new research debunks trad views on nutrition

[Mother of Chaos]

You also don't have to transition the whole yard in one go. He's been widening the borders by significant amounts every year, adding islands of bushes or flowers, and still mowing the rest but less often.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Two houses/states ago, we were told if we did not water the lawn we would lose the foundation of our house because the ground would shift that much. Having seen the massive cracks the dried clay left at the parks in town, I believe it. I don't think it was just that the soil was clay. i think it was the type of clay plus the wet winters and hot, dry summers. Possibly also the steep hills but the ground at the parks split wide open even on the flat areas so I don't know about that.

We had the same issue in central Texas

 

[Finchbreeder]

At least in West Australia - because of regular droughts - and water shortages - we are encouraged to replace lawn with flowers/shrubs/trees. Just a pity some people decide that bricks or gravel are easier. (hotter too folks) We have done our lawn reduction by the gradually moving the garden beds out method. We also have planted bigger trees on the sun side of the house to reduce heat in summer so that we can happily have a no airconditioner installed house. Very much more environmentally friendly and economically so too. We use window and ceiling fan combo (still cheaper because of less power use)
On another note - mother uses the boiling water on stubborn weeds method. I use the pull them method till hubby gets out there and sticks his bib in.

 

[BDutch]

For anyone planting a no-lawn wildflower garden:
1) Don’t rely entirely on a bagged seed mix. They’re often mostly annuals and don’t last long. Add living plants from a good garden store.
2) Since successful wildflower gardens are mostly herbaceous (die back in winter) perennials, they follow a similar pattern to woody shrubs and trees: Year 1: sleep Year 2: creep Year 3: leap! So the first year, it may look a little thin, but beginning the second year, it really takes off!

To keep neighbors (and anxious family members) calm, do some judicious weeding when you can, because nuisance weeds delight in newly exposed ground. But it’s so worth it!

Only if the plants you buy are organic. Most flowering plants they sell in the regular gardening shops contain a lot of poisons. And are NOT bee friendly at all.

In my country they grow a lot of plants and flowers for export. The flower/grow industry claims they need to use all these poisons to be able to deliver bug-free flowers and plants due to rules and regulations of the countries they export to.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Only if the plants you buy are organic. Most flowering plants they sell in the regular gardening shops contain a lot of poisons. And are NOT bee friendly at all.

In my country they grow a lot of plants and flowers for export. The flower/grow industry claims they need to use all these poisons to be able to deliver bug-free flowers and plants due to rules and regulations of the countries they export to.

Thanks for adding that. The garden centers I use do not often have flowers that are certified to be organically grown (a fantastically expensive and complicated process in the US), but are. And of course, if one is planting a wildflower gardens, these generally are pollinator-friendly, as the goal is to provide plants that have co-evolved with insects.

These stores do sell the usual exotic (to North America) plants, of course, but they have sections of native plants, which is where I always head first.

Carolina Native Nurseries is one of my favorite destinations. It was devastated by Hurricane Helene, but they’re back! I’m hoping to head here this Friday morning and grab more shrubs:
https://www.carolinanativenursery.com/

Note their motto! -Saving the planet, one plant at a time

 

[Bawkbok]

Mosquito control came through the neighborhood at 9:00 PM the other night. The plume of chemicals wafted in the air for hours. I could taste it in the back of my throat. I was so disgusted!!
Thus far this season, I have NOT seen ANY bats, Monarch butterflies, honey bees, or bees of any kind for that matter, no lightening bugs, barely any lizards, no frogs or toads which we always had in the yard. Is everything going extinct? We do what we can to proliferate nature with areas of chaos gardening, perennial flowers, native plants and shrubs, etc. but there just aren't any visitors to any of this. So maddening.

 

[AntiqueB]

I have what is probably an oasis in this area. I follow my father's motto: if it's green, it's grass. I do not use pesticides, herbicides, nor fertilizers. I have mature shrubs and small trees throughout my tiny plot of land (50' x 100'). I get a lot of mantises and other insects, and am the only yard I know of that has cicada wasps. I have several kinds of bees that come.

We have a small, man-made pond which helps attract birds and insects. Goldfish and pumps make sure mosquitoes don't thrive, but we do sometimes have dragonflies lay eggs there. We each do what we can.

 

[Iluveggers]

I hate the mosquitoes in my yard, but I’ll deal with them solely to ensure that the bees, butterflies, lightning bugs, and dragonflies that are abundant in the garden can stay. I wish government would ban companies like Tru-Green lawn chemicals and Mosquito spraying. Fortunately we only have one neighbor that uses those services. It kills me…they have pets and little kids out playing all the time…there are so many less harmful ways to deal with the problem.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I hate the mosquitoes in my yard, but I’ll deal with them solely to ensure that the bees, butterflies, lightning bugs, and dragonflies that are abundant in the garden can stay. I wish government would ban companies like Tru-Green lawn chemicals and Mosquito spraying. Fortunately we only have one neighbor that uses those services. It kills me…they have pets and little kids out playing all the time…there are so many less harmful ways to deal with the problem.

Bti, I swear by it. All natural mosquito (and some fly) control, I still have plenty of many varieties of bees in my pasture, also wasps, spiders, grasshoppers, aphids and all sorts of other critters.

But mosquitoes? in spite of a stagnant 20x35' "pond", I have essentially none.

@Bawkbok not sure where you are in FL, but last I checked, Tampa area and Miami area were both still using Malathion (among others). The smell is added to it. You do NOT want to leave your car (or much else, really) outside for that. The base they use to hold the active ingredient in suspension for spraying will eat the clearcoat off your vehicle.

They also use Naled. I don't know where else in the state it is used, but my understanding of the research is that it is in many ways worse than Malathion. At a glance, everything they are using is some form of Pyrethrin - all of which are harmful to bee populations (and essentially every other small insect, besides).

 

[Folly's place]

There's got to be some balance in pesticide/ herbicide uses, and it's hard to get there.
I remember DDT sprayed everywhere in cities to try to save the American Elms, mostly a failure. Probably none of use can remember DDT (the only choice then) used to kill malaria carrying mosquitoes, a severe disease also present in the USA, and not common at all now. Thank God!
Herbicides, another big problem but useful in some ways. Right now I'm thinking of getting 2,4D to get the poison hemlock first year plants in patches here. Yesterday, in the least hot day we've had in a while, I donned the hazmat suit, rubber gloves, and removed a large garbage bag full of second year flowering plants, some seven feet tall! Horrible, and there's still more I missed, got too hot and had to quit.
Mary
Mary