Let’s start with the lawn. If possible, cut down the size of the lawn. For instance, if you’re mowing five acres break it down to two and turn the rest into a meadow. You’ll save money, gas and time and you will be doing your part in making your property more wild life friendly. When mowing, you should raise the height of the cut grass from two inches to four inches; it’s healthier for the lawn. This practice will shade out many broad leaf weeds and help the lawn tolerate dry, hot summers, which seem to be a trend. Stay away from synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that can pollute and cause adverse health effects.

Mulch your garden beds with a local composted leaf mold and bark mulch. This combination will add body to the soil. The slow decomposition will keep the plants healthy and the garden will not require heavy watering, fertilizing and keep weed at bay.

Use native plants over exotic plants. Native plants have adapted to out soil and climate. They require less care and maintenance are more deer resistant and wild-life friendly.

By adapting these environmentally friendly practices into your yard, you will help create a cleaner, healthier, more wild life friendly yard.

Pete Muroski

It is a good idea to prune overly bushy branches on trees and shrubs in order to give the plants more air and light, making them less susceptible to insect pests and diseases. Wait at least one year before removing any larger limbs or shaping the structure of the tree or shrub.

Pruning after planting should be limited to dead, rubbing, or broken branches only. Remember, pruning encourages new growth, and try to maintain the natural shape of the plant.

If an insect pest or disease is to blame, first assess the scope of the problem and decide whether we actually need to do something about it. Given the right conditions, strong plants can withstand a few insects on pathogens. If we decide to act, we should start by using cultural, physical, mechanical and biological methods.

If we’re not satisfied with the results of natural methods and we decide we have to use pesticides, we should be sure to choose ones with a low impact. They should not be very toxic in the short or long term for human health or the environment. Low impact pesticides break down quickly and most of them destroy harmful organisms without interfering much with useful organisms.

Read and follow the instructions on the label before getting started. Pay careful attention to dosages, application methods, safety instructions and treatment intervals. Finally, keep an eye on the plant afterward and adjust your cultural methods accordingly. Use natural methods whenever possible.

More time and money goes into our lawn than any other part of the landscape. So, it’s important to follow these simple cultural practices to create a healthier lawn environment:

-- Mow the lawn high, high being two and a half to four inches. High grass shades the ground and creates less exposed soil, which in turn creates less weed germination. Higher grass will also require less watering.

-- Seed the lawn heavily each fall and spring to create a thick cover and use many different varieties of grasses. In the Northern states, use a blend of Rye, Fescue and Bluegrass. Also, adding clover will help shade the lawn, keeping it greener by fixing nitrogen into the soil.

-- In the south, Bermuda grass, Zoisia, Carpet grass, Centipede grass and St. Augustine grass works best depending on soil and climate conditions.

-- Cool season lawns will go dormant during dry summers. When this happens raise the height of cut and water deeply, if at all.

-- The soil is the basic building block of the lawn. So the more organic material in the lawn the healthier it will be and the less maintenance it will require. If needed, use natural lawn fertilizers.

-- Use pest control that is environmentally friendly. If an infestation occurs, like grubs for instance, then natural controls such as milky spore when properly applied can last in your soil as a preventative measure for up to ten years.

If proper cultural practices are followed, little or no fertilizing will be required and pests will be controlled naturally.

Proper cultural practices like pruning overly bushy plants and using mulch, compost and natural fertilizers are important to improve growing conditions for your plants and assist in removing sources of infestation.

We can use physical and mechanical control methods also like pruning diseased or overly infested plant parts, and spraying water to dislodge aphids and mites. Use boiling water or full strength vinegar to burn weeds. Manual, mechanical and high pressure water tools can be used to extract weeds. Bait and traps will lure and trap slugs, earwigs and beetles. Floating covers on lightweight plant fabric helps to protect fruits and vegetables from predators.

We can also use living organisms to control some insect pests biologically. For example, spreading nematodes on your lawn help limit white grub damage. There are many safe, natural ways to eliminate sources of infestation in our gardens.

The important thing is not to choose just one kind of plant. For a hedge, we will have more success creating a balanced environment with different shrubs rather than a wall of one type of plant. A bed filled with a variety of shrubs, perennials and bulbs is much better than one with a specific plant, or a monoculture.

To create a diversified habitat in our home garden, we can try flowering plants that produce nectar, pollen and fruit. These types of plants are good sources of food for natural predators like insects and birds that feed on parasitic and harmful organisms.

Some examples of plants that attract beneficial insects to keep a garden in balance are:
-- plants in the carrot family such as dill and parsley
-- the mint family like lemon balm and thyme
-- the cabbage family like radishes, mustard and broccoli and also, daisies

These plants would all look great in our home garden.

Dig the hole for your plant two times the width of the containerized root ball. When using very sharp shovels or planting in clay soils, glazing may occur. Glazing creates a slick surface that plant roots may have trouble penetrating, so use an iron rake to loosen up the sides of the planting hole. Pack the soil around the root ball to eliminate air pockets, which inhibit root growth. Soil amendments should be avoided or kept to a minimal and only added if planting in poor soil. Water thoroughly during the acclimation period to ensure proper health.

