Cont. from page 4.
live
longer on homegrown food. It takes a few
years to develop healthy soils and learn new coping mechanisms for pests, but
organic gardening has its rewards. House Wrens and bluebirds remove my cabbage worms.
2. Plant a prairie patch.
Mowing
is time consuming and gasoline is costly. A mini-prairie or meadow garden can
be an attractive part of your landscape, which will attract butterflies and
singing insects. We call this a win/win, because there’s less work and more biodiversity.
3. Try a rain garden.
If you have
water run-off issues or areas that hold water, use it to your advantage. OSU
Extension has promoted rain gardens as a healthy alternative for allowing water
to return to the ground where it belongs. Parking lots, driveways and roof
run-off add to our overloaded storm-sewers and tax our over-burdened streams
during storms. You may even end up attracting frogs and herons!
4. Organic lawns require less care.
OSU
Extension’s organic lawn-care fact sheet offers these suggestions. A mulching
lawn mower blade will help you put the natural nutrients back into your lawn;
chemical free lawns require less water and are more drought tolerant. Clover*
can also add an attractive and beneficial component to your lawn.
*Since my lawn is chemical free, the local
bunnies are thriving on the clover- and that’s OK. I like feeding the Red-tailed Hawks in my
neighborhood too.
Cheryl Harner
Richland County, Ohio
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