We’re bringing back hedgerows! Yes, we plant a bed of native and flowering plants for pollinators and beneficial insects in-between each “section” of our market garden. These diverse plantings provide essential habitat and food sources for these insects, including predatory beetles, parasitic wasps and native bees that help regulate pest populations. We also plant groupings of grasses called “beetle banks"—raised strips planted with perennial grasses and flowers—that offer overwintering shelter for ground-dwelling predators. As perennial plantings, their permanence helps build up these insect populations whereas our annual food crops are being changed several times a year. All of this helps enhance biodiversity, improve pollination, reduce erosion, buffer wind, and create a more stable, self-regulating farm ecosystem that supports both crop productivity and long-term soil and environmental health. Plus they’re beautiful.