[HN Gopher] Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot
___________________________________________________________________
Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot
Author : sohkamyung
Score : 252 points
Date : 2023-02-27 13:20 UTC (9 hours ago)
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| revx wrote:
| We replaced our front yard with native plants and I love it. Plan
| to do this with my back yard as soon as I can afford it. I
| specifically chose a house in a part of our city with no HOA
| because I don't ever want to go back to monoculture of grass.
| Such a waste of space.
| MR_Bulldops wrote:
| I did this last year and it was incredibly satisfying. If I
| amrunning errands and near a nursery I'll stop by and get a new
| plant or two. Slowly filling it in and watching all the nature
| is nice.
|
| Our back yard is about 4x bigger, but I'll be tackling that
| shortly too! Our neighborhood is a mix of lawns, manicured
| landscaping, and natural gardens. Lawns are slowly becoming
| less frequent.
| InCityDreams wrote:
| >Turn your backyard into a biodiversity hotspot I did. Fucking
| gangster father-in-law came and mowed the lot down...12ft+ to 3"
| in less than a couple of hours. Fair play to the dude - he
| thought I was un- able/ willing to do the chopping. When he got
| it that I wanted it all to grow he was very, very apologetic, and
| from thereon, did so. Neighbors hated me.
| thatfunkymunki wrote:
| I saw an awesome video of someone doing something like this at
| their property https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LvaX748pVI . I
| was really impressed with how much the local ecosystem took to
| it, so rapidly
| v8xi wrote:
| Living in the Bay Area, I adore the tall grasses growing on the
| eastern foothills - you get a nice close-up taking e.g. I-680 to
| Livermore - and would love to replace much of my yard with the
| native grasses, but I don't even know where to begin in
| identifying what species they are, and where to get seed.
| tambourine_man wrote:
| https://archive.is/FGLCS
| alexwasserman wrote:
| There are also some interesting larger projects focused on insect
| health and diversity like Brighton (in the UK) mandating Bee
| Bricks: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/bee-and-swift-bricks-
| mandate...
|
| These are similar in design to the bee/insect hotels you find,
| but build as a brick, with the holes facing out, allowing insects
| a place to nest, and to fight the loss of bee populations.
| voisin wrote:
| The only issue is that I am pretty sure you need to clean them
| out every so often. I don't think mason bees will take over
| another bee's nest.
| autokad wrote:
| city gardens things make no sense (when it comes to eating said
| items). Soil in cities can become contaminated by various
| pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, industrial
| chemicals, and automobile exhaust. These contaminants can have
| harmful effects on human health and the environment.
|
| I'm in favor of gardens, but eating the food? gosh that's a bad
| idea
| farmerrishi wrote:
| Funny that these ideas are still making "news". I feel like I'm
| surrounded with people who figured out a long while ago that
| human's are and have always been necessary to the health of our
| ecosystems. Our current sad state of affairs is caused not by
| human intervention, but by human neglect of our relatives on this
| planet.
|
| 99% of human cultures have been gardeners, cultivating land to
| increase diversity, energy, and abundance. Colonization fucked
| that up on a worldwide scale, and created this new narrative of
| humans in opposition to Earth.
|
| I've been working with a partner to change that by connecting
| people to urban gardens where they can see "human care of Earth"
| in action. Its called healinggardens.co . Check it out.
| acabal wrote:
| Planting native plants is very rewarding, and you don't need a
| lot of space to do it, either.
|
| The only space for greenery in our condo, located in a major
| urban center, is a small strip of mud at the side of the
| building. A few years ago I seeded it with native plants, and
| they grew spectacularly. Spring through fall we have colorful
| native flowers that attract a huge amount of bees of various
| species, butterflies, and other pollinators - in the middle of a
| giant city!
|
| It's a great feeling to step outside and see flowers and greenery
| that belong, covered in busy life that was never there before!
| You don't need a lot of space, and you can do it in a city too.
| jhoogland wrote:
| Check out healthyyards.org for a treasure trove of information.
| (Disclosure: this is my mom's initiative, and I am a momma's
| boy.)
| jhoogland wrote:
| Check out https://healthyyards.org for a treasure trove of
| information. (Disclosure: this is my mom's initiative, and I am a
| momma's boy.)
| Joel_Mckay wrote:
| "biodiversity hotspot" a.k.a. Rodent + Insect farm for the rest
| of the neighborhood to complain about.
|
| Maybe move out of urban centers if you want agriculture. Most
| rodents are nocturnal, and will damage/infest surrounding
| structures. Gross, but true.
|
| Have a great day =)
| Decabytes wrote:
| I've always had a dream to buy a plot of land and homestead. But
| I have family that is getting older and needs my help more often.
| The though of being far away from essential services like
| Hospitals is not ideal. Also I'm still too early in my career to
| make that move.
|
| So, more recently I've been thinking of an idea I call "urban
| homesteading", which is just based off the idea of not waiting
| until the perfect circumstances to start something. Nothing about
| living in the suburbs prevents me from doing like 80% of what I
| would do homesteading. I can still...
|
| 1. Can/Preserve/Dehydrate/Vacuum seal Food
|
| 2. Build up a supply of essential non perishable food
|
| 3. Grow food I can eat in a garden
|
| 4. Build things with the materials I have instead of buying them
|
| 5. Fix and repair old stuff I have instead of buying new stuff
|
| 6. Reduce my reliance on City Water, Electricity, Gas, while
| still enjoying the benefits
|
| Sure I might not have the most space or privacy having neighbors
| on all sides but so what. I don't have a big backyard, but I
| don't really need one as there is a large park 3 minutes from my
| front door that I can walk to. Other than enough space for a
| small deck and grill I can devote the rest of my backyard to a
| garden. I'm slowly building up towards this, but I'm starting
| slowly so that it isn't overwhelming
| mooreds wrote:
| I had an instructor once who advised younger folks who were not
| ready to buy land to spend some money on really good gardening
| tools.
|
| I see you mentioned gardening. You can also get a plot in a
| community garden in some towns, or volunteer on a CSA farm,
| which gives you some food growing capacity (and grows your
| skills).
| frereubu wrote:
| I posted this on another comment, but you might be interested
| in permaculture, where ease of maintenance is key within a
| context of sustainable living. These are two of its originators
| talking about how they set up their plot, in a relatively
| built-up part of Victoria in Australia:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss1BjW2kSNs I find it
| incredibly inspiring.
