If you’ve been following me and my work for a while, or you inhabit the same online spaces as me, you are probably already doing the basic things that promote a healthy ecosystem in your yard, like leaving the leaves, planting pollinator friendly plants, etc. I wrote this article for people who are ready to increase their impact and move beyond the basics. Read more about how you can further promote ecological regeneration in your yard here, on Edible Jersey.
Let's Get Growing: A Healthy Ecosystem Starts at Home
I wrote about the dangers of the insect population decline we are experiencing, and now I want to share some updated ways that I recommend we tackle this issue at home.
We don’t have to wait for politicians to take action to preserve the planet’s biodiversity, we can get started in our own yards! Click Here to read the full article on Edible Jersey.
Suburban Ecology: Your Indoor Garden
I have plants all over the inside of my home. There are potted plants on my kitchen windowsill, on my desk, in my glass-walled front porch, and even in my bathroom. They have come into my life from friends and family over the years, and some of them have started to feel like a part of the family!
I wrote this article to share some of my own stories, not so much about how I care for my houseplants but about why I care for them.
Suburban Ecology: Wild Neighbors
Today I want to share something thats a little farther from your yard than usual. It’s not about planting natives, but about helping preserve biodiversity on a bit of a larger scale.
In this article, we take a bit of a road trip to explore some of the ways that wildlife are being threatened and protected in my home state of New Jersey. Planting a pollinator garden and lots and lots of natives is a great way you can do something for the local wildlife on your own, but it’s also important that you support your municipality in their efforts to protect on a larger scale!
a Peregrine Falcon, like those that have returned to the Hudson Valley
Suburban Ecology: Creating A Cutting Garden
One of my favorite things about gardening is being able to share it. Whenever I head to a dinner party or a family event I like to bring a vase of some fresh cut flowers. What goes into the vase is often plucked from my cutting garden, but usually supplemented with cuttings from various other garden beds I have around my yard. From ferns to seedheads to traditional cosmos, in a few minutes I’ve got something lovely to gift my host almost any time of year.
If you take a good look, and you have a wide variety of natives, you too could find something worthy of sharing in all four seasons. In this article I share some of my favorite native annuals, bulbs, and perennials I make the most use of in creative and delightful ways.
Suburban Ecology: Letting Go of Your Lawn
Have you considered letting go of some of your lawn? I write about adding more native plants to your yard, but maybe you’re all out of garden beds, or maybe you never considered how much time and space you dedicate to that non-native ground cover. One way to fit more natives into your yard is to shrink that lawn!
Unless your kids or your dogs need the room to run and wrestle, you could be saving so much time and energy if you filled some of that space with plants that will bring more life to your yard.
In this article I share a step by step guide to removing some (or all!) of your lawn and have a few sample plans that show you how you can use the space to add more natives that will have a positive impact on your suburban ecosystem.
A sample plan showing one way you can balance lawn and thriving garden beds.