The Texas Wildscape Program is to encourage homeowners to create wildlife habitat and be a part of habitat conservation. Because permies strive to use as many native plants as possible in their designs, and encourage the presence of birds, insects, and other small creatures, a Wildscape Certification makes complete sense. Why should you try to get certification? Let’s say you are in a suburb with an HOA that is not permaculture or wildlife habitat friendly. You might be able to get your design permitted if you can prove that it will be an asset to the state of Texas. HOA and ornery neighbors tend to get a little wide-eyed whenever you bring in governmental programs. How can they ethically deny such a program? It is a powerful tool to overcome obstacles. Same thing goes with certified bee or butterfly gardens. Almost no one still demands you remove your flowers when you have a nice little sign saying it is for the bees and butterflies. If they still won’t allow it, you have the power of the state behind you, and in the case of the Best of Backyard Habitat, perhaps even the federal government. It doesn’t just make sense ecologically, but also politically. This sounds cynical, but many places are adverse to ecological design and getting this certification might be the only way you can implement it. This article is designed to be a one stop shop for getting these two certifications at once, the Wildscape and Best of Backyard Habitat. The only things you may have to research more on are particular plants you want to use, but I do give you suggestions on where to start. This is a long article, but it is all you need to know. I spent the hours compiling it so you don’t have to. Qualifications for TWC 1. A minimum of 50% native plants. 2. Year-round wildlife food sources. Feeders are only acceptable in lean months when no food could be reasonably available anyway. 3. Wildlife shelter 4. Reliable, permanent water source. If you also want to be in the Best of Texas Backyard Habitat Certification program (and with a little extra work you could be both), these are the additional qualifications. 5. No more than two plants listed in the Invasive Exotic Species list and an “obviously native plant habitat”. 6. Controlling cats, house sparrows, and English starlings. 7. Engage in at least six of the following measures: Rain garden or buffer system to filter storm water. Drip soaker hoses. Do not use sprinklers. Xeriscape planting. Watering infrequently and only in the morning or evening to prevent evaporation. Deciduous trees on the southern face of your house. No chemicals. Mulching. Reducing or removing lawns. Removing invasive exotics. Indoor cats only. Composting yard and food waste. As you can imagine, it becomes simple and easy for the permie to have both of these certifications. Normal permaculture practice does almost all of this anyway. Now let’s go into these points in a bit more detail. How can you implement all of these things? Details 1. 50% or more native plants. The only thing you have to do to meet this requirement is be thoughtful in your plant choices. There are many wonderful native plants to fulfill any permaculture need. One of the best ways to accomplish a mostly native environment is with a food forest. Determine to use as many native species in your food forest as you can. Natives grow better and more reliably anyway. When they say 50% natives, they are looking at total number of plants, not number of species. That means that out of 100 plants, 50 of them must be native. How many different species you have is not considered in the percentage. Now, you may have a question about whether a Persian mulberry counts towards the 50% since we have a native mulberry, or the same thing with a Japanese persimmon and our native Mexican persimmon. Well, I asked one of our Central Texas Urban Wildlife biologists about this, and this is what she said. The Wildscape certification is meant to raise awareness and appreciation of our native plants and the role they play in native habitat. While native persimmon aren't glamorous as people-food, they are exactly what our native wildlife - birds, butterflies, bees, and others - are adapted best to use. Same goes for our other berry-producing plants, including dewberries. If you want to know whether a plant is native to our area, check out the native plant database from the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center at wildflower.org/plants. 