It's early April and lovely to see a non-native, Snowdrop (Galanthus) bulb gracing the crown of a native, Blue Lobelia plant here in one of Healthy Home Habitats' demonstration gardens. Many of our native pollinators are now leaving their nearly invisible, hibernating...
They often come in the mail. They’re cheaper to buy. They’re lighter to ship. They’re easier to plant. They require less plastic packaging. They’ll never be rootbound. They arrive with all of their stringy roots. They ARE in fact sticks. But they’re also dormant or...
Imbolc: The earth-centered holiday of Imbolc is a time of celebration and ritual of rebirth, often including Brighid, the goddess of the hearth. This also begins an annual time of purification and new beginnings — “the first stirring of seeds or spring flowers” in the...
2022 Winter Habitats "Do you know" -what winter landscape elements support pollinators and important insects for healthy landscapes and birds? PERENNIAL SEED HEADS: In the Northeast, perennial seed heads provide food for overwintering Black-capped Chickadee, Dark-eyed...
Don’t want to drag your leaves to the curb? Great, keep them! Fall Tree and shrub leaves contain fertilizer and humus -critical to healthy shrubs, flowers, trees and food gardens. And, oh yes, they are FREE! Dump them into a circle of chicken wire in a back corner of...
Purple kale alongside the porch, Red Runner Beans and cucumbers hanging on the fence, pumpkins up a trellis and peach trees at the sidewalk, . I love that at least this food will not burn fossil fuel being shipped cross country to our table. I love that we grow them...
I have stopped mowing a spiral-shaped strip of my fenced-in lawn. I started for “No Mow May” and just kept going. In addition to less time spent mowing, these are the changes I’ve noticed through August: More bugs; in particular grasshoppers. Remember them? It wasn’t...
https://www.revisionenergy.com/blogs/healthy-home-habitats/ Go Solar when the numbers work! My payback period for both the solar and the heat pumps is 15 years. Love that $14/mo. electric bill and the ½ tank of oil each winter. Efficiency is Key! And don't forget...
You know your TALL, top layer of pretty, blooming perennials that fall over every summer? Staking is a pain. Now is your last chance, the perfect time to cut them in half! Really. This is the last, best week to give your perennials a midsummer cut. Each stalk will...
I often feel a whole new garden begin in July at the Healthy Home Habitats house. The cool pink, blue and purple colors of most spring flowers fade to the hot oranges and many, striking, almost rhythmic versions of not-exactly-red that begin to sparkle along the...