Let herbs flower in your quarantine garden

As the heat of summer approaches, your quarantine garden will rely on insect pollinators to produce its bounty. Tomatoes. Cucumbers. Heaps of zucchini. This free ecosystem service—pollination—is often taken for granted, but it wouldn’t be possible without the help of insects: bees, butterflies, hover flies, beetles, and wasps.

To support these insect pollinators, you don’t need another garden. Simply let your herbs flower.

Herbs are a group of plants that have at least one organ (leaves, stems roots, flowers) that is tasty or medicinal. Leaves and stems get all the attention, while flowers often get overlooked, clipped away with the dead leaves and added to the compost. Not only are herb flowers almost always edible, but they also offer a veritable feast—nectar and pollen—to pollinators.

herb flowers
We most often eat the leaves and stems of herbs, like chives, thyme, and sage, but pollinators feast on the nectar and pollen from the flowers. PC: Timothy Vollmer, Flickr

Case in point: chive flowers feed sweat bees and carpenter bees after a long winter; the inverted flowering parasols of dill are a favorite of beneficial wasps and hover flies; and you’d be hard-pressed to find a flowering blade of lavender without a bumble bee. Moreover, flowering herbs teach a valuable lesson in pollinator gardening 101. Diversity begets diversity. To support all the pollinators that make your garden productive, plant diverse herbs.

Bumble bees are always attracted to the nectar-laden flowers of oregano. PC: Nick Dorian

It’s not hard to get started. Compared to pollinator-friendly native plants*, herbs are easy to procure. Seedlings are available for purchase at garden centers and many grocery stores in spring and summer.  

Herbs are also conducive to being grown in containers, making pollinator gardening possible anywhere, even on balconies or in window boxes. Herbs are forgiving to grow (sometimes downright invasive, another reason to use a container) and only require regular watering and some direct sun. And best of all? The strong flavor of the leaves that we enjoy in our cooking is despised by rabbits and deer.

Herbs are particularly conducive to container gardening. Here, the gardener has flanked orange tomatoes (center) with herbs. By letting their herbs flower, they will support bees that pollinate tomatoes. PC: greckor, Flickr

When picking out herbs for your garden, my recommendation may seem counter-intuitive: grow what you like to eat. Gardening for pollinators can be more involved, but it doesn’t have to be. All flowering herbs support pollinators. By selecting particular combinations of herbs to grow, however, you can maximize the benefits of your quarantine garden for pollinators. Here are four tips:

  1. Combine herbs that vary in flower shape (e.g., dill, lavender, borage, chamomile).
  2. Combine herbs that vary in fragrance (e.g, cilantro, basil, rosemary, lemon balm).
  3. Combine herbs that vary in size (e.g., thyme, chives, nasturtium, fennel).
  4. Combine herbs that flower in succession, from spring (e.g., chives, sage, rosemary) to early-summer (e.g. thyme, lavender) to late-summer (e.g., basil, oregano).

Next, put your herbs in the ground or in a pot with plenty of room to grow (6-8” between plants). Water them well at first, then a few times per week or whenever the leaves begin to wilt. If you already have herbs in your garden, even better! You’re ahead of the game.

In New England, thyme flowers in early summer and feeds many pollinators. It’s perennial, meaning it will feed pollinators year after year. PC: Nick Dorian

Harvest leaves and stems throughout the season (morning or early evening is best!). Use them fresh or dry them for later. A few of my favorite things to make with herbs: mint-watermelon cooler,  gnocchi with brown butter-sage sauce, and pesto potato salad.** With leftover pesto, I make pesto ice cubes to enjoy garden freshness all winter long.   

At some point during the growing season, your herbs will want to flower. The flowering time of the herb depends on its life cycle. For perennial herbs that come back each year, such as chives or sage, the plant will flower at a predictable time each year alongside your harvest. For annual herbs that die at the end of the growing season, such as basil or cilantro, the plant will flower at the end of summer or if it gets too cramped in its container. In both cases, the leaves and stems are still edible while the plant is flowering, but they will be tougher and less sweet than before.***

Honey bees love flowering lavender!

Letting your herbs flower is a simple, intentional act that sets in motion the dinnertime rush. Take time to notice your guests. Notice how bees push and reach over each other to get food on their plates, family style. How hover flies wait back for the perfect moment to land, so they can eat without being disturbed. How butterflies sip nectar, polite and upright, as if dining at a fine restaurant. Take pride that you’ve put food on their table, just as they have on yours.

*Flowering herbs are non-native, introduced by colonists. That means our native pollinators don’t share an evolutionary history with herbs and, therefore, don’t benefit as much from herbs as they do from native plants. If you’re interested in adding native plants to your garden, check out our handout for recommendations on what to plant.