| voisin wrote:
| Only tools a permaculturist needs are a shovel and a hammock
| :-)
| dylan604 wrote:
| I'm all for this, and I too have been attempting this at
| various levels. However, the one thing that I have come to
| respect is that farming to be self sustainable is capital H
| hard. To grow enough to sustain just you and your family means
| a much larger plot would be required than I originally
| appreciated. Weather is a huge factor on whether your plants
| will yield enough, and it is something absolutely out of your
| control. After that, you have pest control from insects to
| animals. The more effective you want to be about those just
| increases the costs of everything.
|
| I've considered turning part of my yard into a larger garden
| plot, but since it's a rental, it's hard to want to expend the
| effort. So I've stuck with container gardening with a few
| raised beds.
|
| I haven't quite gone the level of canning (not enough yield for
| that), but I have been drying the herbs I grow. This winter was
| the first time that I've used them for soups, and will be doing
| this at a larger volume this year.
| justajot wrote:
| Yes!! I love the awareness here.
| gibspaulding wrote:
| My wife and I did something like this for a while (before
| moving out of town to a more traditional farmstead last year).
| You won't be able to grow all of your own meat or grain, but
| you can fit a ton of tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc. in a city
| lot. We're on track for our canned tomatoes to make it through
| to next harvest from a poorly managed ~200 square foot plot for
| example. We ran out of frozen peppers and onions recently, but
| those had a rough start since we moved in in June so they had a
| late start.
|
| We were also allowed to keep up to 6 hens which were enough to
| keep two people in eggs and provided excellent compost.
| bmitc wrote:
| > We were also allowed to keep up to 6 hens which were enough
| to keep two people in eggs and provided excellent compost.
|
| About how many eggs per week or month was that producing?
| We're allowed a certain amount of chickens, and I have
| considered it. What was the maintenance like?
| morgango wrote:
| So, not unrelated was a post from reddit where someone built a
| little better environment for a frog in their yard:
| https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/11czhbt/g...
| and they ended up with a zoo.
|
| While whimsical, it shows very how adjusting your environment
| just a little bit can really attract wildlife.
| bmitc wrote:
| That's hilarious. Like what you said, that's really amazing
| about how small changes propagate. It's crazy how wildlife
| finds stuff. They know what they're doing.
| rini17 wrote:
| Nice and I have it, including pond with frogs!
|
| Earned me solid concrete walls from all sides though, neighbors
| are concerned about weeds.
| seatac76 wrote:
| I don't have the privilege of a backyard but I've been doing
| square foot gardening on my balcony for about 3 years.
|
| Have been using Merlin Bird ID to track birds that have visited
| the garden + bird feeder. I have so far logged 23 species which
| took me by surprise. The number of insects and birds visiting
| regularly is truly humbling, anecdotal but the premise of the
| article certainly rings true to me.
| banga wrote:
| Another good resource for those interested:
| https://homegrownnationalpark.org/tallamys-hub-1
|
| I'm not affiliated, just have high regard for Tallamy's work.
| throwawaaarrgh wrote:
| When I made one 8x2.5 high density raised bed on my stoop in
| Philly, I got: Birds, squirrels, butterflies, moths, wasps,
| caterpillars, praying mantis, aphids, worms, grubs, ants,
| ladybugs, bees, and more. I grew tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant,
| bell peppers, basil, thyme, oregano, lavender, bee balm,
| broccoli, lettuce mix, and beans, and had ornamenral flowers to
| attract pollinators.
|
| I'd set up a chair and just watch like it was the nature channel.
| Every time a bee would come visit, I would rejoice. The whole
| city melted away and I was plunged into a tiny living ecosystem.
| Absolutely the best investment I've ever made for my quality of
| life.
| ilamont wrote:
| This is more about community urban gardens than backyard
| habitats, which are different on several dimensions, such as tree
| cover, water access, and sunlight. Nevertheless it dovetails
| nicely with a discussion late last year, "I built a wildlife
| pond" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33952437).
|
| Even man-made habitats which incorporate plants and features that
| are amenable to plant and animal life will flourish, and attract
| animals that its creators never envisioned whether it's bees
| looking for flowers or mammals drinking at the pond.
| bmitc wrote:
| After getting a house with a decent sized yard and trees, I have
| been having a lot of fun with planting native plants. While my
| neighbors are cutting down trees, which is honestly hard to
| watch, and paying landscapers to plant non-native plants, I'm
| spending a lot of time researching and planting native plants. It
| is honestly one of the more fulfilling things to walk outside and
| see all sorts of bees, butterflies, moths, rabbits, chipmunks,
| squirrels, and birds living their lives. They all work so hard
| that it is inspiring. I'm looking forward to spring again for
| this exact reason.
|
| I sort of disagree with the article though. I think one should
| actually take a relatively hardline approach to planting only
| native plants. Just because you have a lot of activity around a
| plant doesn't mean it's the _right_ activity. You could be
| attracting non-regional and non-native species which is
| generating the activity.
|
| And honestly, native plant species are _easy_. If you plant them
| in the right place, they will grow very easily and strongly with
| minimal care. Then you can collect their seeds. I am really
| hoping that all the milkweed we 're planting brings more
| monarchs. Last year, we saw a couple.
|
| I like Douglas Tallamy's books _Bringing Nature Home_ and _Nature
| 's Best Hope_.
| onos wrote:
| I don't really understand the logic behind native only, beyond
| the desire not to introduce a plant or creature that would
| monopolize their environment.
| onlyrealcuzzo wrote:
| Modern vegetables are essentially "non-native".
|
| Is it discouraged to have a vegetable garden these days?
|
| Are we still allowed to grow carrots outside of Iran and
| Afghanistan without being frowned on?
| Loughla wrote:
| In my experience, it's multi-faceted. First, is the ease of
| integration. Native plants are, well, naturally better suited
| for your area. If you select a flower that grows natively in
| your area, it will be okay as long as you match the sun
| requirements. Second, they take less maintenance. Less water
| and little- to no-fertilizing, because they're already well
| suited to the climate and soil. Third, is that they are
| almost guaranteed not to be invasive. And finally, you don't
| have to worry about introducing anything toxic to the native
| fauna inadvertently. If it's toxic, they already do not eat
| it.
|
| For me, it was that they are super easy to take care of, and
| thrive under conditions that would murder "standard" sorts of
| landscaping plants. I'm forgetful, and a watering schedule is
| just not an option for my poor, poor brain.
| Scarblac wrote:
| I want to make the local ecosystems stronger.
|
| Native plants should grow well, but there are also many
| organisms around to fertilize them, prey on them, symbiose
| with them, eat their fallen leaves, and so on.
