Our Favourite Caring For Your Yard Tips from The Garden Post
Our Caring for Your Yard column shares simple garden maintenance tips that can have a big impact on both your yard and the natural environment. Often, we focus on the value of doing less in the garden—stepping back and letting nature take its course. Here are three of our favourite “do less” tips:
Tip 1: Do Less Raking
Perfect for this time of year is a reminder to leave the leaves. Leaving a layer of leaves in the garden means less raking for you and valuable overwintering habitat for beneficial insects.
Tip 2: Do Not Disturb the Soil
Digging in very wet conditions and tilling and turning soil can damage soil structure, promote weed growth and harm beneficial microorganisms. Avoid working in the yard after heavy rain and top-dress your garden beds with a three to five centimetre layer of compost. Let earthworms and other soil organisms do the work of moving the compost down into the soil.
Tip 3: Work Smarter, Not Harder
A less-is-more approach to gardening doesn’t mean a messy garden. In fact, if we want other gardeners to adopt a more natural garden, it’s important to keep our gardens attractive as well as healthy. This includes removing invasive, non-native plants, such as goutweed and periwinkle, and keeping a trimmed and tidy garden edge, especially next to sidewalks, driveways and your neighbour’s yard.
This approach also provides more benefits for you and the critters who frequent it. A healthy yard could have a woodpile and/or standing dead plant stems or seedheads to provide pollinators and other critters with food and shelter.
Celebrating Our Favourite Tips, Facts and Plants
We’ve reached the 100th edition of The Garden Post! To celebrate this milestone, we’re sharing some of our favourite Did You Know facts, Caring for Your Yard tips and standout plants from the Plant of the Month column.