**Pesto potato salad

  • 2 cups quartered baby potatoes
  • 1T paprika
  • 2T chopped rosemary
  • 1c green beans, cleaned and cut into 1in pieces
  • 4 roma tomatoes, halved
  • 2c fresh basil, loosely packed
  • 2T sunflower seeds
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 1/4c grated parmagiano regiano
  • 1/2c extra virgin olive oil + 2T extra for potatoes
  • 1 large or 2 small cloves garlic
  • salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400˚F. Toss quartered potatoes in olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, and chopped rosemary and roast in oven for 35-40 minutes. Meanwhile, blanch green beans in boiling water for 60 seconds, then shock immediately in ice water. Set aside. If possible, grill tomato halves for 8 minutes, until charred and cooked. If not, place in the oven with potatoes for the final 10 minutes of roasting. Dice tomatoes and toss the body of the salad to mix. Dress with pesto (see below). Enjoy!

Earlier that same day (or while potatoes are roasting), prepare pesto. Process together basil, sunflower seeds, lemon juice, garlic, cheese, and s&p, slowly drizzling olive oil into the blender to emulsify and incorporate. Adjust seasoning to taste. 

***Nick’s tip: If you want to delay the flowering of your herbs, perennial or annual, clip off incipient flower buds. Do this when the buds are small.

Which pollinator are you?

Written by: Sylvie Finn, one of our newest TPI members!

It’s National Pollinator Week, so in an effort to learn about our diverse pollinators, take this quick quiz to see which pollinator is in your personality!

Directions: This is an old school keep-track-yourself type of quiz. Think personality quiz in a tween magazine. Grab a piece of scrap paper, keep track of how many A’s, B’s, C’s, etc you have, and at the end you will be able to discover something fabulous about yourself.

1. Imagine you step into your dream house. You look around and see:

A. Ornate geometric patterns
B. Sophisticated plaster work all around
C. The house you’re sitting in right now!
D. This is a hard question…I’d rather have two totally different and exciting homes
E. As long as there’s a stacked pantry, I’m happy!
F. Something I build myself to my liking

2. Your friends would describe you as:

A. Hardworking
B. Friendly
C. High strung
D. A social butterfly
E. Loyal
F. Hyper

3. On a Saturday night, you can be found:

A. Out on the town with “the girls”
B. Working in your basement
C. At a dive bar with your buddies hovering around the peanut and pretzel bowls at the bar
D. Getting your beauty rest
E. Cuddled up with a good book
F. Indulging in your sweet tooth

4. Your personal style is:

A. Whatever your friends are wearing
B. Stripes!
C. All black every day
D. Bold color choices
E. Give me that fuzzy sweater
F. Metallics anyone?

5. Your favorite color is:

A. Yellow
B. Blue
C. White
D. Pink
E. Ultraviolet
F. Red

6. You get to the park and someone is sitting on your favorite bench, you:

A. Take a seat, there’s room for two
B. Decide that going to the park was a horrible idea
C. Linger in front of the bench until the person sitting there becomes uncomfortable and leaves
D. Go to another bench, there are plenty of benches to go around
E. What person? I see a bench, I sit
F. I don’t have this problem, no one likes the kinds of benches I do

7. Your dream vacation:

A. Take me to a new city! I love a buzzing metropolis
B. Exploring a cave with your pals
C. An all-inclusive resort just for the all-you-can-eat buffet
D. Mountains of Mexico, please and thank you
E. Stay-cation works for me, as long as there are snacks
F. Take me anywhere ~TroPiCaL~

8. For your birthday this year, you want:

A. A big party with all of my of friends and acquaintances
B. A small party with only my closest friends
C. To be left alone
D. To fly in the sky! Paragliding? Skydiving?
E. To make sure those around me are well fed
F. To go on an adventure somewhere new

Time to find out which pollinator you are…

MOSTLY A’s: Honey bee (Apis mellifera)

You are the “gold” standard for bees. Known for your incredible social intelligence and honey making skills, you are very hardworking and constantly referenced. You’re a total feminist, loving to live in female-dominated society.

Photo: Rachael E. Bonoan, Flickr
MOSTLY B’s: Cellophane bee (Colletes spp.)

You are an aesthetic architect. You are literally named after the materials you build with and are fashionable in your stripes and fluff. You like your alone time, but enjoy sharing experiences with friends when the time is right.

Photo: Team Colletes, Flickr
MOSTLY C’s: Hover fly (e.g. Eristalis transversa)

You are one of the lesser known pollinators and you like it that way. Your fast paced lifestyle keeps others on edge and you always stay unconventional.

flower fly, hover fly
Photo: Team Colletes, Flickr
MOSTLY D’s: Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

You are the poster child of all butterflies. Like a monarch, you are elegant and have very specific taste. You also are a total travel junky and love to go to new places beyond what your imagination can hold.

monarch butterfly
Photo: Nick Dorian
MOSTLY E’s: Bumble bee (Bombus spp.)