|
| Everything else in the ecosystem from the microbes, fungi and
| insects up is native, so it seems obvious to me that the
| plants should be as well.
| jonnycomputer wrote:
| The rhetoric and tone around natives and non-natives can be
| problematic. However, the ability for a specific species to
| thrive isn't a really good index into the health and
| resilience of whole ecosystems. One of the reasons that non-
| native plants often thrive, sometimes at the expense of other
| native plants, is the relative lack of predation. I think it
| was only a week or so ago that there was a post on HN about
| how white-tailed deer are becoming a threat to native plants
| and a boon to non-native plants because (a) no natural
| predators to keep deer populations down and (b) deer
| generally prefer eating native plants.
|
| Anecdotally, looking at the invasive Amur Honeysuckle on my
| property, its leaves remain pristinely green well into Fall,
| but by comparison, other comparable native plants have leaves
| eaten by insects, covered in molds, etc. There can be a
| competitive advantage to being the new plant on the block;
| but that competitive advantage is clearly at the expense of
| anything that relies on those native plants to live.
|
| Generally however, invasive plants tend to be those that like
| to colonize disturbed areas, and they tend to be plants that
| are easy to grow (and so people like them). The greatest
| threat, imo, is the continued and ongoing disturbance of the
| land, and, the continued introduction of _new_ non-native
| plants (primarily via the large commercial nurseries).
| bmitc wrote:
| What do you not understand about it? Just trying to address
| any specific questions you might have.
|
| Here's some bullet points I've collected in my head. I'm not
| an expert and am still learning. See the links below.
| Planting native plants:
|
| - reduces watering and fertilization needs, if not removing
| them, because native plants are built for the area they're
| planted in
|
| - attracts _native_ insects, which further attracts native
| predators like birds, mammals, and other insects. Non-native
| plants can attract a lot of activity, but it can be harmful
| to the overall ecosystem, as non-native pollinators are not
| evolved to interact with the regional ecosystems and are thus
| far less effective
|
| - Non-native plants can not only monopolize the environment,
| but they can be highly detrimental to the soil, stripping it
| of nutrients
|
| - Native plants are developed primarily locally and thus
| reduce emissions compared to having to ship around non-native
| plants everywhere to all the big box stores and nurseries
|
| - Ecosystems contain individual species that evolved
| together. By replacing entire plant systems with non-native
| plants, you interrupt the system. This is not good because
| things get of whack. Things evolve but not in healthy ways,
| such as often encouraging non-native wildlife.
|
| - Pollinators are extremely endangered but extremely
| important, not to just their local ecosystems but to humans
| as well. They are what allows our agriculture to be
| successful. It doesn't make any sense to smoke them out.
|
| - Native plants are more efficient at carbon capture.
|
| https://www.audubon.org/content/why-native-plants-matter
|
| https://www.monarchgard.com/what-we-believe.html
|
| https://homegrownnationalpark.org/
|
| Honestly, the _only_ reason to plant non-native plants is
| vanity.
| AlotOfReading wrote:
| All of these things are partially true, but not fully.
|
| Your yard is only rarely representative of the "natural"
| ecosystem that would otherwise exist. Generalist species
| may find your yard similar enough to thrive, but
| specialists (carnivorous plants are a popular example)
| likely will not even if they're native to the immediate
| area.
|
| Non-natives can actually be even more efficient than
| natives at many things, including carbon capture. Prickly
| pear is a highly invasive example that outcompetes native
| crops with higher efficiency photosynthesis, huge
| adaptability to arid environments, and massive carbon
| capture potential due to its rapid growth rate.
|
| Speaking of prickly pear, it's a native family in much of
| the western US, but it remains invasive in yards throughout
| that range because the ecological succession that would
| naturally control its reproduction takes decades and isn't
| allowed to occur. Don't plant it.
|
| Your yard is a cultivated environment. Be cognizant of what
| you're planting and how it interacts. Natives are often a
| good choice, but there are perfectly valid reasons to plant
| non-natives or avoid certain natives.
| onos wrote:
| Thanks for your response. I'll think on your points.
|
| FWIW, In my area of the world I hear about non natives
| being bad but they often seem to grow very well, eg in the
| wild. So it seems to me that they are often well suited to
| the local environment. The concern then seems to me to be
| an implicit preference for what was already here over new
| comers. To me, seems a bit "anti immigrant" and I just
| can't relate.
|
| I definitely appreciate the point that we should avoid
| catastrophic decrease in diversity, and bringing in foreign
| plants could raise risk of that.
| HEmanZ wrote:
| One point on top of the poster that I think also matters,
| especially if you want more people to get involved:
| aesthetics.
|
| Any regions of the world people actually live have really
| beautiful natural plants that are often excluded from
| peoples yards just because it's not what the builder has
| massive stockpile of. You can use local plants to make
| your property look distinctly and beautifully "of a
| place" and not some e.g generic American burb or "trying
| to imitate" some other place (palm trees in Seattle, im
| looking at you)
| jonnycomputer wrote:
| See my comment above, but one reason they thrive is lack
| of predation.
|
| And yes, the rhetoric can be feel very anti-immigrant
| (something my immigrant spouse picked up on very quickly)
| Flozzin wrote:
| Many insects that are native to the area have co-evolved with
| the native plants. Which means that, non-native plants are
| not always the best fit for those insects. So planting native
| plants, usually means a plant better suited to live in that
| environment, but also, a plant that better benefits the
| native animal/insect life.
| MR_Bulldops wrote:
| "beyond the desire not to introduce a plant or creature that
| would monopolize their environment"
|
| That is reason enough to avoid non-natives and invasive
| species.
|
| They reduce biodiversity making a habitat more brittle and
| boring. And they may spread beyond the bounds of your
| property, negatively affecting others.
| dahfizz wrote:
| Not every single non-native species is invasive and would
| take over your whole property.
| quercusa wrote:
| As others have recommended, check out Douglas Tallamy's
| _Bringing Nature Home_. He 's an entomologist and sets out a
| very clear connection between native plants, native insects,
| and the larger ecosystem.
| wcarron wrote:
| > I sort of disagree with the article though. I think one
| should actually take a relatively hardline approach to planting
| only native plants. Just because you have a lot of activity
| around a plant doesn't mean it's the right activity. You could
| be attracting non-regional and non-native species which is
| generating the activity.
|
| I disagree. Native plants are great, but so are tomatoes or
| some bell and habanero peppers. You're projecting your personal
| opinions on what makes a garden good. To some, a good garden is
| defined by its native-plant biodiversity. To others, it's
| getting fresh herbs for salads at dinner. To others it is
| something else. It's not an either-or thing. You can plant many
| things and reap varying benefits.
