Top dress only as needed.  Remember, we are planting food sources for our native insects, and many of them will use the leaves for You can get a glove and vent your frustrations if you don’t mind the squish, you can knock the bug into Keep in mind you don’t want to cause more damage to your plants! If you moisten the top layer of soil, the rain will be able to penetrate instead of running off.

There are other amazing insects who need milkweed too, so don't assume something on your milkweed shouldn't Read our e-book, "A Mini-Guide to Gardening for Monarchs" all about this incredible insect to learn more

with Rabbits Plant What They Hate (or Least Tolerate) Rabbits have surprisingly picky palates. Russian Sage (also not native, salvias are native south of us) Milkweed (protect while young) Mountain mint

There is one teeny-tiny problem though, and I hate to bring it up. Alternatively, you could file this designation to the back of your mind, and when the plant shows signs burned most of the plant, but small fragments escaped on the way to the pit, and now I have multiple mini early-spring-a-great-time-to-spot-and-remove-invasive-plants/ https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide

Here is our Top 10 list of garden chores that will keep your neighbors and local wildlife happy. Mowing and using a leaf blower can destroy the cocoons of many over-wintering moths and butterflies, If you can’t turn the barrels over, leave those drains open and be sure to securely cover the tops to These tops will decompose over the winter, improving the soil, providing bedding material for small creatures Many creatures use dead and dying wood as a habitat, including our beloved bees, birds, and an array

For obvious reasons, I don't have a ton of time for a full veggie garden anymore (hello, small business explained the need to determine the sun and soil types for a particular area, and advised us to keep in mind A bit ago, I wrote up a (sorta) step-by-step guide to how I was doing my own site analysis, and I wanted

It can be totally overwhelming when you first begin learning about native plants. Does it stay together when you open your hand, or does it crumble away? stay together well, grainy- well-drained-dry, sandy soil Reddish/brown, stays together, does not fall These plants are able to grow in environments that many standard ornamentals would wilt away in. Drats, I’ve done it again and written a mini-novella.

agricultural traditions, and innovating in ways that impact how we grow food and care for our environment today His research helped Black farmers (and many others) shift to nutrient-rich crops like peanuts and sweet Her work demonstrated how land ownership and agriculture could be tools for empowerment and self-sufficiency for past injustices, and more attention has been brought to the struggles Black farmers still face today She wrote Farming While Black , a book that serves as both a guide and a history lesson for those looking

I actually prefer Google Earth, as it has some really fantastic tools for measuring. Even if you don’t have these tools, you can still draw out your yard boundaries within the confines of This step took me a decent amount of time because I transferred the measurements to a grid paper for

Hey, we do too! It's just not feasible, and there are just too many great native burning bush alternatives. I like Thin Mints, but that doesn’t mean I should sit and eat a whole sleeve of them in a sitting (don't Again, there are just too many great, native, alternatives to gamble on an experiment. The Chickadees Guide to Gardening ,   BackyardHabitats.org Meet the Ecologist Who Wants You to Unleash

The eggs hatch, the caterpillars go to town munching on the tender milkweed leaves as they grow bigger We can apply this understanding to many of the native plants in our garden! Keep in mind that an estimated 90% of native insects have host plant relationships.   She sent a follow up video and her pearly everlasting is the best restaurant in town!   Keep in mind that not all plant “damage” is due to beneficial host relationships, there are a whole lot

We'll look at plants that provide fruit, seeds, nuts, and insects but keep in mind there's quite a lot shrubs and flys to nearby woods later to "deposit" the unused portion of the fruit, they are building tomorrow's Will tolerate wet and even average but not ideal. • 8-12' tall Over the winter the berries sweeten and Shrub • full to part sun • Average soil • 6-10' tall When I was at Manomet Observatory recently I was told A friend gifted me that plant many years ago and it was the start of all of this.

No matter how good of a product it may be for anyone, the mining of peat moss is an incredibly destructive Have we told you that we are 100% peat free in all our growing? Put a sign out so your neighbors know what you are doing There are many places you can buy yard signs Blue Stem carries them when we are open for the season, but there are many places to grab a sign: National We carry most of these titles, but libraries do too!

With the recent heat waves, it’s been tough to find a time to paint when it’s not too hot for the paint We're determining how many plants we can fit in this thing by laying out the trays to visualize shelving Today, we found the perfect trailer, and Kristen made the trip north of Boston to pick it up.

Many of our wonderful customers are either brand new gardeners or newer to using plants indigenous to be sure to give it plenty of room and it will fill in an area with lush dark green foliage , sweet tiny white flowers in the Spring, and even sweeter tiny berries . sturdy structure with interesting green foliage , white hairs along the stem, and flat clusters of tiny This is a favorite plant for many insects.

For so many of us, we have been long conditioned to cleaning up the gardens in the fall to within an Beyond that, many of us do care deeply about this wildlife and often put out suet and birdseed through are able to safely leave a standing snag, you will be providing an amazing source of habitat for so many evergreen/semi-evergreen, such as Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Bearberry) and Sibbaldiopsis tridentata (Three-toothed

There is some emerging evidence that many cultivars do not support wildlife to the same degree that straight The work being done to the American Chestnut tree comes to mind. with seemingly little effect on ecological value include stem thickness, plant height, and moisture tolerance Many garden centers in the area will carry a handful of natives, but you will be hard pressed to find

We’ve had the time to notice that we don’t seem to have as many butterflies as we remember from our childhoods It’s not hard to see that our earth’s climate change has brought about many changes that affect our land First, a touch of education. There are so many advantages to using native plants, I’m just going to list them! Tallamy speak, many of his talks can be found on YouTube, and his books are fantastic reads.