You are everyone’s best friend, smart and oh so sweet. You know how to cuddle up with a good book, but when you think theres some good food somewhere, you can zoom there quite quickly.

Photo: Team Colletes, Flickr
MOSTLY F’s: Ruby throated humming bird (Archilochus colubris)

You are many people’s favorite birds and a very special pollinator. While there are hundreds of species of humming birds in the tropics, you are the only one to grace us here in the North East. If people can catch a glimpse of you, you always dazzle them.

Photo: Michael Janke, Flickr

Let’s celebrate pollinators!

How to bake pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) empanadas

When I was growing up, my mom often bought pumpkin empanadas from El Aguila bakery in Fremont, Ohio. Let me tell you, there isn’t anything better with a hot cup of coffee.

As a kid, I never realized the important role pollinators play in creating these special treats. While many crops are pollinated by the wind (wheat, corn, rice), many fruits and vegetables are pollinated by insects. In fact, two important ingredients in my favorite empanada recipe benefit from animal pollinators. 

Without insect pollinators, particularly bees, there would be no pumpkin, the main ingredient of the empanada filling. Pumpkin vines produce male and female flowers – this means that some flowers produce pollen, while other flowers bear fruits. Pollen from the anthers of male flowers must be deposited on the stigmas of female flowers for the vine produce fruit. Since pumpkin pollen grains are very heavy, pumpkin flowers cannot be pollinated by the wind. Instead, pollen grains must hitch a ride on a bee.

One of the cutest – and most important – pollinators of pumpkin are squash bees (Eucera pruinosa). Squash bees are solitary, ground nesting bees: a single female digs a nest for her offspring in the soil. Found in both the United States and Mexico, squash bees collect pollen exclusively from plants in the gourd family (genus Cucurbita), including pumpkin, zucchini, and summer squash. These little bees are super effective pollinators of squash plants, transferring up to 4 times as much pollen between flowers as honeybees.

Photo Credit: Elsa Youngsteadt

Oranges, used to flavor the filling of empanadas, are another ingredient which can benefit from insect pollinators. Unlike pumpkin flowers, orange flowers are hermaphroditic: flowers can produce pollen and bear fruits. Orange flowers can be pollinated without help of insects if pollen from anthers is shed directly onto the stigma of the flower. However, orange flowers still are better off with bees than without. Without the help of an insect, flowers may be insufficiently pollinated, and will produce smaller and more acidic fruits. Sweet orange production is 35% higher for flowers visited by pollinating insects (like honeybees) compared to unvisited flowers.

Photo Credit: Kathy Keatley Garvey

In honor of National Pollinator Week, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite recipes for pumpkin empanadas, modified from a recipe originally published by La Piña en La Cocina.


Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) Empanadas

Ingredients

For the Pastry:

  • 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cold butter
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 1 large egg at room temperature, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 2/3 cups warm milk (110 degrees F)

For the filling:

  • 16 oz canned roasted and pureed pumpkin
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 6 star anise pods
  • 1 cup of water
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
  • Zest from one orange

For assembly

  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 lightly beaten egg white

Instructions

To prepare the pasty, sift flour into a large mixing bowl. Cut in butter, then cut in sugar, cinnamon, and yeast. Add the egg, and slowly incorporate milk until a dough forms. Knead for 6-8 minutes. The dough should be fairly sticky. If it is too dry, add more milk, and if it is too wet, add flour. Let rise about 2 hours.

To prepare the filling, boil star anise and the cinnamon stick in about 1 cup of water for about 10 minutes (or until about half of the water is evaporated). Add pumpkin, sugar, and juice concentrate to ¼ cup of this liquid, and cook until thickened, about 10-20 minutes. Let the filling cool in the fridge.

After the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Punch down the dough and divide into 1.5 oz balls. Roll out each ball until it is 4 inches in diameter. Place two tablespoons of filling in the center of the dough.

Brush the edges of the dough with egg white and fold the over dough and press out any air. Crimp the edges using a fork, or pinch to seal. Place the filled pastry on a greased backing tray. Repeat until all of the dough has been used. Once the pastries are all shaped, bush tops with milk. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry becomes a dark, golden brown. Makes 10-12 empanadas (which are best eaten within a day or two).

Enjoy! I hope you all have a very happy National Pollinator Week!

Citations:

Canto-Aguilar, M. A., & Parra-Tabla V. (2000). Importance of conserving alternative pollinators: assessing the pollination efficiency of the squash bee, Peponapis limitaris in Cucurbita moschata (Cucurbitaceae). Journal of Insect Conservation 4: 203–210.

Malerbo-Souza, D. T., Nogueira-Couto, R. H., & Couto, L. A. (2004). Honey bee attractants and pollination in sweet orange, Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck, var. Pera-Rio. Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases 10(2): 144–153.