Glyphosate kills just about everything. I use it to create new beds, restore habitat, and kill poison ivy. The bottle on the left cost $10.00 at Home Depot and is about 1% glyphosate. Tractor Supply Company sells glyphosate at 41% concentrate for $20! What a deal!   87% of our food is insect pollinated. Native habitat and limited pesticide use in the garden can help our pollinators. So can certain annuals such as dill and catnip. Bats helps with mosquito control and pollination services. Protecting our Pollinators.   Mulches are used for weed control, improving soil quality, and asthetics. This year I used shredded hardwood (the staple), wood chips, grass clippings, cardboard, straw, leaf waste, and California poppies. Mulches smother seets to prevent germination (no light) and remove nitrogen from they system as they decompose (no nutrient). When fully decomposed as compost, mulches release nitrogen (fertilizer), and improve tilth. Poppies were used as a green mulch...easy to spread, mediocre weed control, maybe visually appealing, doesn't really improve soil. Still, interesting experiment. The compost pile (last picture) uses the same feedstocks but uses heat and a balanced carbon/nitrogen ratio (30:1) to accelerate decomposition into humus.          Spring greens are winding down. Here is some of the last of 'em.     We lost the top half of a pretty big tree the other day in a high wind. Very close to the house. Could have been a lot worse. Before and After.   Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP): Participants remove cropland from agricultural production and convert the land to native grasses, trees and other vegetation. The program improves water quality by creating buffers and wetlands that reduce agricultural runoff into the targeted watersheds. Buffers and wetlands enhance habitat for wildlife and reduce nonpoint source nutrient losses. Lake & River Enhancement Program (LARE):Protects and enhances aquatic habitat for fish and wildlife to insure the continued viability of Indiana's publicly accessible lakes and streams for multiple uses, including recreational opportunities. This is accomplished through measures that reduce non-point sediment and nutrient pollution of surface waters |
