Ecological Gardening Practices
Part 5 Using Natural Fertilizers

‘Adopt the pace of nature’ - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Over the past month, we have covered several eco-gardening topics: discover your ecoregion, growing the right plants, keeping your soil covered, and attracting beneficial insects. If you implement all these practices but are still using synthetic fertilizers, weed killers, and pest controls on your lawn, vegetable gardens, and landscape, you are negating all your positive efforts. 

Most synthetic products can damage the beneficial microorganisms in the soil. If your soil is healthy, its teaming with beneficials that are doing all the work that a fertilizer would do. They help convert nitrogen from the air into the soil making it a usable form of food to the plants. They help decompose dead plant matter into what the plants need. By continually using synthetic fertilizers on our lawns, edible gardens, and landscapes, we lose this important natural ecosystem, and the plants come to depend on us. This makes more work for us!

Here are alternatives that mimic a natural ecosystem . . . 

1. Leave the leaves where they fall. Just like in a forest, the fallen leaves feed the soil microbes and nourish the plants.  There are pros and cons to mulching them vs. leaving them whole. Perhaps mulch those that fall on the lawn which allows them to break down faster and feed the turf slowly. Leave the leaves in the ornamental beds where they act as a natural mulch saving you a lot of money, and they feed the soil as they break down.  
2. Turn those leaves into black gold by composting them and applying to the gardens in fall, spring, and just before planting a new vegetable crop. 
3.  Chop & Drop. As you cut back dead foliage of perennials this spring, cut them into short pieces and leave them right there. This uses the plant to basically feed itself. 

  
Other options: 

1. Use decomposed cow manure or other animal manure as compost. 
2. Make a liquid compost tea or a plant tea using comfrey. Learn more here.
3. Use fish emulsion as a foliar spray to feed the plants or as drench to feed the soil. This is great option for in the vegetable garden. 
4. Grow a cover crop. 

As we make the switch from synthetic to natural, we must realize that we can’t rush Mother Nature. Natural pest solutions and fertilizers take time. They work, but they work on their own time table because they are establishing a healthy ecosystem. In a culture that wants to see results quickly (think same-day Amazon delivery), we need to ‘adopt the pace of nature’, slow down, and let nature do the work for us.

If the thought of giving up a green, perfect lawn is something you just can't do cold turkey, then consider easing your way into a more natural approach. Here are three tips:
 
     1. Switch to a natural lawn fertilizer like Milorganite. Apply it in Spring or ideally in Fall. 
     2. Fertilizer less frequently. 
     3. Reduce the size of your lawn and add native plants. This will reduce the amount of fertilizer and water inputs right away!  

That wraps up our eco-gardening series. If you want to learn more, check out the links below. 

LINKS: 
Homegrown National Parks
Native Plant Finder
Natural Fertilizers to Improve Garden Soil

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Soil is the foundation of all the plants you grow. If your soil is healthy, your plants are healthy. Why is that? Soil is alive with thousands of microorganisms that are working to keep nutrients available for your plants at the root level. If soil is left uncovered, those microorganisms can be exposed to sunlight, the top layer of soil can erode away, leaving plants at a disadvantage without a layer of insulation. 

So we mulch. We have yards of hardwood mulch applied every year, and while this is a widely-accepted practice, there are better options that benefit the plants, the pollinators, and you. 

In ecological gardening, we are trying to mimic what nature does and restore wildlife habitats. In a natural ecosystem, you will rarely find exposed soil. Typically there is a layer of leaf litter that naturally falls, and within that layer are beneficial insects and their eggs that overwinter. ‘Leave the leaves’ has been a recent campaign by conservationists, and it makes sense. Not only do leaves help suppress weed seeds, but they nourish the soil as they break down and provide habitat for wildlife.

Another option is a living mulch. Using plants as a mulch has many benefits - one of them is less weeding. When the right perennials are planted closely together, they will cover exposed soil and crowd out weeds. 

There are wonderful grouncovers that can be used as mulch as they weave in and around perennials and shrubs. In keeping with the last article ‘Grow the Right Plants’, we want to make thoughtful choices taking into consideration not only aesthetics, but also benefits to pollinators and plant communities.

Introducing matrix plantings. A matrix is a design concept that originated in Germany following WWII. In it’s simplest form, a low-growing perennial is used as a groundcover, then taller perennials with similar cultural needs are planted among the groundcover  to offer seasonal interest. Plants are carefully chosen based on their plant growth so they will knit together and form a cooperative ecosystem. Sedges (Carex) are commonly used as the matrix base layer. Other options include low-growing hardy geraniums (Geranium sanguineum), and lambs’ ear (Stachys byzantina) for sun, wild ginger (Asaram canadense) for shade. If you want to learn more about matrix planting design, click here. Learn more about sedges here. 

Living mulches can also be edible whether in an ornamental landscape or the vegetable garden. Wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) and herbs are good examples commonly used in permaculture. Learn more about permaculture here. 

The possibilities of living mulches are many and fun to explore. Next week we will focus on attracting beneficial insects. Also, watch for an opportunity to continue the conversation in person here at Burlington Garden Center coming soon. Until then, check out the links below to learn more. 

LINKS: 
What is Ecological Gardening
Homegrown National Parks
Native Plant Finder

Burgundy foliage in the garden can be used most effectively when paired with the right hues. First, be mindful of your backdrop. Dark leaves don't show up on dark backgrounds. They just don't, so don't put them there. If you have a dark-red brick house, don't plant a ninebark against it. The burgundy leaves of the ninebark will show off much better against white or gray. 

My favorite way to use burgundy foliage is to pair it with blue - blue hostas in shade, blue grasses and blue evergreens in sunny spots. Below left is 'Little Devil' Ninebark (Physocarpus opifolius) and 'Shining Sensation' Weigela (right) with 'Prairie Sky' switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) in the middle' and 'Northwind' switchgrass. (shown in next collage).

Add the blush flower heads of Hydrangea 'Quick Fire' or 'Limelight' (center), and the blue-green needles of a Juniper (left) and you have the perfect recipe for a sunny, low-maintenance shrub border. 

 - Tracy Hankwitz, BGC Store Manager 

Not the blades and needles that first may come to mind. I am talking about the soft, arching blades of ornamental grasses paired with the stiff, rough texture of evergreen needles. It's a simple, winning combination and low-maintenance, too. Let me introduce you to a couple of my favorite combos:

Wells' Weeper Spruce (Picea glauca) & Molinia 'Skyracer' (shown above)

These photos just don't do this duo justice. They really look smashing together. Wells' Weeper Spruce is a Black Spruce variety. It's graceful weeping habit makes a blue-green backdrop to showcase the wispy, see-through stems of 'Skyracer' Molinia. Monrovia describes 'Skyracer' best: "Abundant spikes of tiny purplish flowers rise well above the foliage clumps, giving a shimmering effect when back-lit by the sun. Golden hued fall foliage is enhanced by the tall plumes of coppery bronze seed heads." This grass is a well-behaved, must-have for the garden! Add color with Autumn Joy Sedum for a stunning fall display. 
Wells' Weeper needs some room for it's mature height of 20'. 'Skyracer' visually balances it with it's flowering height of 6-8'. 
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A low-growing combination that I like to use is Miscanthus sinensis 'Adagio' and Alpine Carpet Juniper (shown above). The fine texture of this fountain-like grass compliments the rough, course texture of this short-needled Juniper. Add an interesting boulder to complete the look. 'Adagio' grows 3-4' and Alpine Carpet covers the ground growing 8"x3'. 
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- Tracy Hankwitz
Horticulturist & BGC Store Manager