Feedback Welcome - draft habitat revealed!

Ta da!

I have a draft of what my new 550 sq ft front habitat garden bed will look like. 

While the shape is settled, consider it effectively a blank slate.  I encourage you to share your own thoughts about the design with me in the comments. 

Primary goals?

Save the planet. Do my part to combat our biodiversity crisis.

Increase the amount of habitat on my property using native plants.

Reducing the least productive and least sustainable portion of my greenspace, the lawn.

Secondary goal?

Maintain the look of a curated perennial garden. 

To broadly shift consumer behaviour it will become increasingly important for people to be inspired by beautiful home gardens with primarily native plants. To that end:

• I've already arranged for my home to be on a garden tour this year, so gardeners can imagine making similar changes to increase biodiversity in their own yards. Yes, even with a newly planted bed.
• I will be doing a presentation for the Prairie Naturals Gardening Group in April on integrating native plants into your home garden.

In October I took the first big step by putting in the new (lasagna) garden bed. Racing against the changing seasons, I finished just as the snow fell. There is no better incentive to plan a garden than to have the empty bed prepped and ready for next season.

This is where you come in. 

If you have experience working with native plants from Manitoba, or thoughts on overall design, feel free top speak up. I value feedback from the broader gardening community. Now is the time to make changes to the design - before I start buying any plants!

 

Don't worry about the number of plants this design is not to scale...yet.

All feedback is welcomed, in particular:

• Which plants can easily and effectively begin with direct sowing this spring?
• Violets? Bloodroot?
• Will the Turtlehead be moist enough?
• Will the Obedient plant get enough sun?
• Where can I buy local native orchids?
• Are there endangered plants and animals I can create specific habitat for?

Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.

Derek

Still Learning After All These Years

Much has changed since I last regularly blogged in 2015.  While I converted about 500 sq ft of lawn into garden and added a swimming pool, in the grand scheme of things, my gardens have not changed much. So what has?

My own awareness has changed.

Awareness of the twin crises of biodiversity and climate, though to speak of them separately doesn't do justice to the interconnectedness of these existential risks to life-as-we-know-it. 

In May of 2019 the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) declared the world's biodiversity crisis was unprecedented in human history with around 1 million animal and plant species threatened with extinction. Many within decades, not some distant future.                                                                   

Then in November of 2019 over 11,000 scientists from around the planet unequivocally stated the world was in a global climate emergency. Further, they made it crystal clear we must change how we live if we are to secure a sustainable future.

Luckily for our planet I am not alone. Though scientists have been warning about declining biodiversity for years, the message had not caught on with the public. People adapt to gradual change and we literally didn't see what we were losing. 

With increasing climate disasters around the world, people are more open now to understanding the whole picture, including the impact of species loss and declining biodiversity. 

What have I done with this new knowledge?

I increased my donations to environmental organizations, changed how my family eats and shops, I regularly sign petitions and write government - and I began to think critically about the impact my favourite hobby is having on our planet. Despite already having a certified 'wildlife-friendly' yard, I have begun to change how I garden. 

Here is some of what I have learned so far:

• there is a lot gardeners can  - and should - be doing 
• the scale and scope of gardening in North America is such that gardeners' behaviours make a tangible difference in the balance of our ecosystems
• in a world where everyday grocery shopping can be a frustrating exercise in sustainability I find it empowering to have found something so vital I can do so much about, with my own two hands
• Though I received my Master Gardner certification in April of 2019, I've recognize how much I still have to learn

I look forward to sharing with you what I lean as I strive to turn my property into a space that supports even more biodiversity.

Are you changing too?

I've love to hear in the comments about how you're changing your own gardening practices to help the planet. 

Image credits:

"biodiversity jenga" by Kalense Kid is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

"Invest in our childrens future, leave coal in the past - Climate crisis rally Melbourne - IMG 7672 (49569082897).jpg" by John Englart from Fawkner, Australia is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0