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Tips for Creating Habitat
Bring wildness and wonder into your school garden
Creating habitat in a school garden brings another layer of experience, wonder, and learning - offering countless moments of awe and inspiration to spark curiosity and further investigation!
A few helpful tips when designing your Schoolyard Habitat:
☐ Provide seasonal food for wildlife with a variety of plants that flower and set fruit at different times of the year. For native bees it's especially important to provide flower sources not only in the Summer, but also in the Spring (eg. plums and cherries) and Fall (eg. asters and goldenrods) when queens are foraging for energy.
☐ Plant a diversity of species that will support a diversity of insects and birds. Also diversify your habitat structure with layers of ground cover, herbaceous (non-woody) vegetation, grasses, vines, shrubs of various heights, and even flowering trees if you have the space!
☐ Plant the same species in clumps to attract pollinators and aid their ability to forage and pollinate.
☐ Don't plant too densely - consider mature plant sizes when planting, and also remember to include spaces for sitting and observation that encourage garden immersion.
☐ Employ a life-cycle approach - create and leave spaces for insects, pollinators, and birds to nest, reproduce, and hibernate. This can include leaving some areas free of mulch for ground-nesting insects, dispersing bundles of hollow stems as shelter and habitat for cavity nesting bees (making sure to refresh the stems in “bee hotels” annually), and providing caterpillar pupation sites under trees using a fallen log or leaf litter.
☐ Create a space with year-round protective cover for birds and small wildlife using evergreen trees or shrubs, logs, rocks, or brush piles.
☐ Leave some areas somewhat untidy. Let flowers go to seed to provide food for birds, and leave dead leaves and stalks to shelter over-wintering insects. It's usually best to wait to weed your garden until it's consistently above 50°F during the day, to allow any hibernating or growing insects to emerge from the leaf litter and dead stems that they have been living in over the winter.
☐ Consider creating a water resource with a small pond or rain garden, and be sure to clean it regularly.
☐ Do not fertilize. Focus on improving your soil structure and supporting a healthy soil food web over nutrient inputs. The native plants selected for your space will be adapted or tolerant of your soil conditions. If your site is very compacted, it can be helpful to aerate the soil with digging forks, and then add a top dressing of compost to improve the soil structure and water and nutrient holding capacity. It is not recommended to add compost or other amendments inside your planting holes, however, as this can cause water accumulation at the base of the hole (especially in muddy soils) which may lead to root rot.
☐ Avoid pesticides, including indiscriminate spraying of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) or pyrethrin. Bt is toxic to caterpillars feeding on leaves, and pyrethrin is toxic to bees.
☐ Educate and network with neighbors and school officials for greater impact and support.
Creating Habitat for Pollinators and Birds
Learn about which birds, butterflies, and bees live or migrate in your area. Both birds and pollinators have preferences for the habitat and food they need throughout the season. You can plant specific plants to support them!
Pollinators
For pollinators, it is important to have flowers through the seasons. Since different pollinators are active different times of the year, it’s best to extend the availability of flowers for as long as possible. Early bloomers - such as manzanita, ceanothus, pink-flowering currants - are important for bees. The queens that wake up from hibernation in early Spring need floral resources to help them establish new colonies. Late bloomers - such as asters and buckwheats - are also important for new queens before they enter into hibernation.
Check out the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association (SCBA) robust educational outreach program, including their Gardening4Bees Pollinator Packs that support habitat for pollinators.
If you're interested in learning more about planting milkweed and creating habitat for monarch butterflies, the University of California also has some great tips in their Create a Monarch Butterfly Habitat in Your Own Garden! guide.
Birds
Many birds require nutritious insects and caterpillars for raising their young in the Spring, and seeds and berries to eat later in the Fall. Think about both when choosing your plants. The National Audubon Society is a great resource for learning which plants to choose to support native birds in your region.
Plant native salvias and manzanitas to support hummingbirds. Did you know that the Anna’s hummingbird has been known to fly up to 50 mph when diving?!
Also consider planting a bird seed bed with millet, sunflowers, amaranths, and cosmos. The goldfinches and other seed eating birds will love this Fall feast and students will get to observe!
Native Plant Selection
Consider your site conditions - "Don’t Fight the Site!"
When selecting your plants, consider each plants needs for light, water, and soil type. Choose plants that are adapted to (or at least can tolerate!) the conditions that your garden can provide. See School Garden Network's Native Plant Guide for Schoolyard Habitat planting suggestions in Sonoma County.
Calscape is also an easy-to-use search engine with an exceptionally well-designed display of results. The California Native Plant Society has organized 8,000 plants into 20 categories, including “Very Easy.” Options include sorting results, creating My Plant Lists, exporting lists to a spreadsheet, and printing labels. Advanced Search allows selecting for plant type, light and soil requirements, common uses, water needs, fragrance, flower color, flower season, and more.
Las Pilates Nursery also has a lot of information on habitat plantings using California natives, including information on blooming periods as you ideally want to always have something in bloom.
CalFlora: Planting Guide gives recommendations on which California native plants will likely grow well at a particular location under selected conditions. The criterion “Plant grows with [enter species]” is useful to find companions for existing plants or your initial selections. Search results show photos, bloom time, and more.
Try not to use native cultivars: Many native plants have been bred for human aesthetics, overlooking the needs of insects. Manipulations in the color, shape, or size of flowers can inadvertently affect the quantity and quality of the nectar and pollen. One common example is the double-petal California poppies. The native poppies have four petals arranged in an open bowl corolla and provide copious amounts of pollen. In the cultivars with double petals, the extra petals are actually modified stamens. That means there is less pollen produced, and the crowding of the petals impedes access for pollinators. The change in colors and markings also interfere with signaling between the flowers and the pollinators. Bees generally do not see red well and are not attracted to red flowers. When selecting natives, it is always best to get the species with which the pollinators are familiar and accustom, instead of a cultivar.
Avoid planting invasive or highly opportunistic plants: Some plants can be highly opportunistic and may outcompete other plants for space and resources. Be sure to know the growing potential of everything you plant, and choose plants that will support a diversified garden. Note: Native aster and goldenrod can grow especially vigorously, so should only be planted if there is the intention for them to spread!
Create and Protect Nesting Areas
Leave bare ground. Seventy percent (70%) of our native bees are ground nesters, meaning they need bare ground for nesting. A garden with floral resources for your bees requires a place for them to excavate their nests to provide year-round habitat.
Make room for your garden to go wild. A little bit of untidiness at the edges of the garden creates abundant habitat for pollinators throughout the seasons. When pruning back dormant plants - especially those with hollow stems - leave at least six inches in place. Many small bees are cavity nesters that seek out this real estate. Also leave leaf litter in place because many insects pupate and overwinter in it.
Using cover crop (an overwintering mix of nitrogen producing legumes) and keeping older crops in your school garden also creates habitat for many insects! Fun Tip: Create a laminated card with the lifecycle of a ladybug and have students look for the adult, pupae, and larvae life stages throughout the seasons.
Install nest boxes and bird feeders: If you have open spaces adjoining your garden you might also consider installing some nest boxes for cavity nesting birds like the Western Bluebird and the Violet Green Tree Swallow. Cornell University has developed a wonderful Citizen Science program called Nestwatch which is linked to 5-8 Grade free curriculum called Thinking Outside the (Nest) Box. BirdSleuth also offers ideas for DIY bird feeders. Tip: Install nest boxes in areas away from loud noises and constant foot traffic to reduce stress on birds. If you are installing bird feeders, make sure that your school maintenance department is okay with spilled bird seed - if rats are an issue, then feeders may not be the best fit.
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