| bmitc wrote:
| I was distinguishing plants from crops. I think it's
| perfectly fine to be growing non-native vegetables and fruits
| that you'd like to eat or sell.
| nonethewiser wrote:
| They have the same downsides you identified for plants.
| wcarron wrote:
| Ah, gotcha. Makes sense.
| bmitc wrote:
| Your points were good though! I haven't yet started
| gardening for fruits and vegetables but would like to at
| some point.
| SirLJ wrote:
| With edibles is getting tricky because everyone is eating
| everything... sometimes just one bite from a nice big
| tomato enough to ruin it.... Best to plant a lot to have
| for you, or plan for the ugly nettings and enclosures....
| One thing that usually works are cherry tomatoes enough
| for you and the critters....
| djtriptych wrote:
| Is it fair to call it personal opinion if it's also the
| ecologist consensus viewpoint?
| jlglover wrote:
| I completely agree with most of your points. I have a spot in
| my garden where I want to plant a large native tree, probably
| an oak. I would love to plant all natives, except that they
| quickly get eaten by deer in my neighborhood. Even many "deer
| resistant" varieties like coneflower and beebalm. Of course,
| this make no sense, since deer and native plants should have
| evolved to survive beside one another. I think this
| contradiction is because the local deer population is just much
| much higher than the historical levels, since they have no
| natural predators here. My neighbors say they weren't a problem
| until recent decades. I was somewhat skeptical, except that I
| see many plant varieties thriving in the 2012 Google streetview
| shots that would not be feasible to grow today.
| is_true wrote:
| You could buy a bow and do some management. It's really
| interesting. There's a YouTube channel, seek one.
| jlglover wrote:
| I live on a medium-sized lot within the limits of a city,
| so bow hunting is not allowed in my yard.
| is_true wrote:
| Maybe somewhere close. Near where I live they had to
| start paying people to hunt because off all the accidents
| caused by deer
| bluGill wrote:
| Are you sure? In some cities it is allowed. The city
| might say it is not allowed, but the state has different
| rules that overrule whatever the city says.
|
| Of course you do still need to be safe in your hunting,
| and that can be tricky.
| quercusa wrote:
| Deer densities are much higher than historical averages and,
| when hungry enough, they'll eat just about anything.
|
| You can see this in wild areas with lots of deer - there's
| almost nothing growing less than about 7 feet off the ground.
| 0xdeadbeefbabe wrote:
| You can see this if you don't get eaten by deer.
| bmitc wrote:
| We have deer as well that keep eating certain plants. I am
| drawing a blank on which ones, but they kept growing back
| rather quickly. We are going to take into consideration this
| year and perhaps plant them in less convenient spots, more
| quantity, or something else when it comes to mind, like some
| sort of deer sprinkler project that targets them. Haha.
| Although it is quite annoying as they were eating two of my
| favorite plants I got last year, I'm not too bothered by it.
| I'm going to buy more and try what I mentioned above and see
| if it helps at all. They leave the milkweeds alone, probably
| for obvious reasons, and the milkweeds are the happening
| place for basically all the insects. It is crazy how popular
| they are. There are other plants they also leave alone. I
| think it's going to just be trial and error since they don't
| seem to like all the native plants, just some of them.
| circlefavshape wrote:
| Couldn't you put a fence around the tree until it's big
| enough to survive a bit of deer-nibbling?
| [deleted]
| taftster wrote:
| You should write a book, or at least blog, about the
| experience. This would be good reading and much appreciated to
| some of us. I'd definitely read.
| drewcoo wrote:
| > planting only native plants . . . could be attracting non-
| regional and non-native species
|
| Native plants do that, too. Invasive species thrive on that, in
| fact. Horticulture is more complicated than just "eating
| local." Ok, so a good diet is also more complicated than eating
| local.
|
| > native plant species are easy
|
| Absolutely! And if you're in a place that can flood or has
| droughts or sometimes has wild temperature spikes, those are
| plants that have adapted to the environment. They live through
| tough times that kill the plants that haven't adapted.
| frereubu wrote:
| If you haven't already, you might enjoy learning about
| permaculture. This is a short and easily-accessibile
| introduction - two of its originators, David Holmgren and Su
| Dennett, talking about how they designed their house according
| to its principles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss1BjW2kSNs
|
| The part of your comment which prompted the comparison was "...
| native plant species are easy. If you plant them in the right
| place, they will grow very easily and strongly with minimal
| care." This is one of the principles of permaculture - based on
| the land you have available (and it can be as small as a
| balcony off a flat) spend some time working our what works
| where based on your plot and plant that, rather than struggling
| to get something working where it doesn't belong.
| LegitShady wrote:
| I had a neighbour who did a permaculture front yard that was
| ridiculously beautiful, but unfortunately the tall grasses
| etc became a haven for rodents which caused problems for
| multiple neighbours.
|
| Sometimes there are good reasons why a regular grass yard
| might be ok.
| bmitc wrote:
| That's an example of part of the problem though. By
| originally cutting everything down and destroying the
| ecosystem, it pushed out the predators that would keep the
| rodents in check. We have rodents here for sure, but there
| are also foxes, coyotes, fisher cats, hawks, raccoons,
| bobcats, and owls.
| dahfizz wrote:
| A simple proposition for homeowners - trade your lawn for
| a bunch of coyotes and raccoons.
|
| I wonder why more suburbs don't do that.
| bmitc wrote:
| I have all sorts of predators in my area, and the only
| time you see them is from the security camera picking
| them up at night, and even that is rare.
| frereubu wrote:
| That's a false dichotomy. I'm sure you could come up with
| something better than that if you put your mind to it.
| LegitShady wrote:
| I dont want coyotes and bobcats around my house. neither
| does anyone who has pets or livestock. There's a reason
| they were pushed out. We still have owls and other birds
| of prey. We have raccoons and they are annoying and can
| damage property.
| anthomtb wrote:
| >I dont want coyotes and bobcats around my house. neither
| does anyone who has pets or livestock
|
| Only people who do a poor job of looking after their pets
| and livestock fear natural predators the way you do.
| Kon-Peki wrote:
| I'm adjacent to a large natural area. We've got plenty of
| coyote and fox, hawk, owl and other predators.
|
| The coyotes are pairing up for mating season, so they
| start to do crazy things like chase deer through my yard.
| During the rest of the year, when they tend to be
| solitary, they stay far far away from people and even
| mid-size dogs.
|
| Get a fire pit and use it occasionally, and they'll
| generally be pretty shy near your yard; its a smell
| nature has taught them to keep away from.
