Ecologist helping North American growers use their yards to help fight the climate crisis 🌻
5 steps for a more eco-friendly yard 🌻
Hi friend,I’m guessing you follow me because you want to improve your yard’s impact on the planet. So I wanted to share 5 steps every gardener should take to make their yard more self-sufficient, sustainable, and eco-friendly. 1 - Compost 🍄Not only does composting reduce your waste and improve your carbon footprint, but it’s also one of the simplest and most effective ways to improve soil health! Healthy soil is the secret to abundant, thriving, pest-free plants AND it helps sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide - meaning it actively fights climate change. 2 - Remove invasive plants 🎋By definition, invasive plants cause ecological harm. They outcompete native plants and take over large areas. It’s common to find invasive species growing in your yard that you never planted. It’s important to know what’s growing and its status as native, non-native, or invasive. 3 - Plant native 🌻Native plants are incredibly important for native wildlife. 90% of all plant-eating insects rely solely on one plant family native to the same area as them to complete their lifecycle. Native plants also require way less maintenance than non-natives and are much more resilient to your climate because they evolved in your area. 4 - Avoid pesticides 🚫Spraying pesticides will ultimately kill more than just what you’re targeting, including the very important soil microbiome. And when it rains, pesticides and other synthetic garden chemicals runoff from your yard and pollute both natural and municipal waterbodies. A recent study found glyphosate (aka Roundup) in 80% of human urine, including children. 5 - Use what you have ♻️It’s common for gardening to be very consumer-oriented. Gardeners think they need to buy a million different products to grow their plants, resulting in a ton of unnecessary waste like plastic. But you can absolutely garden without buying much. What do you already have available to you? What can you DIY? What can be repurposed instead of thrown away? If you need more help following these steps and making the best possible impact with your yard, check out the Natural Gardener’s Workbook Bundle!This exclusive collection brings together three essential workbooks that will empower you to cultivate a garden that's not only beautiful but also low maintenance and eco-friendly
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Native Yardening
Ecologist helping North American growers use their yards to help fight the climate crisis 🌻
Hi friend, I get asked a lot about how to figure out what species are native to your area. So I wanted to share resources for folks in the USA and Canada. I've updated this list to include more resources, as well as some Canada-specific resources for Canadian gardeners. 🌻 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 The National Wildlife Federation has an excellent tool called the Native Plant Finder. It shows you what native species support the most wildlife in your zip code - these are called “keystone” species. 🌻 🇺🇸 The NWF has...
Hi friend, It’s a common misconception that you need to spend a lot of money to grow a native garden (or my preferred term, an eco-garden). In reality, it’s much cheaper than a traditional garden. Eco-gardening means applying sustainable and regenerative practices to your yard. This can look like using materials already on site, making your own compost, and relying on natural processes to do a lot of the work. It’s been a little over three years since I started transforming my yard. My front...
Hi friend, As I post more on social media about the problems caused by invasive plants, I realize how much misunderstanding there is around these issues. I always get a little discouraged when I see firsthand how misinformed the general public is about how nature works. But I also understand that it's a systemic issue. We aren't taught about these things. I recently made this post on Facebook and Instagram, showing a handful of common invasive species in North America. For some reason, people...