How to Have a Happy Habitat

Gaia: The earth and all plant and animal life living upon it are one vast living organism

Go Organic- don’t use Roundup, don’t use Neonicotinoid insecticides (Imidacloprid, Merit)

Use organic/least toxic pest controls ONLY after you have identified and know your enemy

Apply organic pesticides at dusk, after the pollinators have stopped flying

Use Beneficial nematodes Bacillus thuringiensis (B.T.) kills mosquito larvae, caterpillars, fungus gnats Sluggo (iron phosphate)

Look for the O.M.R.I. label Organic Materials Review Institute

Lawn chemicals kill at least 7 million birds each year -The National Audubon Society

Fireflies spend the first 2 years of their life underground- lawn chemicals kill them

Bumblebees nest underground- lawn chemicals kill them

Mix it up. Encourage diversity. Discourage monocultures.

The Organic Lawn Care Manual, Paul Tukey

Reduce/eliminate as much lawn as possible and replace it with…

Noah’s Garden, Sarah Stein Create corridors of connected habitats-avoid fragments Support pollinators The Xerxes Society www.xerces.org Attracting Native Pollinators Make an insect hotel, put up tunnel nesting bee houses Leave plant stems up during the winter The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden by Roy Diblik 100 Plants to Feed the Bees by The Xerxes Society Have a succession of pollinator plants from early spring until late fall millionpollinatorgardens.org Join the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge 518 FOREST RD. (Rte. 22)  NORTHFORD, CONNECTICUT 06472  (203) 484-2748 www.naturework.com Email: nature@iconn.net FAX: (203) 484-7621 CT. License #0569208 Business Reg. #B 3307 Encourage beneficial insects Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis based on the work of Dr. Elaine Ingham The soil food web Feed the soil and the soil will feed the plants Weedless Gardening by Lee Reich Use passive bed preparation Disturb the soil as little as possible Use cover crops when you first work the land to help eliminate weeds Make compost from all of your organic plant debris Consider the ECOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS of the plants you grow in your yard The Living Landscape, by Rick Darke and Doug Tallamy Use living plants instead of mulch The Garden Revolution by Larry Weaner and Thomas Christopher Planting in a Post Wild World by Claudia West and Thomas Rainer Gardens of the High Line by Piet Oudolf and Rick Darke The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden by Roy Diblik Design your yard to encourage and help the birds Encourage toads- they eat tons and tons of insects! Learn to live with skunks, foxes, weasels, opossums, snakes, hawks, and weeds! Don’t over manicure your yard. Keep some areas wild. Brush piles are home to all kinds of creatures. Leave the Leaves Plant TONS of native plants Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tallamy Mix it up! Use aromatic herbs and lots of flowers with your edibles Practice edible landscaping Study Permaculture principles Convert to battery operated equipment or use hand tools Plant for butterflies- larval food plants and nectar flowers. Learn to recognize butterfly caterpillars Moths are pollinators too- don’t use lights at nights, plant vespertine flowers Water deeply and infrequently. www.ctnofa.org and www.organiclandcare.net National Wildlife Federation – Backyard Habitat Certification www.nwf.org