Growing Food and Kids

Please join me in welcoming guest blogger Jodi Torpey! Jodi is a Denver-based garden writer, master gardener and nonfiction author. Her articles are published on gardening websites, in national gardening magazines and regional newspapers. She has special interests in creating backyard habitats and gardening with her dog, Rufus T. Smudge. Read more of Jodi’s writing at www.WesternGardeners.com or follow her on Twitter @WesternGardener.

This morning I lost track of time while standing in my garden and watching seven fuzzy bumblebees buzzily enjoying the fading blooms on the tall purple bee balm (Monarda).

I watched as they noisily made their way around each flower, stopping momentarily to gather nectar before moving onto the next flower. It was a beautiful bee ballet.

If truth be told, this is the real reason why I garden. Even though I enjoy planting flowers, vegetables and herbs, I’m not gardening for myself or to make a lovely landscape for my neighbors to enjoy. I garden for the wildlife in my life.

Backyard habitats like mine are important because so much of our natural space has been compromised by development. Bees, birds, squirrels, spiders, toads and other critters need our help.

Your yard can become a habitat if it provides the essential ingredients for wildlife to survive: food, water, cover and a place to raise their young. Focusing your gardening efforts on attracting watchable wildlife is a wonderful way to get children interested in the natural world.

This is easy to do if you hang a bird feeder or add plants to your landscape that produce berries, seeds, nuts, fruit, nectar or pollen. Water sources can be a birdbath, pond, stream or even a small puddling area for insects.

Examples of shelter include a brush pile or dense shrubs. Nesting boxes, host plants, mature trees or a water garden also provide places for wildlife to safely raise their young.

Sustainable landscaping practices, like avoiding the use of synthetic chemical herbicides and insecticides, also help protect wildlife from harm.

If you’re interested in learning more about creating a habitat in your backyard, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) can help you.

The NWF is a terrific organization and its volunteers work around the clock to protect America’s wildlife and their habitats. Even though most of its work focuses on polar bears and gray wolves, bees are as important to the organization’s efforts as are bald eagles.

Even though my backyard had been a welcoming habitat for many years, I didn’t consider it a success until the spring I watched robins build a nest and raise four baby birds. The day I saw one fledgling leave the nest, I felt as proud as any parent.