Content related to Plants, Animal Visitors, Stormwater Management, and Sustainable Horticulture
Gardening is a constant teacher. I’ve pulled garlic mustard out of my yard pretty inconsistently over the years, but now I know better. Garlic mustard is an established, invasive weed in Pennsylvania that can seriously disrupt the lifecycles of native plants and animals. With time and diligence – and maybe a little culinary creativity – I may yet be able to banish it from my yard.
My never-ending battle in the garden continues, this time with an opportunistic, invasive weed that is often the first to take over in the absence of established plants: thistle. There are different kinds of thistle, and it is important to know what you’re dealing with before you take action because, like me, you could be doing the wrong thing and making your job harder.
What should you do if you find a baby fawn? Nothing. I recently learned that this bit of guidance is not common knowledge and therefore decided to create this post in order to share life-saving information as well as adorable photos of some uninvited guests. While exceptions and accidents do happen, it’s usually best to trust that moms in nature know what they’re doing.
This spring we had front-row seats to a common but rarely-seen event: a clutch of robin eggs hatching, growing, and fledging. It was only a couple weeks, but the growth and development of these babies – and the tireless efforts of their parents – was amazing to watch. It also served as a reminder that nature is brutal, and it’s usually best not to get involved.
Spring yard cleanup time is here, and I need to find the most effective and responsible way to deal with the weeds and brush that I’m pulling out of my yard. I was discouraged to learn that our municipality sends yard waste to the landfill (despite all the trappings of a closed-loop compost program), so I have to take matters into my own hands.
The slow transformation of my yard continues, with gardening choices occasionally coming into conflict with existing hardscapes. After a young ash tree contributed to the demise of a retaining wall last year, I knew that I needed to consider potential long-term consequences of plants as they grow, especially when deciding what type of native hedge to put on top of a retaining wall.
Pollinator gardens are beneficial for birds, bees, butterflies, and other animals too. However, increased residential development and the continual pressure to have a manicured, uniform lawn puts all of those creatures at risk. Some homes are pushing back against societal expectations around landscaping to create safe corridors for native species, but in more than one case, the resulting fight has gotten ugly.
There is always a line between appreciation and exploitation when it comes to what we put on our plates, and as someone who appreciates rare and delicious foods, I try to be especially conscious of when I am stepping over that line. Ramps, much beloved throughout Appalachia, appear for just a few weeks every spring, but their growing popularity is also putting them in danger.
Somehow we’ve made it to four years of Radical Moderate! Over this time, I have hoped to provide useful information and highlight perspectives that might not be obvious at first, to encourage readers to ask more questions and dig deeper before making decisions. To mark the occasion, we’ll be looking at the traditional fourth anniversary gift (and Valentine’s Day gift) of flowers.
Once we removed my tree, Christian was able to rebuild the retaining wall in our driveway. I learned a lot about the process, which will be useful as more of our walls need assistance. I’m also trying to figure out what to put in the hole left by my tree, but there are a lot of factors to consider for wall and plant health.