This Earth Week, the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library and Clean North are partnering to give you information you need to protect the Earth as you garden. We’ve recorded this talk by Clean North green gardening guru Abby Obenchain. Give it a listen to learn all kinds of ways you can be friendlier to the Earth as you garden.
No time to watch? Read on for some green gardening tips.
What does it mean to be a green gardener?
The words green, sustainable, and eco-friendly have been floating around the gardening community for years. They all reflect the same goal: To aim for an equal relationship with nature. When we take from nature, we should give back at least as much. It’s kind of like a chequing account: We should never withdraw more than we deposit.
Why try to be a greener gardener?
If too many people are not aiming for that equal relationship with nature, the environment can suffer. A single act a gardener takes can throw an ecosystem into chaos. For example, if a gardener dumps their yard waste in a nearby natural area and an invasive plant species hitches a ride, that ecosystem could be severely disrupted. On the flip side, the mere act of planting milkweed can help sustain the monarch butterfly, which is under threat from habitat loss and other issues.
Most of us who are gardeners took up this pastime because we love nature and growing things. If we love nature, then we should adopt gardening practices that help rather than hurt the ecosystems around us.
“But my garden is small…what I do won’t make a difference!”
Yes, your backyard is small when compared with, say, the boreal forest. However, in our city, yards and gardens make up many hundreds of hectares of land. Across Canada, they cover hundreds of thousands of hectares. Our collection actions here and the collective actions of all of Canada’s gardeners and property owners can have a measurable impact on the health of our land, air, water, fish, wildife, and people.
“Ok, you convinced me…how do I get started?”
To be a greener gardener, you can focus on the following seven areas. You don’t have to address all of them at once. Pick one, and make some realistic goals to start with.
1 Improve soil health
Looking at and improving the soil under your feet is a great way to start being a greener gardener. If your soil is healthy, it will hold water and nutrients better and be better able to nourish and support plant life. It will also allow for healthier root development and be less prone to erosion.
Some ways you can improve your soil: Test your soil to find out if it’s acidic or alkaline and what nutrients it may be lacking, feed it naturally (add compost and/or manure), avoid tilling or compacting it, consider planting cover crops in veggie beds in fall, use mulch, and avoid chemical pesticides.
2 Increase plant diversity
The more diverse your garden is, the better for the ecosystem. And by diverse, we mean: Some woody plants, some herbaceous ones (non-woody ones); some tall, medium, and short plants; some vine plants; some spring-flowering, some summer-flowering, some that flower in fall; and as many native plants as possible as they benefit our native insects, which in turn benefit our native wildlife, and so on up the food chain.
3 Use water wisely
Under climate change, it’s becoming even more important to use water wisely. We may live on the largest body of fresh water in the world, but even Lake Superior is at risk due to climate change, chemical pollution, microplastics, and other threats.
So how can we be more water wise? To reduce the risk of fungal diseases, try to water the base of plants rather than the leaves; watering in in the morning is best (midday watering is more wasteful and evening watering can leave leaves wet overnight and increase disease risks); water young plants more often and mature plants less often/more deeply to promote root development; get a rain barrel (free water, better for your garden); avoid sprinklers that shoot water straight up in the air; consider soaker hoses; reuse household water from dehumidifiers and cooking veggies/pasta.
Mulch can reduce the need to water, but avoid mulching right up against tree or plant stems and limit mulch depth to 3 inches or less.
4 Improve wildlife habitat
Having a wide variety of native trees and plants is the best way to foster native wildlife. Providing water sources (a pond, water dishes on the ground for insects, birdbaths) and manmade habitat (bird, bat, bee, and toad houses) is also helpful. Avoid gap-free fencing that does not allow wildlife to move from one yard to another. Minimize chemical use; see below. Leave plant stems (except diseased ones) over winter and in spring till temps have been above freezing for a couple of weeks; seed heads are a food source for birds and insects overwinter in the stems.
5 Reduce chemical use
Chemicals can cause many issues for urban and outlying ecosystems and wildlife. A few things to keep in mind:
- The term pesticide covers wide range of products, which vary in toxicity to plants, animals, soil organisms, and humans. Chemical weed killers may seem less dangerous than say insecticides, but they can be deadly to some small critters like frogs. Insecticides can kill many beneficial insects along with the ones bothering your plants. Rat poison is especially concerning — a study by Tufts University found 88 percent of birds of prey they tested had rodenticide poisoning! So try to find alternatives that are friendlier to the ecosystem.
- Way to reduce chemical use include ensuring your soil is healthy, which leads to healthier plants/less need for pesticides/chemical fertilizers; inspecting plants regularly for signs of insects/disease and addressing pest problems early; seeking out plant varieties that are less disease prone; rotating veggie crops around your beds to disrupt pest life cycles; hand-picking insects off plants (lily beetle is a good example); using diatomaceous earth to desiccate pests like earwigs (google instructions for making traps) or trying insecticidal soap (many recipes online); trying companion planting (some plants work together to reduce pest risk); watering plants wisely as previously mentioned.
- Green weeding deserves its own bullet! Residential use of chemical herbicides is illegal in Ontario, and these products do come with risk. Alternatives: Use mulch to suppress weed (natural mulch, not landscape fabric or the dyed chips); avoid tilling or disturbing soil as that turns up weed seeds; avoid bare soil as weeds love that; use square foot gardening in veggie beds; avoid large spaces between perennials; check new plants for signs of weeds; be very cautious about plants from friends/neighbours/local plant sales, which can contain weeds and even invasive species; if you don’t have time to pull weeds, at least pull the flowers before they go to seed (throw them away, don’t compost them).
6 Get rid of invasive plants
Getting rid of invasive plants is critical to sustainable gardening, but unfortunately many gardeners know little or nothing about invasive species. Urban natural areas in the Sault are loaded with a wide variety of these plant bullies, which take over and crowd out native vegetation. With the loss of native plants, the ecosystem starts to crumble. Some of the worst invasives in Sault Ste. Marie: goutweed, periwinkle, Japanese knotweed, Himalayan balsam, buckthorn, non-native honeysuckles, and norway maple. Please find out which plants in your yard are invasive, remove them, and throw them in the trash. Never give away or sell invasive plants. And FYI, there are many beautiful alternatives to invasive species! Joe pye weed is a terrific alternative to Himalayan balsam, for example.
7 Reduce plastic/fossil fuel use
Just a few quick tips: Recycle plastic plant pots (some garden centres will take them back), avoid buying plastic garden products like plastic trellises and plant ties…look for natural alternatives like wood trellises and natural twine. Consider re-designing your yard so you can reduce/cut out string trimmer use. These tools spray microplastic bits all over your yard. Avoid leaf blowers, which are highly polluting and pose a risk to hearing. Consider a manual lawn mower; no noise pollution, no carbon emissions, no cords, no batteries, and today’s versions are much better than your grampa’s! We like the Fiscars brand.
We wish you luck in your endeavour to help the Earth by becoming a gardener, and thank you for helping to keep our community cleaner and safer for not just fish and wildlife but also people.
Questions?
Contact us at info@cleannorth.org.
