This past weekend Daybreak residents gathered to kick-off the Summer gardening season at the ninth annual Ladybug Festival. During the festival 225,000 ladybugs were released into the community gardens in an effort to promote organic gardening and the use of ladybugs to control pesky aphids that feed on plants.
LiveDAYBREAK, the community council, added another educational aspect to the festival by focusing on pollinators and how to attract them to gardens. Daybreak is home to an estimated 4.5 million honey bees. Less than 20% of Daybreak is currently developed, which leaves plenty of open fields to support the honey bee population that arrives in hives each spring and are attended to by professional apiarists. The hope is that the bees will thrive in an environment where they can pollinate the flowers in the yards, buzz through the parks and along the trails, and visit the blossoms on the trees and vegetables in the community gardens and adjacent family farms. Daybreak Honey is available at the local cafe, Biscotts.
There are six community gardens that encompasses more than 347 garden plots throughout the community in addition to personal gardens! Residents interested in renting a garden plot for the 2016 season can contact the Daybreak Community Association at 801-254-8062.
Read the Salt Lake Tribune article featuring the Ladybug Festival.