2. Year-round wildlife food sources. This can be done by making sure you have something that is always blooming, seeding, or fruiting for every month of the year. For bees and butterflies, this means stocking a large assortment of native wildflowers such as Indian blanket, Swamp milkweed, American basketflower, Tahoka daisy, prairie verbena, gayfeather, and scarlet sage to name a few. *Disclaimer – I am in no way affiliated with the Native American Seed Company. They are just the single best source of quality native wildflower and grass seed in the state, so I am recommending them. I receive no financial compensation for this. It is my honest opinion. If you want potted plants to make the process faster, go to local native nurseries. I will have some listed at the end of this article. Consider the “Bee Happy” and “Butterfly Retreat” mixes from the Native American Seed Company, either as an easy mix to plant or as a starting place to determine what flowers you want to use. Their mix provides food for pollinators from February through December. Plant a wide variety of native milkweeds for Monarch butterflies in particular. The Native Plant Society of Texas has a Monarch Recovery Program that provides grants ($50-400) to members dedicated to make a habitat for Monarch butterflies. There is also a Monarch Waystation program. Contact Cathy Downs ([email protected]) for more information. For hummingbirds, consider bush sunflower, coral honeysuckle, Turk’s cap, purple prairie clover, black-eyed Susan, gayfeather, scarlet sage, standing cypress, clasping coneflower, cutleaf daisy, and butterfly weed. Tubular flowers are always a hummingbird favorite. Consider the “Quail Mix” from the Native American Seed Company for quail, dove, seed-eating birds, and turkeys. It contains a mix of plants such as Illinois bundleflower, partridge pea, Texas cupgrass (a favorite of Painted Buntings!), switchgrass, Eastern gamagrass, pitcher sage, and scrambled eggs. Good trees include pecan, sycamore, oak, mulberry, Mexican persimmon, Mexican plum, elm, Mexican buckeye, and maple. To encourage native predatory insects, consider angelica, anise hyssop, butterfly weed, any of the clovers, dandelion, purple poppy mallow, yarrow, tansy, zinnia, and spearmint. 3. Wildlife shelter. Invest in fallen logs, bee motels, bat boxes, and other structural things to give habitat. A stack of boulders gives hiding spots and a good basking location for reptiles. Logs and a strategic pile of brush are helpful for small invertebrates and mammals. Many of our native grasses like Little Bluestem or Indiangrass provide habitat for small ground-dwelling birds such as quail, which need the space between our clumping native grasses for movement, cover, and nesting. You can find beautiful examples of insect hotels. They are not only lovely and interesting, but useful habitat. Wildlife habitat doesn’t have to be ugly. Unless you are willing to control House Sparrows, DO NOT put up nest boxes. You are just creating an opportunity for the sparrows to kill the bluebirds, swallows, and martins that might use it. It is better to put out no nest boxes than to assist house sparrows. 4. Reliable, permanent water source. This might be the hardest requirement for a backyard permie. Temporary water, sure. Permanent, not so easy. The simplest and quickest way would be to provide a livestock water trough that you always keep clean and full of water. It is probably a good idea to do this anyway, but it isn’t very permie. How does a permie make a permanent, clean water source? The key is to catch as much water as possible and then sink it into the soil. This requires contouring the land to divert water where it is needed, organically rich soil that can store water, planting densely to shade the soil, and mulching very deeply. Soil with excess water will naturally collect it at a low location: your pond or stream. Even in very dry locations, you can make a permanent water source within 5-10 years (or less) doing this. This also makes plants drought resistant because the soil is able to not only hold a lot of water, but keep it from needlessly evaporating. A good first step is to capture water from your roof in either rain barrels or a pond. To calculate how much water you have available, find A (area of ground covered by the roof in square feet), R (average rainfall in your location per year in inches), and then calculate the following. [ (A x R) / 12 ] x 7.5 = gallons of rain collected per year A 1000 ft2 roof with 20 inches of rainfall will collect 12,500 gallons of rainfall per year, or approximately 1000 gallons per month. Some of this will be lost to evaporation or just be lost entirely. Some will also be used as irrigation to water your garden. In this case, you could survive on storing about 500 gallons (~2000 liters). Rain barrels are 50-55 gallons each, so that means ten barrels. For a pond, it could be approximately 7x5x3 ft. Make a pond deeper rather than shallower. Too high a surface area creates too much evaporation and will make your pond drought sensitive. Think more stock trough than dinner plate. Excess water from filled barrels can be diverted through a dry stream bed to a small natural pond. But ponds are terrible, chemical-laden monstrosities you say. Well, poorly designed ones are, yes, but ones that emulate nature