Deeby, I appreciate your concern and your passion. But I have had coons shred my chickens to bits, doing nothing more than ripping their heads off and leaving them dead. So, I haven't much sympathy for them. I don't know where you live, but here they are exceedingly plentiful, and have plenty of space and plenty of food. They come after people space and food because it's there and it's easy pickings, not because they need it. When I had problems with coons, I trapped them and then dumped them in the outback, as far as I could get them from my garden/chickens. Once they start, they'll keep coming back. I found that it was usually one. It seems based on the damage, it is a herd, but one can wreak havoc. Once I trapped it (tuna fish in a live trap seems irresistible) then I would be coon free for a while, until another moved in.

Cilantro Basil Lemon Balm Mints Chamomile I saw hummingbirds drinking nectar from tomato flowers! they practically check every flower in my garden, circling Echinacea right now. I don't see how this might reduce pesticide use. Last year we had a huge insecticide here, a landscaping company sprayed linden trees right when they were blooming, killed tons of bumblebees. My previous neighbor asked the city to exterminate a bee hive just because her yippee dogs would be chased by them. And the city did and a few weeks later a new bee colony moved in and died again. Here is a link that might be useful: bumblebee death

With the exception of some triploids that cannot pollinize at all, any apple variety can pollinate any other apple variety as long as bloom periods overlap. IOW, avoid a very early season apple with a late season apple. FWIW, Fuji, Honeycrisp and Red Delicious are all midseason bloomers so should offer adequate cross pollination for each other. As Ken mentioned, late freezes during the bloom period and lack of pollinators (bees) can certainly affect fruit production.

I second (or third or whatever) the suggestion for letting some of each herb and allium go to flowering stage. They each flower at slightly different times so you have pretty continuous supply. And you're still getting use of the plant. Just keep the invasive stuff like mint family in containers and out of the ground. My green onion and chives make really nice flowers that the bees go crazy over. Lavender makes a good landscaping choice for dryer soils and seems to attract bees well. I know that in some areas yarrow is not thought highly of but here it is very resilient and also draws a lot of insects. I always scatter a few borage seeds at the edges of the compost heap and that makes a good pollinator draw. I've noticed that anise hyssop is one annual that will attract both insects and hummingbirds; it grows fast and doesn't take much water but definitely put it on the outside because it gets taller faster than your veggie plants. Native plants are always a good choice because they generally require less fussing with.