Minding Our Mother

Reduce, re-use, recycle.  Earth Day turns 50 this year, and some of us of a similar age can’t imagine life without the “Give a hoot, don’t pollute” song lodged in our brains.  Idling in gas lines with our parents and watching the tearful TV Native American paddle his canoe through foul waters made an impact.  I’ll never forget my toddler sister screaming “pollution!” from her car seat as we cruised past the oil refineries lining the New Jersey Turnpike.

We’ve come a long way, baby, but we can do more.  Here are some thoughts, none of them new or novel, on how gardeners can act locally while thinking globally.

Start a compost pile.  Instead of transporting your garden and kitchen waste elsewhere, make “black gold” in your backyard.  Your soil will thank you.

Buy locally-made compost, which solves a waste problem, instead of peat moss, which travels from far away.  Rensselaer County dairy manure compost so enriched our flower garden’s soil that we didn’t need to add fertilizer for two years to have cosmos reaching to the heavens.

Instead of jetting off to Europe when we are able to travel again, visit local gardens.  Naumkeag, Innisfree and Wethersfield are every bit as beautiful and just a stone’s throw away, plus your dollars stay in our economy.

Consider overseeding your lawn this fall instead of using pre-emergent herbicide to manage crabgrass and other annual weeds.  Check out our “Repetitive Overseeding” video on YouTube or our fact sheet at ccerensselaer.org

Make your lawnmower 30% more efficient by sharpening the blade and cleaning the air filter.  Set the deck 3 inches high and mow only when the lawn reaches 4 inches.  No recreational mowing!

Better yet, if your lawn is small enough, check out the new reel-mowers.  Although they don’t have engines, they are lighter and easier to push than ever, and can be set higher than older models.

If your lawn is huge, can you let some of it go back to nature?  Reducing the mown area not only saves time and fuel, it will encourage wildlife and prove an interesting study in the reclamation power of nature.  Mowing a border path around the circumference and through the middle can keep it accessible and somewhat neat.  Putting up a sign stating “Nature Preserve” turns a weed patch into an act of conservation.   

Ask your garden center if they accept used plastic pots for recycling.  I know of only one local wholesaler who does this, but if enough gardeners inquire, others may look into offering the service.

While we’re at it, let’s use less plastic in the garden, too.  Make your own mulch from shredded leaves rather than buying it in plastic bags.  Grow seedlings in paper pots or soil blocks.  Choose tools made of metal or wood.    

Instead of planting exotic invasives like winged euonymus (Euonymus alatus) and Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) which take over the woods, choose natives like witchhazel (Hamamelis virginiana).

Above all, Love Your Mother (Earth).