are not. Self-cleaning natural ponds have 25% of their surface area covered in streambank plants. Algae has so much competition for food that is cannot gain a foothold in your pond. Let’s say you get WAY too much rain, much more than normal. Have it to where your pond can overflow and the excess water goes to a swale system to water your fruit trees. Many people install a pipe an inch or two below the overflow line to take off surplus water before it can crest over. A wonderful source of water that every house has is greywater, which is the water coming from the shower/tub, bathroom sinks, and washer machine. The kitchen sink is usually considered blackwater because of the food contaminants. One person averages 20-45 gallons of greywater a day. For a family of four, that is an average of 130 gallons a day and almost 4000 gallons a month. You probably won’t bring it back into your house, but you can definitely use it for your plants. That is 4000 gallons of water a month you don’t have to pay for and 4000 gallons that will help your garden be more drought tolerant. To use greywater, you have to divert the water off from the sewer line and filter it before it gets to your plants or pond. Get a licensed plumber to divert the line and install a 660 watt pump (if you are on a concrete slab, greywater may not be possible at all so get that checked first). A wetland biofilter is used to remove stuff from the water. Key thing before going into biofilters. If using greywater, do not use bleach, borax, salt, or other chemicals. Use natural, biodegradable clothes detergents such as Ecos, Seventh Generation, or soapnuts that are low in salt. Use natural soaps, shampoos, and other body care products. Aforementioned chemicals will kill your wetland biofilter. Also, don’t divert water when cleaning soiled cloth diapers. Let that go into the sewer system. You cannot use softened water because of the high level of salts. A wetland biofilter is a system of wetland plants that filter water. It goes in dirty and comes out clean. It is actually a really simple thing when you get down to it. Wetland plants naturally filter water for their food. We use them in ponds to keep the water clean and prevent algal growth. Soil is fantastic at removing harmful bacteria and contaminants. UCSB student Dayna Yocum created a wonderful design manual for this type of system. You will need a downhill slope of about 0.5% for this to work. To keep from flooding plants on a daily basis, I do recommend taking the water from the biofilter into a pond before using it on plants. One, the pond is great storage. Two, the pond plants will further clean the water. Three, you just got your permanent water source for certification. Four, you can take the water from the pond and use it on your plants so you know how much water each plant is getting. This keeps one plant from getting 6 inches of water a day while others get nothing. It can be properly allocated. Locate your pond centrally and it couldn’t be easier. Plants for a wetland biofilter include cattails, bulrushes, and reed grasses. A mixture of native wetland plants is best. Many greywater specialists recommend against using greywater for food plants where the part we eat would come in direct contact with it, like lettuce, tomatoes, etc. But honestly, if you are using manure tea or compost tea, filtered greywater ain’t got nothing on poo. 5. No invasive exotic species. A permie would not want to use invasive exotic species in their designs. Such plants are too destructive and present too big a threat to surrounding ecosystems. Existing invasives should be destroyed with extreme prejudice. For a full list of species listed as invasive exotics in Texas, go to Texasinvasives.org. This list includes the Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera), wild garlic (Alliaria petiolata), camelthorn, anchored water hyacinth (Eichhornia azurea), common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crasspies), Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata), swamp morning-glory (Ipomea aquatica), tea tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia), chinaberry (Melia azedarach), couch panicum (Panicum repens), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), Japanese privet (Ligustrum japonicum), Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), and any of the tamarisk trees (Tamarix ssp.). 