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...
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...
It’s National Pollinator Week. I say “thank you” pollinators. Thank you for this lovely pea pod that will share the nutrients from a seed, blossomed in our soil, wonderfully transformed by sunshine to my body, giving me energy for another day. I used to think that an...
Invasive plants are removed from part of the shady north side of the property -good. It’s a rainy, early summer morning here -also good. It has rained recently so the ground is already moist -even better. I’ve bought these native, woodland plant seeds from a reputable...
This lawn spiral is just one experimental way to inspire homeowners to mow less, leave areas of unmown, more diverse plants in their yard. It’s a fun way to gain these five benefits!; #1 You’ll help the bees. “A study by the USDA Forest Service found that cutting the...
For years, many homeowners in our Monadnock region have struggled to create and maintain a coveted, green lawn in the frequently sandy, thin, acid soils of our Granite State. Now as concerns mount regarding the unintended damage of lawn maintenance chemicals, the...