In the Mid-Atlantic region, we cannot avoid extreme climate changes which can lead to numerous problems when we work on gardening. If you consult landscape experts and focus on creating a resilient garden, your property will be beautify year-round and withstand climate change.
Here are some tips that can help you with creating a resilient garden.
Plant diversity makes gardens more resilient
If you can pay attention to biodiversity, you will be able to create a more resilient garden. The plants should have excellent diversity so that they will be supporting butterflies, bees, birds, and many other forms of wildlife. You may start off by planting plants that are native to the area that you live in. Then you can slowly introduce other forms of plants, which can support you in ensuring biodiversity. Make sure that you include a mix of shrubs, trees, vines, perennials, herbs, and bulbs.
Adding Mulch promotes healthier gardens
You may make it a habit to mulch the soil with the help of organic materials. This will also offer assistance to you with getting a resilient garden. But before that, it is a good thing to learn more about the benefits that come along with mulching.
The practice of mulching soil can assist you to suppress the growth of weeds, reduce soil erosion, hold moisture, feed the soil, and make everything look tidy. The materials needed for mulching would vary depending on the nature of the garden you have. If you have a vegetable garden, you may mulch it with straw, shredded leaves, and compost. When organic mulch tends to break down with time, you will need to add more, so that you will be able to maintain a deep layer of around three inches. You may also think about adding living mulches to the vegetable garden, such as sweet alyssum, cover crops, and nasturtiums. This will help you to reduce overall moisture evaporation while attracting beneficial insects to the garden.
Avoid or minimize the use of pesticides
To ensure that you get a resilient garden, you will need to minimize or refrain from the usage of pesticides. To promote resiliency, you need to have the perfect balance of soil health, pollinators, and biodiversity. You will not be able to maintain that balance with the usage of pesticides. This is why you should avoid using pesticides whenever possible.
Instead of using pesticides, you may think about adopting other strategies to reduce the presence of pests in your garden. For example, you may think about getting pest-resistant plants. On the other hand, you can also make sure that the plants tend to grow in the right environmental conditions.
Focus more on the soil health
If you want to keep your garden resilient throughout climate changes, you will need to pay a lot of attention to soil health. You may even want to get your soil tested at least once a year if you have issues. This will help you to have a clear idea about the health of your soil and refrain from using fertilizer unnecessarily. You can even measure the health of the soil on your own if desired. All you have to do is to purchase a soil test kit. However, it would be better if you could send a sample of soil to a local state extension service and get the test done.
Whenever there is a need to improve the good health of your soil, you need to stick to organic matter. For example, organic matter obtained from living materials can enhance overall soil health. It can boost nutrient intake, microorganism activity, and water-holding capacity. In the meantime, you may also think about adding organic vegetable fertilizer to your soil.
Make choices that attract more butterflies and bees
By attracting more butterflies and bees to the garden, you can make it resilient and friendly as well. However, you will need to do that with a natural approach. For example, you may think about leaving leaves, stems, and other forms of debris around the garden during winter and autumn. Instead of mulching all soil, you may leave behind some bare spots, which bees can use to build their nests.
Another approach is to purposefully plant flowers that attract butterflies like Coneflower, Lantana, Bluestar, Phlox and Lavendar. To attract bees, try planting Nasturium, mint plants like Urticifolia and again – Coneflower.
Keep invasive plants away from your garden
Invasive plants have the potential to create a major negative impact on your garden. This is why you will need to think about keeping invasive plants away from the garden as much as possible. Before adding a new plant to the garden, you will need to do a bit of research about it. This is where you should look out for warnings such as ground cover and fast spreading.
Use less water to reduce wasting this valuable resource
It would be a good idea to reduce the wastage of water in your garden. This can help you to minimize the impact that heat waves and long-term droughts can create on the garden. Before you reduce the amount of water used in the garden, you should think about building soil. This is where you will need to mix more organic matter with the soil and make sure that it can hold more water. If you have sandy soil in the garden, you should get rid of it as soon as possible.
Proper mulching of soil is another effective method available for you to increase its water retention. By using mulches, you may also reduce the evaporation of water. In the meantime, it is a good idea to adhere to smart watering practices. This will help you with reducing the amount of water that you will be wasted through evaporation. For example, you may think about using a drip irrigation system, a watering wand, or a soaker hose to water your garden. Then you can make sure that you are delivering water right to the roots of your plants.
Get Landscaping Service Advice
If you would like to try a landscaping service to help with getting more specific advice on how you can improve the resiliency of your gardens, try contacting us. Once you build a resilient garden that lasts throughout the year, you will not have to worry too much about taking care of it after major climate change events. If you are located in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware or the greater Washington D.C. area of the Mid-Atlantic region, we can help!
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