| bmitc wrote:
| That's why it's important to leave areas completely
| undeveloped so that these animals have somewhere to
| retreat to.
| nibbleshifter wrote:
| > We have raccoons and they are annoying and can damage
| property.
|
| Nothing a .22 can't fix, surely?
| bombcar wrote:
| You basically have to hit them multiple times and keep
| shooting night after night if you don't eliminate the
| food sources.
| nonethewiser wrote:
| The real problem is living close to your neighbors and
| wishing you could escape things that entails.
| schiffern wrote:
| Vegetation can make an excellent screen against undesired
| views. A food hedge makes a great fence to screen over an
| ugly warehouse, bright street, vacant lot, or pesky
| neighbor.
|
| You can also use some kind of structure, of course.
| Sometimes that will involve more rules, and some people
| just prefer using plants.
|
| Ideally this should be part of a complete sector
| analysis, which also considers things like sun and wind
| direction.
|
| https://www.greenpathherbschool.com/greenpathblog/permacu
| ltu... (scroll down to "Sector Analysis")
|
| https://smalldesignstudio.wordpress.com/a-permaculture-
| proje... (scroll down to "sector map")
| hammock wrote:
| What's the size of your lot?
| bmitc wrote:
| It can be small or big. Checkout Benjamin Vogt's work:
| https://www.monarchgard.com/portfolio.html
|
| In particular, his house is on a small lot typical of
| suburban sprawl neighborhoods.
|
| https://www.monarchgard.com/uploads/6/7/1/6/67169427/pxl-202.
| ..
| Natsu wrote:
| > I am really hoping that all the milkweed we're planting
| brings more monarchs. Last year, we saw a couple.
|
| The numbers went up a bit during Covid, surprisingly. I wish we
| could do something about the general downward trend, there are
| far, far fewer now than there were even 30 years ago.
| ilyt wrote:
| Yeah, I also don't understand appeal of "just a square of land
| filled with immaculate lawn and not much else. It's essentially
| space wasted for nothing.
| rootusrootus wrote:
| Some of us like to have a bit of open lawn for outdoor
| activities that need some space. I've still got dozens of
| trees, shrubs, wildflowers and such, but there's an area of
| just grass that is really nice to have. I can't remember the
| last time I saw a lawn around here that _didn 't_ have a
| boatload of additional plants as well.
|
| I assume this must happen in other parts of the
| country/world, or it's a meme.
|
| If you want to go completely wild with your own back yard, I
| understand, but I don't see the appeal of that either.
| hinkley wrote:
| I saw a comedy set a long time ago with a line to the effect
| "the lawn was brought to us by the same pretentious assholes
| who got beheaded during the French Revolution".
| bmitc wrote:
| Agreed. I've heard manicured lawns described as deserts but
| that that is actually not fair to deserts, the implication
| being that deserts are a healthier ecosystem than manicured
| lawns.
|
| I still have a lawn in the front and back covering parts of
| the property. I did plant non-native grass last fall. I'm not
| sure I'm happy about that from an ideal standpoint, but I
| chose grass that is very drought resistant and needs
| basically no maintenance and looks fine when allowed to grow
| taller. I mixed in some mini-clover, which is also non-
| native, but it's a new species that is supposed to make the
| grass even more drought tolerant, provides natural
| fertilization, and supports pollinators. We'll see how it
| goes. I also plan to not mow as much, although last year with
| the drought, I barely mowed at all. I don't use chemical
| fertilizers and used only natural fertilizers. I have heard
| this approach described as feeding the soil and not feeding
| the grass. One of the fertilizers I used showed some fungus
| growing on the grass, which I was happy about.
|
| I hope to keep evolving things and reclaiming parts of the
| lawn that we never use or want. It's nice as you reclaim it
| with plants and trees, because it's decreasing maintenance
| burden.
| pascalxus wrote:
| but you also need some balance. alot of native species don't
| taste very good and some aren't even edible.
| bavent wrote:
| Don't taste good and aren't edible for you maybe, but all my
| local bugs and critters seem to love the ones I've planted.
| throw_away1525 wrote:
| I think you're right about the natives and the 'right kind' of
| activity.
|
| Native species, especially the ones at risk, are more likely to
| be specialists. And of course, they specialize in the native
| plants.
|
| Invasive species, on the other hand, are more likely to be
| generalists. That's why they become invasive in the first
| place. And they'll be happy to visit those non-native plants.
| pamelafox wrote:
| Agreed! I've been gradually replacing the invasive plants with
| native plants, and for the most part, native plants are doing
| really well. We have one side of the yard with bad soil from an
| ivy infestation, but with enough soil amendment, I think it'll
| be fine.
|
| If you're in the bay area,
| https://www.bringingbackthenatives.net/ is a great resource -
| you can tour gardens and find garden designers. Calscape.net
| also a great resource, plus the native nurseries like Oaktown
| and Watershed.
| taeric wrote:
| Native plants may be easy; but by that measure, invasives are
| where its at. :D
|
| That said, bringing down trees is always odd to me. Definitely
| bring down any that pose a risk to your house. But otherwise,
| seems more effort than it is worth. I should probably be a lot
| better at pruning, as that is a ton of work. And, while
| intellectually I know the answer is that you are unlikely to
| kill the tree, I am always worried about that to the point that
| I don't prune enough.
| bmitc wrote:
| I'm still not totally certain how to "manage" the trees in
| our yard. We are in a quite woody area with huge trees. I
| contacted an arborist place last year and plan on paying them
| to come out and teach me about the trees on my property. The
| previous owners cutdown some huge trees, but luckily mainly
| concentrated on the trees that were super close to the house.
| It's _possible_ remaining trees could hit the house, and they
| are actually relatively likely to snap off at some point due
| to the wind. But I think it 's relatively unlikely it will
| happen and we have insurance if it does. I could remove the
| possibility and also completely remove ticks as well if I
| transformed the yard into concrete, but that is of course
| completely self-serving. My neighbor recently had a tree
| crack and slightly hit his house. I can't see any real damage
| from my point of view, but I can only describe it as him
| waging war against trees on his property afterward. He
| removed 99% of the remaining trees on his yard (these are
| _huge_ trees), including ones that couldn 't hit his house
| even if they broke at the base of the trunk (which they never
| do).
|
| Another house that has sit empty for a year and a half
| recently cutdown all its trees. Literally all the trees. All
| that's left is a graveyard of stumps, which makes it look
| like a warzone from WWI or something. There was probably 50
| trees cutdown.
