EcoBlog
The latest thinking on ecological landscapes. Useful tips to improve our environment
Earth Day Resolutions: Top 10 Tips for an EcoBeneficial Garden
Here are some easy ways to increase the health of the ecosystem in your landscape. If you have more tips, please let us know.
1) Reduce or eliminate your lawn – it’s an ecological desert.
2) Focus on increasing the health of your soil – it’s filled with life! Compost is king for many soils, not fertilizer.
3) Eliminate synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Use organic counterparts sparingly, and carefully, if at all.
4) Support beneficial insects with appropriate native plantings. They are nature’s pest control.
5) Enrich the ecosystem in your yard by planting a diversity of native plants. Bio-diverse landscapes are more resistant to pests, diseases, and extreme weather events.
6) Plant the right plant in the right place. Don’t put sun-loving plants in the shade!
7) Remove invasive plants and replace them with regionally native plants.
8) Emulate nature in your garden – use local wild areas as your reference.
9) Tolerate some messiness in your garden to support wildlife (check out all the critters living under a dead log – they are part of a balanced ecosystem).
10) Plant more native plants! They have co-evolved with other living things in your ecosystem and support them.
Happy Earth Day from Kim Eierman at Ecobeneficial!
Photo: Question Mark Butterfly
Photo credit: Flickr_Care_SMC
www.flickr.com/photos/75491103@N00/7104359339/
More from EcoBlog
Extending the Garden With Great Native Plants in Pots
If you are like many gardeners, you are scouring your landscape to figure out where else you can squeeze in another plant. No empty spots in your garden? No problem. Containers are the answer! While many gardeners plant in pots, few realize that there are many native plants which will…
Water for Birds and Other Wildlife
Water is the number one thing that birds and other wildlife have the hardest time finding on their own and it’s often the one thing that we often forget to include in our landscapes. If you are lucky enough to have a pond, a lake or a stream on your…
Book Giveaway & New Video: Carol Gracie on Spring Wildflowers part 2
EcoBeneficial! book giveaway! Win a Copy of Carol Gracie’s wonderful book on Spring Wildflowers! Watch part 1 or part 2 of the EcoBeneficial! interview with Carol Gracie. Click at the end when prompted. (If you are watching on an iPhone the banner does not display. Please submit you entry using…