So you want to help out the vulnerable species in your neighborhood! But where do you start? What do you need to know? What can you do to help? You can start with creating a garden!
Step One: Choose a Garden Plot
Choosing the proper plot to plant your organic, native garden should take time. The best place should be where there is a low population of bees (in order to attract more of them to your neighborhood), where there is rich, moist soil, and where you can monitor its growth for the first few years. The plot can be as big as you like, but it's best if it is at least four by four feet. This gives you the opportunity to plant a larger variety of flowers for a larger amount of bees and butterflies. If you're lucky and you live in a damper, more swamp-like region of the Midwest, you might also help out some frogs!
Step Two: Preparing Your Plot
There are a few things one must do to prepare your plot; set up boundaries, get rid of other unwanted plants from the chosen area, and ensure that the soil is ready for planting. Remember to start this step when the plants are starting to die and a snowfall would be coming soon. This ensures that more grass won't grow and your seeds will have plenty of time to settle over the winter.
When you're planting with native flowers, it should be overall very easy to get these plants to grow. Most likely, your #1 problem will be grass. The basic problem with grass in your garden is that it will "hog" all of the sunlight and nutrients from your flowers. The good thing is that plants such as Milkweed have much longer roots than grass, and once they're established, they're much harder to get rid of than pesky grass. While there are many ways to kill grass used by professional farmers, such as covering the plot with black plastic on very hot days to dry out and kill the grass or setting a controlled fire, these methods aren't recommended for a beginner. Instead, there's an easier method.
Begin by marking out the boundaires of your garden plot. You can use a small fence, rocks, bricks, or a natural, washable spray chalk. Next, you'll mow this area of the lawn. If you have very long, thick grass like we did, you'll need to do this step in intervals. We began by using the four-inch setting on the lawn mower, raking the dead grass, and then moving the clippings to the treeline. We repeated this step at shorter and shorter settings to prevent damaging the tractor blades. You should eventually cut the grass all the way to the dirt; there shouldn't be any visible green! It's not necessary but recommended to shovel out a thin layer of dirt too in order to get rid of the leftover roots you missed while mowing and raking. Once you're done, finish setting up your borders!
Choosing the proper plot to plant your organic, native garden should take time. The best place should be where there is a low population of bees (in order to attract more of them to your neighborhood), where there is rich, moist soil, and where you can monitor its growth for the first few years. The plot can be as big as you like, but it's best if it is at least four by four feet. This gives you the opportunity to plant a larger variety of flowers for a larger amount of bees and butterflies. If you're lucky and you live in a damper, more swamp-like region of the Midwest, you might also help out some frogs!
Step Two: Preparing Your Plot
There are a few things one must do to prepare your plot; set up boundaries, get rid of other unwanted plants from the chosen area, and ensure that the soil is ready for planting. Remember to start this step when the plants are starting to die and a snowfall would be coming soon. This ensures that more grass won't grow and your seeds will have plenty of time to settle over the winter.
When you're planting with native flowers, it should be overall very easy to get these plants to grow. Most likely, your #1 problem will be grass. The basic problem with grass in your garden is that it will "hog" all of the sunlight and nutrients from your flowers. The good thing is that plants such as Milkweed have much longer roots than grass, and once they're established, they're much harder to get rid of than pesky grass. While there are many ways to kill grass used by professional farmers, such as covering the plot with black plastic on very hot days to dry out and kill the grass or setting a controlled fire, these methods aren't recommended for a beginner. Instead, there's an easier method.
Begin by marking out the boundaires of your garden plot. You can use a small fence, rocks, bricks, or a natural, washable spray chalk. Next, you'll mow this area of the lawn. If you have very long, thick grass like we did, you'll need to do this step in intervals. We began by using the four-inch setting on the lawn mower, raking the dead grass, and then moving the clippings to the treeline. We repeated this step at shorter and shorter settings to prevent damaging the tractor blades. You should eventually cut the grass all the way to the dirt; there shouldn't be any visible green! It's not necessary but recommended to shovel out a thin layer of dirt too in order to get rid of the leftover roots you missed while mowing and raking. Once you're done, finish setting up your borders!
Step 3: Plant Your Seeds
So the first snowfall is on its way! You've been checking the weather app repeatedly for weeks and it's finally here. Not only is it about to be a beautiful winter wonderland, it's also the perfect time to plant your seeds.
Choosing your seeds is a very important step. Making sure that you have a wide variety of seeds, just in case other plants don't grow in your plot. Here are a few links to help you decide on some flowers for your garden:
www.bhg.com/gardening/gardening-by-region/midwest/native-plants-for-the-midwestern-garden/
www.americanmeadows.com/wildflower-seeds/midwest
To plant the seeds, you can follow the instructions based on the seeds you have obtained, and it's also a safe bet to throw the seeds over the plot and then step onto the seeds to push them into the ground.
Step 4: Wait and Weed
Now you wait. As your flowers start to grow in the spring, it's important to weed out all of the extra grass that you might have missed during the fall. Giving your flowers enough room to absorb water & nutrients from the ground and sunlight from the sky is essential for your flowers growth. Once you've tended to your flowers, you should have a beautiful bee and butterfly garden!
So the first snowfall is on its way! You've been checking the weather app repeatedly for weeks and it's finally here. Not only is it about to be a beautiful winter wonderland, it's also the perfect time to plant your seeds.
Choosing your seeds is a very important step. Making sure that you have a wide variety of seeds, just in case other plants don't grow in your plot. Here are a few links to help you decide on some flowers for your garden:
www.bhg.com/gardening/gardening-by-region/midwest/native-plants-for-the-midwestern-garden/
www.americanmeadows.com/wildflower-seeds/midwest
To plant the seeds, you can follow the instructions based on the seeds you have obtained, and it's also a safe bet to throw the seeds over the plot and then step onto the seeds to push them into the ground.
Step 4: Wait and Weed
Now you wait. As your flowers start to grow in the spring, it's important to weed out all of the extra grass that you might have missed during the fall. Giving your flowers enough room to absorb water & nutrients from the ground and sunlight from the sky is essential for your flowers growth. Once you've tended to your flowers, you should have a beautiful bee and butterfly garden!