No Mow May is a new trend sweeping the yards of mindful (or lazy – I don’t judge) homeowners. Whether you decide to forgo mowing your lawn for the entire month of May, mow less often than usual, or sow seeds for grass alternatives in your lawn, there are valuable steps you can take to support biodiversity and feed pollinators in your yard.
I know that gardening is a lot of work, but I also know that it brings me a lot of joy – eventually. There are weeds that need to come out and plants that need to go in, and I try to make choices by considering the impacts on the pollinators I am trying to feed and the healthy ecosystem I am trying to create.
A common struggle for any gardener or farmer is keeping groundhogs away. Many natural and/or humane methods of groundhog control are ineffective, but killing animals is not an option for me. Furthermore, dispatching the groundhogs deals with the symptom, not the problem, and leaves a move-in ready home for the next family. The best solution is making your yard undesirable in the first place.
Our extensive weeds neither know or care whose property they’re on, and our neighbors all use heavy-duty weed killers that I don’t want in my yard. Since the best defense is a good offense, I took it upon myself to preemptively clear my neighbors’ weeds (getting their permission first) trying out several organic methods on a range of weeds, including poison ivy.
My ongoing war with weeds in our yard is exhausting and neverending. While I’ve made some good progress in the front yard over the last few years, the jungle back along the property line is made up of some truly formidable opponents that won’t give up. The worst part is that weeds don’t respect property lines, so my theater of battle has expanded.
Aphids can drain a plant of the nutrients it needs, thereby damaging or killing it, but they can also spread disease from one plant to another. Since my garden is exploding with them, I wanted to understand the best ways to get rid of them or even prevent them in the first place. But that’s easier said than done, as they have some unlikely allies.
After a long, cold, lonely winter, I was more than ready to get back out in the garden and enjoy the warmth and the flowers. With some inspiration from my friends, I made and canned syrups made from my violets and honeysuckle, and I have been drinking them in cocktails as I sit and watch the world come back to life.
As we approach November, we’re getting exposed to more and more BS in political campaigns. Fortunately, this is also the perfect time of year to make use of fertilizer to improve your lawn. This week we will look at the pros and cons of organic and inorganic fertilizers, focusing on one in particular that I’ve used on my lawn for years.
Lawns are resource-intensive and boring. I have been working for several years now to expand or create new gardens throughout our yard to increase the attractiveness of our property to both human eyes and pollinator bellies. Building new, organic, and eco-friendly garden beds takes a lot time and physical labor. Now four summers in to my project, I’m trying to work smarter, not harder.
Spending a month with my parents in eastern PA allowed me to meet our newest invasive species: the Spotted Lanternfly. This insect has been in Pennsylvania for less than a decade but is already wreaking havoc on a variety of cash crops, including grapes, grains, fruit, and hardwood. This post covers how to recognize them and kill them – because, yes, it is necessary.