Dr. Karen Bell
Keep Liberty Beautiful
Pollinator Week 2025 will take place from June 16-22. This annual celebration aims to raise awareness for pollinator health and promote actions to protect them. Pollinator Week is an annual celebration in support of pollinator health, initiated and managed by Pollinator Partnership. It’s a time to raise awareness about pollinators and spread the word about what we can do to protect them.
The great thing about Pollinator Week is that your participation is not just welcomed, it’s crucial! You can celebrate and get involved in any way you like. You can get your hands on one of the Keep Liberty Beautiful Pollinator Kits and plant some wildflowers for our pollinators. You’re invited to take a garden tour at the Reading Garden/ Butterfly Garden, located at the Liberty County Community Complex in Midway.
Once you arrive, you will be greeted by the beautiful flowers planted by the Morning Glory Garden Club. You can participate in online bee and butterfly ID workshops or attend the upcoming mobile garden workshop. Your involvement is what makes Pollinator Week a success!
Pollinator Week 2025 is a celebration of the vital role that pollinators play in our ecosystems, economies, and agriculture. Under the inspiring theme “Pollinators Weave Connections,” this year’s event encourages us to appreciate the vital role pollinators play in shaping and expressing human culture, in all its forms. These essential creatures, including bees, butterflies, moths, bats, beetles, and hummingbirds, are the unsung heroes behind the food we enjoy and the beauty that surrounds us.
As we reflect on the interconnectedness of our world, let’s unite in a collective effort to protect and preserve these crucial pollinators. Each one of us has a role to play in understanding the impact of our actions on their habitats and embracing sustainable practices. By doing so, we can pave the way for a flourishing future. Join us in celebrating Pollinator Week 2025, and let’s cultivate a world where both nature and humanity thrive in harmony. Your actions matter, and there is much we can all do to learn about pollinator-friendly initiatives and be inspired to contribute to the vision of a greener and more sustainable future.
The website The Spruce – Making Your Best Home features a great article, “20 Easy Gardening Hacks That Will Make Growing Your Garden This Spring So Simple,” by Nadia Hassani. Nadia Hassani is a Penn State Master Gardener with nearly 20 years of experience in landscaping, garden design, and vegetable and fruit gardening. She mentions that there is no shortage of gardening hacks online. However, there are gardening hacks that do work.
Here is a list of some of her proven gardening hacks, tricks, shortcuts, and creative methods that make gardening easier, more productive, and more efficient. As a bonus, many of them reuse or repurpose items and materials that you likely already have on hand:
1. Protect seeds with old window screens: To protect the seeds, place an old window screen (with or without the frame) over the seed trays or pots. Secure the screen by weighing it down on all four corners with rocks, bricks, or other heavy objects. Once the seeds have germinated, remove the screen so it does not obstruct the seedlings.
2. Repurpose your hydro garden for seed starting: If you have a hydroponic garden, remove the water-holding bowl and grow deck, and use the full-spectrum LED grow lights to start your vegetable seeds indoors.
3. Make your biodegradable seed pots: Make no-cost biodegradable seed starting pots using toilet or paper towel tubes cut into two-inch lengths or paper egg cartons. Place the tubes or egg cartons on a waterproof tray and fill them with potting mix. Plant your seeds and water often to prevent the medium from drying out.
4. Convert a storage container into a greenhouse: Choose a container that is large enough to fit a seedling tray or plug tray (24x16x7 inches) and drill a couple of quarter- inch holes on each side for ventilation. Place the seedling tray on the lid and the storage bin on top of it. Snap the latch shut so it does not blow away in the wind. As daytime temperatures warm up, unlatch the cover and leave the container slightly askew so the inside of the “greenhouse” does not heat up too much. When the seedlings have nearly reached the top of the container, remove the top so you don’t obstruct their growth.
5. Use barbecue skewers as row markers. There is no need to buy special row markers for vegetable plantings. Inexpensive wooden or bamboo barbecue skewers, sold in 100-count bags, work just as well, and they are biodegradable. To label the row, poke a deep hole into a wine cork and insert the skewer’s top. Please write the name of the plants on the cork with a permanent marker and insert the skewers in the soil about one-third of their length.
Pollinators would appreciate all we can do to protect them. KLB will provide free pollinator planting kits throughout the week to help you start your garden. To obtain these kits, please visit our office at 9397 East Oglethorpe Hwy, Midway. We also have contests and other giveaways scheduled for the week.
To find out more about Pollinator Week, check out the Keep Liberty Beautiful Facebook page. You also can contact us at (912) 880-4888 or klcb@libertycountyga.gov.