EcoBlog
The latest thinking on ecological landscapes. Useful tips to improve our environment
Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for the EcoBeneficial Gardener
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 most soils, not fertilizer.
3. Eliminate synthetic pesticides, herbicides + fungicides. Use organic counterparts sparingly, if at all.
4. Support beneficial insects with appropriate native plantings. They are nature’s pest control.
5. Plant for a succession of bloom throughout the growing season to support native bees and honey bees. Bees are critical, keystone species.
6. Emulate nature in your garden – use local wild areas as your reference.
7. Plant the right plant in the right place. Don’t put sun-loving plants in the shade, moisture-loving plants in dry soil…
8. Remove invasive plants and replace them thickly and quickly with regional native plants.
9. Tolerate some messiness in your landscape to support wildlife. Check out all the critters living under a dead log!
10. Boost the ecosystem in your landscape by planting a diversity of regional native plants.
Best wishes for a happy and ecologically healthy 2014!
From Kim Eierman at EcoBeneficial!
Photo: Ruby-throated hummingbird nectaring on Campsis radicans (Trumpet Creeper)
Photo credit: Flickr_Kelly Colgan Azar
6 Comments
More from EcoBlog
Powerful Prunus: A Visit With Dr. Doug Tallamy
Some of our most ecologically powerful native plants are the ones we never plant! It’s time for a change, if we really want to make a difference to our environment. Often considered a “weedy tree”, our native Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) is an extraordinarily valuable plant in nature. Native to…
Attracting Birds in Winter: Interview with North Coast Gardening
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Genevieve Schmidt, landscape designer and well known garden writer. Genevieve is a contributing editor and staff writer for Garden Design magazine; her work has appeared in many other publications including Fine Gardening magazine and the Christian Science Monitor. Her website, North…
Going Pesticide-Free for Pollinators at The Farm Between
This past August, I took a road trip to one of my favorite states, Vermont, where lots of good things are happening with organic and pesticide-free landscapes and nursery production. One of my stops was “The Farm Between” in pastoral Jeffersonville, Vermont. This is one of the oldest farms in…
Hello Kim –
Thank you for your continued helpful advise – I love everyone of your postings.
Happy and healthy 2014 and success with all your plantings.
Cheers –
Helga
This is a great list! Happy New Year, Kim.
Thanks Phyllis! Hope you will share the list with Bee City USA followers. What is good for bees is good for the environment!
Thanks for your support Helga! Best wishes to you for a happy and “green” new year!
Best wishes for the New Year from neighboring Tuckahoe – unfortunately i cannot keep bees- against village regulations……
I love your 10 New Years resolutions and while I already do some (lawn!!_ i shall try to do all of them in 2014.
Thanks Susanne! Good to hear that you will be adopting even more “green” resolutions. Every bit helps. Even if you can’t keep bees, you help tremendously by planting for honey bees and native bees. Happy New Year!