|
Butterfly gardens provide beauty and sustainability: Image from Giving Tree Gardens
|
|
It happens every year. As daffodils raise their little newborn heads across the rest of the country, greeting the longer and warmer days, Minnesota gardeners start to suffer "zone envy." We want to get out and plant and dig and watch our gardens grow. Instead, we're plagued with March madness, a combination of cabin fever and jitter bugs that can make a garden lover crazy.
Yet March is the best time to start planning your sustainable garden and growing the food and nutrients it needs to thrive. What is a "sustainable garden"? It's a balanced, organic, and healthy habitat that promotes and supports wildlife and vice versa. It relies on the Earth for nutrients, and in return replenishes the Earth with a thriving native habitat that generates food and life.
There are no pesticides or herbicides, which are not only harmful to the habitat, but escape to the watershed, lakes, rivers, and our drinking water. Instead, these gardens rely on the natural habitat and rhythms of the Earth for growth and sustainability.
And while you might not have a hundred hands to help you create your little slice of heaven on Earth, following a few these steps will put you on the path to a vibrant garden that will feed the heart, mind, and body--and maybe even make you feel downright presidential in the process.
1. Do the research. Plant the seeds: Before you draw up a plan, take an assessment of your home, taking note of where the sun shines brightest and at what hours. Also note the shade at different times of the day. This will give you an idea of what plants, veggies, herbs, etc. will grow best and in what areas.
Also be cognizant of the shade and wind protection that trees can provide your home. Did you know, for example, that planting a tree can reduce air conditioning bills by as much as
25 percent? And in the winter months, the windbreak tress provide can reduce heating bills by as much as 20 percent? Planting a tree near a west window, for example, can provide both a reduction in electricity and gas use.
Speaking of cutting down on energy, it's also wise to do a mix of native plants and flowers with annual
vegetables and herbs. This is not only natural, but will also provide
plenty of food throughout the growing season, drastically reducing your
food costs and reliance on gas and energy, too. Tomatoes, squash, beets, Swiss chard, kale, garlic, and more can all be planted in your yard and offer food for you and the family throughout the summer.
If you're itching to plant seeds indoors now, the
University of Minnesota offers a great guide for growing native vegetables, including how to start the seeds inside. It's also a wonderful resource for planning and growing native vegetables, tree fruits, and berries outdoors, even if you're a first-timer who can't tell the difference between a cucumber and zucchini.
2. Draw up a plan: By planting native plants and trees you will actually be working with nature instead of against it. Your garden will be creating collaboration instead of competition. This also means you won't be fussing over an unhealthy tree or plant from another zone as its forced to adapt to Minnesota's weather, bugs, wildlife, etc. Plus, native plants will require less water and less time consumption on your part, and they will supply natural erosion control and attract wildlife like birds and butterflies to your yard, which is also a necessary ingredient for maintaining your garden.
One great place to start:
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The site provides a comprehensive guide for creating an evergreen shade garden, a native shade garden, a prairie garden, and more. It includes images and descriptions and a wealth of resources for both the novice and the green thumb.
Another great place is
Mother Earth Gardens in South Minneapolis. Come May, this small, Earth-conscious shop will carry a variety of lovely native flowers and plants to make your garden grow. But this month the green gardening shop will offer a course called Butterfly Gardening for Adults and Families: Simple Miracles for All to Enjoy. The course focuses on using native plants to bring the beauty of wildlife to your home.
3. Get the nutrients ready: Most garden gurus will tell you the best place to start a healthy garden is in your own kitchen. That's right: Composting your own food scraps now will mean you'll have perfect food for your garden by May and June. Russ Henry of
Giving Tree Gardens in South Minneapolis calls composting "backyard magic." Henry is responsible for numerous sustainable gardens throughout the cities, including the one he designed and planted at the Seward Co-op. He always suggests composting yourself or, if you don't have the option, buying natural compost from a local garden shop like Mother Earth.
Kern Landscaping in St. Paul also sells compost from the University farm.
"Compost is a major product of sustainability," Henry tells LiveGreenTwinCities. "It's necessary for creating a sustainable ecosystem and food-production system." One reason? Urban soils are deprived of humus, which is a necessary ingredient in healthy soil because it allows it to retain water and soak up more heat in spring months. What's more, decades of chemical-fertilizer use have depleted the soil of natural microbes and fungi, which a healthy, organic garden needs to grow. "Biodiversity is important in even a small space," Henry says.
You can get a jump start on creating your compost now by saving your food scraps in a compost bin. Henry suggests using a four-post compost bin for the yard. The first bin is dry material, like leaves and hay. The second is food scraps. The third is the combination of the dry and wet material. And the fourth is the completed compost. To learn more about his method of composting, check out
his guide at Giving Tree Gardens.
Henry also suggests putting rain barrels into the yard now to capture enough water for the growing season. You can buy them for as little as $50, place them at the downspouts, and use water that will otherwise have gone to waste. "One rain barrel can water everything around it," Henry says. "It's all about synthesis. It's all about sustainability."
(Homepage image also courtesy of Giving Tree Gardens)