May is planting season! We've made it, winter is over! Now that we're past the risk of a late freeze (hopefully) it's time to get back in the garden. Gardening is a great way to get in touch with nature, grow your own food, or brighten up your yard, but there are many different ways to do it. This month, we’re looking at how to make your garden the greenest it can be, literally and environmentally.
This growing season, upgrade your garden with these easy tricks to make your garden more sustainable:
1. Go Organic
Ditching chemical pesticides and fertilizers is a great way to preserve our water, help pollinators, and encourage biodiversity. There are many natural ways to get rid of pests and nourish your garden. For example, to get rid of spider mites, mix 2 tablespoons of himalayan crystal salt in 1 gallon of warm water and spray on the infected plant as needed. For more all natural pest solutions, check out this page. To give your plants a nutrient boost, try adding organic compost to your soil.
2. Make Use of Mulch
When sustainably landscaping and gardening, mulch is your friend. Adding a layer of mulch around young trees and in your flower beds helps keep water from evaporating. When less water evaporates, you can water less, helping the environment and your water bill. You can also use mulch to clear an area of weeds by laying down wet newspaper or cardboard, then covering with mulch. After a season, that area will be weed-free and ready for planting, without all the backbreaking work.
3. Plant Natives and Perennials
When planning your garden, choose plants that are native to your area and ones that will return in the spring. Perennials will come back bigger and better year after year, and once they’re big enough, they can be split to share with friends and family, or to further expand your garden. Talk about bang for your buck! Native plants will thrive in your garden because they were made to thrive there. They require less water and maintenance, saving you time and helping the planet. Native plants support also native pollinators, who help our local ecosystem thrive.
Image courtesy of Johnson's Gardens
4. Reevaluate your Lawn
Lawns take a lot of fertilizers, pesticides, and time to keep lush and weed free. Cut down on time and money costs by reducing the amount of your yard you dedicate to grass. A great way to do this is by adding trees and native flower/garden beds, which trade grass for biodiversity and beauty. Registration for No Mow May has closed but mowing your lawn less frequently is always in season. Just be sure to keep your lawn under 9" to avoid a fine!
5. Grow Foods Your Family Eats
This sounds like an obvious thing but I know many of us have gotten a little too enthusiastic planting zucchinis in the spring, only to be thoroughly sick of them a quarter of the way through their harvest window and end up throwing them away or leaving them to rot. Planting crowd pleasers not only ensures you make the most of your garden space, but helps prevent food waste. So if only one person in your family likes tomatoes, maybe don't plant more than one tomato plant.
6. Rotate Your Crops
Rotating which plants go where helps keep the soil in your garden from being stripped of nutrients, resulting in a declining harvest year after year. Some plants, like legumes, replenish nitrogen in the soil, while other plants, mainly tomatoes and other fruit bearing plants, strip nitrogen from the soil. By rotating where you plant, you maintain a greater harvest yield. Rotating your crops also helps manage soil pests and diseases by breaking their hold on your root vegetables every year.
Image courtesy of Bonnie Plants
7. Compost
Composting is a great way to recycle your yard waste and end up with a rich compost to nourish your garden without chemical fertilizers. Some cities, like Neenah, have a city program to collect green waste and will sell compost back to the community in bulk in the spring and summer. You can also easily do it yourself by following a few easy steps:
Start your compost pile on bare earth so worms and other decomposers can reach your yard waste.
Lay down a few inches of twigs and straw to aid drainage.
Start adding compost materials in layers, alternating moist and dry. Moist layers are kitchen and food scraps, while dry materials are yard scraps.
Add manure, green manure (like grass clippings), or any other nitrogen source to activate the compost and speed up the process.
Keep the compost moist by either watering occasionally or placing in a spot where rain can do the job.
Cover with whatever you have available, whether it's a tarp or old carpet or spare wood, to help retain the pile's heat and moisture.
Turn every few weeks with a pitchfork or shovel to aerate the pile.
8. Save Your Seeds
Save money on annuals you’ve already bought by saving dried seed pods at the end of the season. Most seeds will stay viable for a year or two after they've been collected, with your yield decreasing every year after that. Try this with marigolds, morning glories, and more!
9. Plant Trees
Whether they're big trees, little trees, fruit trees, or decorative trees, all trees make the world around them a little brighter. Aside from producing oxygen, they purify the air by drawing carbon out of the air and storing it in their trunks. They prevent soil erosion, conserve water, and create habitat for animals and microorganisms, making the soil they are planted in rich in life.
10. Let Farmshed Help!
Shop our plant sale May 22-28 to find vegetables, herbs, and native flowers grown with love by our Growing Collective. Plants will be available on a first come first serve basis, but there are plenty to go around. The first two days, Sunday May 22 and Monday May 23 are for Farmshed members only, so if you've been waiting for a sign to join us, here it is!
Happy Planting!
Neena
Upcoming Events:
May 22-28
Farmshed Plant Sale
Location: Central Rivers Farmshed, 1220 Briggs Ct., Stevens Point
Find full hours on our website!
June 4, 9-10:30AM
Composting Workshop
Ticket Price: $15
Location: Central Rivers Farmshed, 1220 Briggs Ct., Stevens Point
Register here!
June 17th, 3-6:00PM
Foraging Workshop
Ticket Price $25
Location: Schmeekle Reserve, 2419 North Point Drive, Stevens Point
Register online coming soon!
June 24-26
The Energy Fair
Location: Custer, WI
To register and learn more, head over to the MREA website.
If you have enjoyed this article and are interested in information about Farmshed and our volunteer opportunities, sign up for our newsletters!
General Information Newsletter- sign up found at the bottom of page.
Commentaires