees of wildflower meadows. My small back garden filled with bee-friendly flowers seemed like a paradise in comparison.
But what I didn’t know was that by keeping bees I would only be helping one species of bee – the domesticated honeybee, which doesn’t really need saving – and possibly harming others.
And to “keep” local native bees. Give them good nesting sites.
Yup. The easiest way to help native insects is to let leaves lay in the yard come fall, and don’t clean them up until early-mid spring.
Amen! Just that change boosted the diversity of everything in our yard. Once we planted more native flora and made things friendlier, the whole thing came alive like it never had.
Or, just leave them. Hit them with the mower and mulch them right in. The leaves I mean. The insects are hopefully on vacation at the time.