Plants that do need to be watered should be watered deeply, meaning that the soil should be saturated so that it will penetrate deep into where the roots are growing. Deeper watering helps develop deeper roots, making for stronger plants.

Whenever watering, try to avoid wetting the foliage so as not to encourage fungal diseases. Watering is probably the most important element in caring for new trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. Since a newly transplanted tree or shrub has not extended its roots into the existing soil, adequate moisture needs to reach the root ball.

Soil type and the amount of rainfall govern the amount of watering necessary. On most well drained soil, one inch of water per week is sufficient to maintain good growth. In sandy soils, as much as two inches of water per week is needed.

Unless adding a plant to an existing bed, don’t cheat by just amending the soil removed from the planting hole. The roots need to be encouraged to develop beyond the new hole. This is especially true when planting trees and shrubs. Many studies have shown that amending the soil only within the planting hole actually inhibits root development beyond it. The roots need to grow into the surrounding soil and the sooner that happens, the faster and better the plant will become established. Plants that are said to require good drainage usually need some sand added to the soil, not organic material. If the plant is being installed in a location similar to where it has adapted to in the wild, then no soil additives are needed.

Remember the old advice about digging a hole twice as wide as the root ball and half as deep? Forget about it. Dig no deeper than the height of the root ball. Dig the hole at least twice as wide. The wider the better; especially for trees and shrubs.

After setting a balled or burlap tree or shrub in place, make sure it is facing the right direction and is plum. The plant should be smiling in the direction it will be viewed from most. Fill the hole with soil level with the top of the root ball, but not covering it. Do not plant too deep. Press the soil firmly with your fingers, then water.

There are some conflicting instructions on what to do about the string and the organic burlap. I recommend cutting and removing the twine and the string on the upper part of the root ball unless we are planting on a very windy location. Keep the burlap tied for 1 or 2 yrs in a windy site for proper anchoring. Do not leave any burlap exposed. During dry conditions, it can act as a wick and dry the root ball.

Wire baskets should not be removed, as they help keep the root ball intact. Plastic burlap needs to be cut off completely because it does not decompose.

Most newly planted trees will do better without staking. Young trees standing alone with their tops free to move will develop stronger trunks and roots than those staked for several years. Trunk movement is required to develop strong tapered trunks and roots.

It’s easy and simple to make compost right in your own backyard. First, designate an area off to the side or in a corner out of sight where you can add grass clippings, leaves and miscellaneous plant debris that will break down over time. Turning over the compost heap with a fork or shovel will help the compost age more quickly.

Not only will the compost benefit shrubs in the landscape, but it will also work wonders in the vegetable garden.

In colder climates, mulch insulates the soil. The insulation helps prevent frequent freezing and thawing of the soil, which can put stress on the plant and in some cases kill it.

Mulches can adjust the pH of the soil so it is best to know the pH requirements of the plants to be mulched as well as the pH of the mulch itself. A natural mulch of compost, leaf mold, root mulch and aged bark or chips works best in most situations. When mulching your garden, be sure not to spread it more than 2 or 3 inches deep. This allows for air transfer between the surface roots and the plant. It also prevents the unsightly “mulch volcanoes” which can often be seen at the base of a poorly landscaped tree.

The same concept applies to the cacti or succulents that require dry, arid locations and little organic material in the soil.

By studying the natural environment of your area and becoming more knowledgeable about the plants that thrive locally, you can choose plants that will grow well in our garden. And don’t forget the native plants that have already adapted to our soil and environment and require less care.

Preserving natural communities by interconnecting nature with our own yards is called wildscaping. Wildscaping is a sustainable method of gardening that creates a cleaner, healthier environment that benefits people, plants and animals.

To get started with this “healthier living” landscape style, observe the natural and existing physical features of your property and try to develop them rather than change them.

Since organic fertilizers have not been chemically processed, most of them have to be broken down by organisms in the soil to release their nutrients. This means that in addition to feeding the plants, they encourage biological activity in the soil. Another advantage is that there is less of a risk of leaching and burning of the plant roots.

It is best to use natural fertilizers when soil test results show mineral deficiency. Natural fertilizers can pep up plants that have suffered from considerable stress, disease, insect pests, drought, over-pruning, transplanting and those that have been grown in pots or containers.

Non-native and exotic species of plants struggle to adapt to a particular site and are far more susceptible to insect and disease infestation. Native plants on the other hand, having evolved in the very environment in which we may plant them, are often able to fight both disease and insects naturally. What this means to the environmentally friendly gardener is less dependence on synthetic fertilizers, insecticides and fungicides, all of which can have negative short and long term impacts on the environment.

There are several other reasons to choose natives: Not only have our many native plant species evolved to fill a specific ecological niche, but also many species of wildlife have evolved in conjunction with them for food and shelter. For example, our native songbirds depend heavily on very specific trees and shrubs to feed and house their young. Planting bird-friendly species will without a doubt, help attract these beautiful backyard songbirds all year long.