|
| There's no way I'm cutting down the oaks, and I'm unlikely to
| cutdown any tree, even if it's dead since even those support
| insects, owls, woodpeckers, and other birds.
| justajot wrote:
| Thank you for leaving the dead ... super important habitat!
|
| Also wanted to mention the importance of diversity.
| Everybody thinks trees trees trees but, at least where I
| live, native prairie plants are just as, if not more
| important, and are unfortunately largely ignored.
| bmitc wrote:
| That's a good point. I am mainly concentrating on plants
| and haven't even got to bushes or trees yet, in terms of
| planting. I will want some professional advice on where
| to place the trees I'd like to plant. I want to plant
| trees for looks, to return some areas back to trees where
| some were previously cut down, and to also re-block a
| backyard neighbor (another one) who tore down all their
| trees.
|
| The plants are really fun because you can just basically
| plant them anywhere and see how they do. They take
| quickly and don't pose any harm to infrastructure.
| taeric wrote:
| What was the reasoning to cut down 50+ trees? That feels
| excessive in any world.
| yostrovs wrote:
| Loggers pay good money for straight, quality trees.
| NoImmatureAdHom wrote:
| It's true, but just to clarify for people out there:
| "yard trees" bring less, and maybe nothing...if you can
| get someone out there. It's because there's usually only
| one or a few in that spot, they're difficult to get to
| (behind a house), and they're full of metal that will
| damage saw blades (like that clothes line pulley someone
| put up in 1930).
| bmitc wrote:
| I have no idea. The house has literally sat completely
| empty for well over a year. The tree cutting was the
| first activity I have ever seen there. I don't know if
| they plan on tearing the house down and rebuilding or
| what. I also have no idea if there's someone who actually
| plans to live there or if it's owned by an investor.
|
| It's possible I overestimated, but it has to be at least
| over two dozen trees. And these are not small trees.
| There's of course smaller ones but others are easily over
| 40-50 feet.
| toast0 wrote:
| 50+ has to be weighed against the total volume of trees.
| If you have too many trees in a small space, none of them
| thrive. It can be valuable to actively thin the forest so
| that you have a smaller number of thriving trees rather
| than a larger number of struggling trees.
|
| If someone planted 50+ trees that are a terrible fit for
| the lot, well that's a good reason to take them out too,
| hopefully with replacements.
|
| Personally, I live on a large lot with hundreds of trees,
| and it would be easy to select 50 trees that would be
| reasonable to cut down, and you'd hardly notice. But the
| only large tree we cut down was a (non native) cottonwood
| planted near the house that had bifurcated and was likely
| to fall on the house in the foreseable future. When we
| thin the forest, it's mostly younger trees in thick
| growth that don't have room to grow well.
| taeric wrote:
| I mean, not wrong, but doesn't seem in the spirit of the
| upper post. "All that's left is a graveyard of stumps"
| does not sound like someone thinning out a forest. Or
| even preparing a lot for a house, since you will have to
| grind out all of the stumps.
| nonethewiser wrote:
| Fallen trees killing people is not unheard of.
| NoImmatureAdHom wrote:
| I don't know where you live, but a lot of municipalities
| make what your neighbors are doing illegal. Might want to
| check.
| xyzzyz wrote:
| Depends on your goals. I'd love to have some big towering
| trees around me, but I also love gardening and laying in the
| sun. One big tree in an inopportune could shade my entire
| yard.
| taeric wrote:
| Note that posing a risk doesn't just mean "if giant tree
| were to fall toward house it would be a problem."
| Obviously, you should monitor the health of any giant tree
| nearby, but by and large healthy trees growing tall is not
| an immediate concern. Moreover, some of those trees would
| be perfectly healthy if you kept them pruned to a safer
| height.
|
| So, posing a risk is more on trees that are likely to fall
| over and do major damage. Or those that have root systems
| that are too close to your foundation and going to cause
| issue in that way.
|
| All of this is said as someone that loves giant trees
| nearby. Seeing eagles and such nest at the top of trees
| that are hundreds of feet tall is very cool.
|
| Edit: Also consider fire hazard to the house, depending on
| where you live.
| bombcar wrote:
| Trees can also be quite dead and need to come down without
| much external visible issues.
|
| https://treeandneighborlawblog.com/ Has interesting stories
| tangentially related to tree duties.
| AlgorithmicTime wrote:
| [dead]
| jmspring wrote:
| I did this when I bought a house in Santa Cruz. Planted a bunch
| of natives, in particular bushes that flowered at different
| times of the year - ceanothus, manzanita, etc. I happily had
| bees and other insects around the yard almost all the time.
| It's worth doing.
|
| Funny thing, monarch butterflies (and the caterpillars) seem to
| prefer the non-native Milkweed to the native variety.
| pamelafox wrote:
| Which milkweed did you plant? I find that our Monarchs love
| narrow-leaf milkweed but HATE showy milkweed. They have to be
| absolutely desperate to nibble on it. Both are technically
| native, but clearly one of them is tastier.
| bmitc wrote:
| The milkweed that I planted is common milkweed and swamp
| milkweed. I find swamp milkweed to be prettier, but they
| both seem extremely popular and they seemed to bloom at
| different times, which is a nice benefit. (I'm not certain
| about the bloom times as I'm going only on a year's
| experience.)
| kccqzy wrote:
| In my yard, I didn't plant any milkweed but I found them
| growing on its own. Or at least, Google Lens told me it's
| milkweed. How do I know if they are native or not? How do I
| know if they are harmful or beneficial to the ice system, and
| whether I should remove them or let them grow? Where do you
| get this knowledge?
| bmitc wrote:
| I use the app PictureThis (https://www.picturethisai.com/)
| and then supplement it by researching the online on various
| sites. I don't have any particular sites to offer offhand,
| as I'm still figuring everything out myself. Another thing
| I have considered is buying some books from local native
| plant societies and organizations. They publish books that
| contain pictures and information of regionally native
| plants. They also have plant sales every year, where they
| sell native plants that have been grown by themselves or by
| known third-parties.
|
| In general, I have tried taking an additive approach. I
| have only removed plants that I knew for a fact, through
| the app and subsequent research, were non-native and
| particularly damaging.
| colechristensen wrote:
| There are invasive plants and there are non-native plants and
| these things aren't necessarily the same. You do you with your
| yard but not everybody has to be so strict. There are plenty of
| non-native plants that have very low risk of becoming invasive
| which do a lot for biodiversity and are nice to look at.
| [deleted]
| angst_ridden wrote:
| When I bought a place in the LA area, the house had neatly
| trimmed lawns and flowers planted with perfect spacing around the
| borders in both the front and back yards.
