I had a brief period this winter without a pile of mulch in my driveway, probably confusing visitors who had come to count on it as a landmark. The new pile, 12 scoops worth, was delivered last week.
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My boundaries enclose a pleasant land; indeed, I have a goodly heritage. Psalm 16:6
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My Native Plant and Wildlife Garden
I live and garden in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
In 2000 I bought a house on a very ordinary .4 acre subdivision lot. It was a demonstration project for landscaping mistakes that had had 30+ years to mature. I spent two years ripping out overgrown evergreens and since then have been replanting with flowering, fruiting things, many of them east coast native plants.
My interest in planting for wildlife began as an attempt to create an enriched environment for the cats but has developed into a belief that plants in the landscape should earn their keep by providing food or shelter for someone, man or beast.
These are several of the things that inspired me to reduce the size of my lawn and give more space to native trees and shrubs:
Noah's Garden: Restoring the ecology of our backyards by Sarah Stein
Smaller American Lawns Today - Connecticut College
Less Lawn
I would be very pleased if you would leave me a comment, even more so if you would tell me about your garden!
In 2000 I bought a house on a very ordinary .4 acre subdivision lot. It was a demonstration project for landscaping mistakes that had had 30+ years to mature. I spent two years ripping out overgrown evergreens and since then have been replanting with flowering, fruiting things, many of them east coast native plants.
My interest in planting for wildlife began as an attempt to create an enriched environment for the cats but has developed into a belief that plants in the landscape should earn their keep by providing food or shelter for someone, man or beast.
These are several of the things that inspired me to reduce the size of my lawn and give more space to native trees and shrubs:
Noah's Garden: Restoring the ecology of our backyards by Sarah Stein
Smaller American Lawns Today - Connecticut College
Less Lawn
I would be very pleased if you would leave me a comment, even more so if you would tell me about your garden!
My other blogs
About Me
Garden and Ecology Links
- Chestnut research project
- Fletcher Wildlife Garden
- Garden Web - check out the Forums
- Interbay mulch
- Less Lawn
- Native Azalea photos
- NC Botanical Garden - Plant Sources
- Plant more trees - Green Belt Movement
- Plant trees: American Forests
- Smaller American Lawns Today - Connecticut College
- U. Tennessee Dogwoods
- Virginia Native Plant Society
- Wild Acres - Md. Dept. of Natural Resources
- Wild Ones - Natural Landscapes
- Wildflower/Wildlife Gardening - Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Community Action
Garden Blogs
Photos
Native trees and shrubs
Tree seedlings
Native wildflowers and grasses, seeds and plants
Garden Seeds
Own Root Roses
Fruit
Garden Books
- -Noah's Garden: Restoring the ecology of our backyards by Sarah Stein
- -Planting Noah's Garden by Sarah Stein
- -Growing and Propagating Showy Native Woody Plants by Richard E. Bir
- -Manual of Woody Landscape Plants by Michael Dirr
So good to hear that someone else has mulch in their driveway all the time. To save money, we do all of our own mulching and other big gardening tasks, but it's really hard work and takes a lot of time, so the pile slooowwwwly dwindles down.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I are fairly new at this, so here's a question for you. After you have mulched, how do you compost? Do you just put the compost at the base of the plants, or pull up all of the mulch and compost the whole bed?
Each year I have dug new beds so all available compost goes there instead of around established plants. In fact, I beg yard waste from my neighbors for the new beds since my own supply isn't enough.
ReplyDeleteI usually just apply another inch or two of mulch on top of the old beds, over perennials in the winter when they're dormant and around trees and shrubs to hold down the weeds.