5 Simple Steps for Creating a More Eco-friendly Garden

For years I ’ve heard the same refrain : You ca n’t have a safe - looking garden that is also eco - friendly . It seems that many folks think aboriginal plants are too wild looking and that taking a clean glide slope to garden cleanup spot or guardianship will lead to a messy , unkempt landscape . I contend that there are modest whole step everyone can take to promote keen biodiversity in their space , all while preserve it attractive .

1. Provide orderly frames

This footstep is less about being eco - friendly and more about reining in the wild look that sometimes comes with realistic garden . elementary sculptures , stone pathways , a two - president seating room area , and neatly pruned evergreens such as the Turkish boxwood ( Buxuscv . , Zones 4–9 ) shown above are all important “ cues of care , ” to utilize a term coined by landscape painting designer Joan Nassauer . They are essential elements in rent others know that the face of the garden is measured and helping them admit the improper “ messiness ” of an eco - friendly garden .

2. Make your containers work harder

The pots and planters on my deck are not only for ornamental function ; they also carry industrial plant that provide food for bees , butterfly stroke , and ruby - throated hummingbird . In addition , I use the patio as a nursery of sorts . I often purchase modest perennials that I plan to love in pots for the season and then engraft in the garden in fall . This reduces the number of get-up-and-go - consumptive and expendable annual I use .

3. Build some pollinator houses and log walls

you could supply all the pollen and nectar on the major planet , but unless you allow for a lieu for pollinators to shelter and overwinter , they wo n’t make your garden a home . I use commercially available recyclable wooden tray and fill brick with lowly composition board tubes and empty stems from garden perennial such as meadow rue or Joe Pye weed to create pollinator houses . I also make artistic wooden log wall in area of the garden for the same purpose .

4. Leave the leaves

I utilize the whole leaf that fall from the trees within my garden for mulching , and I even add some leaf from neighbors ’ trees that they graze to the curb . I ’ve never had a trouble with plant life being ineffectual to go forth in spring or being “ smothered ” to death by this realistic mulch approach .

5. Create a bird sanctuary

aboriginal works provide food for insects , and in bit those insects provide food for bird . Tucking garden detritus behind plants at the perimeter of the garden furnish home ground for many species of beetles , wasps , and other bird food sources . The numerous trees and shrub within the landscape function as shelter to wing visitors , while birdhouses are key for cavity nester . Tube tributary in wintertime and an open water source also encourage a goodly bird population .

Jeff Epping is the main designer at Epping Design and Consulting and the former director of gardening at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison , Wisconsin .

Photos , except where noted : Danielle Sherry

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