|
| Over the past twenty years, it's been converted into a wild,
| exuberant mix of flowers, fruit trees, and native plants. We do
| irrigate with drip-lines. We have a lot of butterfly host plants,
| and it is now a veritable Disney-film-happy-place filled with
| birds and bees and butterflies (and aphids and spiders and
| salamanders).
|
| There are a few chairs and benches scattered around, and I sit
| outside and read or code on pleasant days. I spend a lot of time
| taking macro photos of bugs and flowers.
|
| Several of our neighbors loathe us, saying that our yard is a
| mess and lowers property values. Their pesticide-ridden lawns are
| perfectly green, even in the Summer, and they are only ever
| outside to instruct their gardeners where to direct the leaf
| blowers.
|
| Most people walking by are enchanted by the wildness and the
| animal life. Kids, particularly, are thrilled when they see the
| butterflies, or get to pick cherry-tomatoes or berries off the
| vines.
| theNJR wrote:
| Also in the LA area. Would love to see some pictures!
| phist_mcgee wrote:
| Thank you for do your small part in improving biodiversity.
| chasd00 wrote:
| on behalf of your neighbors, please keep mosquito habitat to a
| minimum.
| pseudotrash wrote:
| This article gave me no useful advice. I got a garden and would
| love to know what I should put there living in the north of
| Italy.
|
| The article didn't mention, except using dome of the space to
| store compost. No advise on what to plant. Just feel-good advise
| by morons for morons.
|
| It's like it was written by "Marjory the Trash Heap" from fraggle
| rock herself.
|
| Thought you were dead Marjory!!!
| ernestipark wrote:
| Semi related, but I firmly believe everyone with a yard should
| have chickens. 4 chickens can feed a family with more eggs than
| they'll ever need, you'll almost never throw food scraps out
| again, and you'll keep harmful methane producing waste out of
| landfills.
| CatWChainsaw wrote:
| Keeping commensals under control should be a top priority.
| Salmonella and Campylobacter are not welcome additions to my
| meals.
| chasd00 wrote:
| i had an across the street neighbor in Dallas that basically
| had a mini-farm in their backyard. An actual "up at 5 to milk
| the goats, feed, and eggs before work" type farm. I did enough
| of that in HS growing up in the sticks with odd jobs at
| dairies, elevators, and other farm type work. No thanks, dues
| are paid :)
| voisin wrote:
| I concur wholly. We have wanted to do this forever and last
| year bought 5 acres on the edge of town. We are now up to 28
| chickens (26 hens, 2 roosters) and run a small egg CSA. It's
| been amazing for reducing food waste, yielding high quality
| compost, enjoyment for us and our kids and people walking by, a
| small step toward local food resiliency, and it earns a tiny
| profit. We've just ordered another 40 day olds for delivery in
| a few weeks, and are plotting to get some ducks too.
| WaitWaitWha wrote:
| I suggest to add a bee home (bee house, bee hotel) to your
| garden. It is simple, last several years, it can be as small as a
| bird house, and can be a fun weekend project with the kids. (It
| can also be purchased.)
|
| Please, do not get honey bees, unless willing to take care of
| them - just like with any animal husbandry. I love them, I am a
| beek, but I find too many abandoned or swarms from people who
| bought into the idea that they need to save the world through bee
| hives. Just resist the urge, unless you have time and willingness
| to do proper beekeeping.
| yboris wrote:
| Novel bee keeping technique: plastic bottle (you can see what's
| inside, know when to gather the honey, and you can keep bees
| safely indoors)
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ItlOFLTUAs
| Wonnk13 wrote:
| So the idea with the bee home is the bees come to me? As
| opposed to me buying honeybees and a hive? I'm asking out of
| genuine ignorance not trolling, as I'd love to have bees by my
| planter box, but I don't have the time to be a bee keeper and
| and don't want to kill the little guys.
| 11235813213455 wrote:
| probably better to get honey from a local beekeeper (and/or
| local fruits, which are even better for us, with their fiber)
| criddell wrote:
| Definitely. In North America, honey bees are non-native,
| invasive species. If you want to help the bee population,
| pick a species native for your area.
| throw_away1525 wrote:
| They won't be honeybees, they'll be other types of bees like
| mason bees. But yes, they will come to you.
| mikeyouse wrote:
| I'm interested in this generally but we've had problems
| with bald faced hornets and yellowjackets... are they
| attracted to the bee hotels?
| WaitWaitWha wrote:
| No.
|
| I am not familiar with solitary hornets (genus vespa)
| that build in bee homes. They build hives and depend on
| each other. The bee homes do not make a good living space
| for them.
|
| Cicada killers are solitary, but they build in sandy
| soil. European hornets also nest in the ground; same with
| digger wasps, and mud daubers. The bald-faced hornet is a
| wasp and build their paper nest, similar to
| yellowjackets.
| WaitWaitWha wrote:
| Yes, in general. (Appreciate the honest question.)
|
| Bee homes [0] are basically a bird house with a bunch of
| small reeds or pipes where several native species can nest.
| It provides home for several American native bees. It is
| primarily for solitary bees It does not work for all, but it
| does help. After all, there are about 20,000 bee species and
| nearly 4,000 are in North America!
|
| Bee homes do require some cleaning as the cocoons will be
| left behind in the reeds if you are successful. You will have
| to replace the reeds, or clean them out (bottle cleaner, or
| toothbrush works).
|
| Honey bees (Apis mellifera), sometimes referred to as
| European or western honey bee is not native to the Americas,
| although they are well established now. They were introduced
| in the 17th century.
|
| [0] : https://duckduckgo.com/?q=native+bee+home&t=ffab&iar=im
| ages&...
|
| (also personal preferences - I use honey bee (not honeybee),
| as the honey is a description of the bee species e.g. like
| bubble bee)
| burnished wrote:
| There are solitary bees??
|
| Fact sheet I stumbled on for others curious:
| https://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/insects/ahb/inf21.html
| gibspaulding wrote:
| Yes definitely; many (most?) of the bees native to North
| America are solitary.
|
| Honey bees were originally imported from Europe. The only
| reason they're not considered invasive is that they're so
| bad at surviving here.
| 11235813213455 wrote:
| Exactly, better have some sweat fruit trees (figs, persimmons,
| apricots, ...) and other wild pollinators (wild bees, wasps,
| butterflies, .. even ants pollinate)
| hklgny wrote:
| Thanks so much for suggesting this - fits me perfectly. Have
| always wanted to do something for bees and with bees, but know
| I wouldn't commit to taking care of them as needed. Going to
| get this going next weekend!
| RegularOpossum wrote:
| I've got multiple bee homes for all different sizes. Showing
| off our orchid bees to visitors is one of my favorite yard
| activities.
| lasermatts wrote:
| +1 for adding in bee hotels to promote those solitary bees!
|
| equally easy (but a little uglier) is to always remember not to
| cut back your native plants over winter! Native solitary bees
| love to lay their eggs in hollowed out plant stems!
| voisin wrote:
| And to leave leaves and needles on the ground where they fall
| over winter and spring.
| gateorade wrote:
| Weird question, but if you encourage bees to come through these
| methods, how prevalent are they? I like the idea of doing this,
| but I also have a young child and am somewhat allergic to bee
| stings myself and wouldn't want my yard to become overrun with
| bees.
| WaitWaitWha wrote:
| For the love of all that is good, not worth a trip to ER.
| That kind of emergency usually happens when least expected,
| and the epinephrine is on the other side of the farm, and
| need 15 minute ride.
|
| Personal experience, solitary bees (and honey bees in
| general) - the key word here is _bees_ , NOT wasps - are
| gentle. I regularly play with bubble bees and show my progeny
| how to treat them.
|
| But, that implies that you can identify a bee from a wasp.
|
| Take a look at some of the comparison images and you will get
| the gist [0]. Drunk yellowjackets are the worst.
|
| [0] https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=wasp+vs+bee&iax=images&i
| a=i...
|
| (Do not read this: to be fair, ground nesting _solitary_
| wasps are not as freakish as any hive wasps.)
| neonnoodle wrote:
| During the process of buying our house, one of the disclosures
| was that the house has a huge inground swimming pool, but some
| aspect of the plumbing was broken, and nobody knew how much it
| might cost to repair. So, as-is.
|
| Nobody in our house swims, and the costs of repairing and running
| the pool would be excessive. At first I thought about having it
| drained and either removed or converted to some kind of
| outbuilding space. Then it occurred to me, I shouldn't just
| dispose of a water-bearing structure! The thing is engineered to
| safely contain thousands of gallons! We kept it. The pool hadn't
| been used in several years prior to the sale of the house, which
| was perfect because the chlorination had long since evaporated.
| Thus a readymade freshwater pond.
|
| I started adding native plants and sheltering areas to the
| shallow end. Frogs were already in residence for mating season
| but now several species live there full time. Tons of insects:
| backswimmers, water skimmers, caddisfly, mayfly, damselfly and
| dragonfly larvae, bladder snails, giant water beetles. Ducks and
| herons visit. Purple martins and flycatchers hang out at dusk.
|
| People often ask about mosquito control, and so far it hasn't
| been an issue. I believe this is due to a combination of the
| water depth (mosquitos prefer very shallow and still water like
| puddles), circulation speed, and predation of the mosquito larvae
| by everyone else. Because there are marginal plants, predatory
| insects can transition from their aquatic larval stage to
| adulthood (they need stalks to climb up out of the water).
|
| The pond has become one of the great joys of my life--seeing the
| seasons change through the lifecycles of the species, watching
| bees forage on pickerel rush flowers, hearing frogs sing at
| night.
| chime wrote:
| Would you be open to sharing a photo or two of the pond? I
| would love to show it to my kids.
| inkcapmushroom wrote:
| >circulation speed
|
| Do you run the pool pump, or else how is the water circulating?
|
| This sounds like an awesome project, what a joy to have that
| right in your backyard.
| neonnoodle wrote:
| I made a bubble pump, but it's still very much a work in
| progress. A lot of the circulation is just "traffic" of all
| the little dudes swimming around. I recommend watching some
| of David Pagan Butler's videos on organic pools.
| https://www.youtube.com/user/davidpaganbutler
| potsandpans wrote:
| The backstory for one of the main characters from The Southern
| Reach Trilogy involves a pool turned into a freshwater pond.
|
| Maybe you're somehow influencing a future anarco biologist
| SCUSKU wrote:
| I spent part of my childhood in rural Japan and during the
| summers would fall asleep to the sound of hundreds of frogs
| croaking in the rice paddies. It was a great lullaby for me, it
| sounds like a great thing to have in your backyard!
| lasermatts wrote:
| I wrote a book about my experience taking my concrete filled back
| yard to one full of life over the pandemic! Gardening in an urban
| setting presents unique challenges but it's super rewarding!
|
| Link to my book (for anyone interested): https://a.co/d/crd2HcD
|
| Super excited to see articles on big sites talking about the
| importance of biodiversity!
| [deleted]
| fillskills wrote:
| I am cofounder of a startup called HealingGardens.co. We are
| trying to help biodiverse urban gardens make revenue with an
| airbnb like model.
|
| If anyone here has an urban garden and would like to list it on
| our marketplace, we would be glad to review or help.
|
| If you have questions or want to work on something with us please
| feel free to reach out at abhi at healinggardens.co
| glennericksen wrote:
| There's was a story in Smithsonian magazine a few years ago
| (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-ecologist...)
| about an ecologist who more or less did what this article
| proposes, increasing the biodiversity in his backyard. He called
| his project a "Homegrown National Park".
|
| Tallamy's Suggestions:
|
| 1. Shrink your lawn (replace grass with plants that create
| habitat)
|
| 2. Remove invasive plants (native plants support more animal
| biodiversity)
|
| 3. Create no-mow zones around trees (accommodates insect life
| cycle)
|
| 4. Equip outdoor lights with motion sensors (lights can disturb
| animal behavior)
| cookieswumchorr wrote:
| i always do it with my refrigerator
| dylan604 wrote:
| I don't think the spores that you are cultivating in your
| fridge would necessarily qualify as native plant species.
| that's more of a science experiment
| ilyt wrote:
| More like biological weapon in the making
| dylan604 wrote:
| it could be the next penicillin type of discovery. at least
| that's how I justify the state my fridge has been in a
| couple of times in my youth
| pascalxus wrote:
| Personally, I like to plant as many different types of fruit
| trees, fruit vines and berries as I can and as much diversity as
| I can. But, I find sticking just to natives is kinda limiting.
| It's nice to prefer natives but I wouldn't be too religious about
| it.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Just ensure that what non-native you do get is not an invasive
| species. There are websites you can check if the type of plant
| you are looking to plant is considered invasive or not. After
| learning about this, I was surprised by the number of invasive
| plants being sold at nurseries. I've learned which local
| nurseries are more trustworthy of being able to trust any plant
| they are offering.
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