6. Cats, House Sparrows, and English starlings. This measure might seem a little odd to some people. Cats? House sparrows? Why try to fight against our fuzzies and our tweets? You have to remember that this is for “best of backyard HABITAT.” You can’t have a good habitat if cats are killing all of your birds, essentially making your backyard a death trap, or having invasive birds killing all of our native ones. The National Wildlife Federation considers these three exotic species (yes, cats are exotics) as an ecological threat to our country. This is serious biological business. Cats are not allowed because they have this nasty habit of killing things for fun, including all your pretty birds, insects, and small reptiles. Not conducive to a thriving wildlife habitat. To prevent cat predation, keeping them indoors is obvious, but not everybody does this and there are wild cats too. Cats are considered the greatest human-linked threat to wildlife. Unlike actual wild cats (cougars, lions, jaguars, etc), domestic cats kill for fun, no matter how much they are fed. They do not care whether a songbird is endangered or not. If it moves, they will kill it. Domestic cats kill 2.4 billion birds each year in the US. Cats are not native to North America. They are not “natural.” Let’s say you own cats and want to give them the benefit of the outdoors. I would urge you not to. My cats are perfectly fine watching bird television through the window. However, many still let their cats outdoors. Even if you let your cat out during the day, fix them and do not let them out at night. Cats are primarily dusk and dawn predators that sleep during the afternoon. They do not hunt as much during the day. Also, if a cat is going to be hit by a car, fight with another cat, or be attacked by another animal, it will probably be at night. Use a CatBib before you let them out. Your cat will look ridiculous (and hilarious) in a catbib, but it will reduce bird predation by 81%, small mammals by 45%, and herp (reptile and frogs) by 33%. Most cats also don’t seem to mind wearing it. It is shown to be much more effective than bells. You can get a catbib for less than $10-15 at catgoods.com and they come in small or large sizes. To prevent wild cat predation (defined here as cats you have no control over), here are some things to do. Keep feeders or water sources at least 10 ft away from trees, shrubs, and tall grasses that cats can potentially hide in. In wildlife ponds, provide plenty of cover for fish in the form of native water lily pads and make ponds at least 2 ft deep enough so fish can escape to the bottom. Keep trash protected. Trap feral cats and bring them to a vet to be euthanized. Stray cats can be socialized and kept inside. Ferals cannot, though if you get the kittens early enough they may have a chance. You will know when you have a feral cat rather than a stray, trust me. A synonym for them is “spitting lightning demon.” There is no helping a feral cat. Save them from a life of fear, disease, starvation, or a slow death after being hit by a car and humanely euthanize them. Feral cats have an incredibly poor quality of life. *Disclaimer – I love cats. I was always the designated “cat catcher” on our farm when a new cat would come around so we could have it fixed. We had nine incredibly lazy outdoor cats at one point and one indoor cat that even though he is gone now, will remain with me forever. We also had almost no lizards and very few birds and no rabbits. As an ecologist and scientist, I recognize the problem of cats. The simple fact of the matter is that there are way too many and the feral cat population needs to be drastically reduced. Pet cats should be kept indoors and managed responsibly, just like any other animal. Dogs are not tolerated when they kill other animals and show a high level of aggression. Cats should not be tolerated when they do it either. There is the topic of barn cats, or cats specifically kept to control rodent populations in barn environments. As a farmer, I understand this. They are quite good at it. However, how many barn cats do you realistically need? Two or three is plenty for even the biggest barns. Only keep fixed barn cats. We’ve talked about cats. But House (English) Sparrows (Passer domesticus) and English starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)? First, they are both exotic invasives. They are not natural to our ecosystem or even the continent and should not be tolerated. I will first describe why these two species are particularly bad and then the measures against them, both passive (not killing), and active (killing). Let me tell you about the headless bluebird. If you think fighting sparrows is a terrible thing to do to our little tweets, think about what sparrows do to bluebirds. Even if the sparrow has twenty other nest boxes to choose from, a sparrow will enter bluebird boxes, kill the chicks, and peck the adult’s heads off. I am serious. A house sparrow will peck through the brain to kill the bluebird, swallow, or martin. Sometimes people find the head entirely missing. House sparrows are extremely territorial and will kill any cavity-nesting bird in their area. Many wildlife organizations have taken to trapping and killing sparrows on their hiking trails. Bluebirds, swallows, and other cavity-nesting birds only occur where the sparrows are not. Let that information sink in for a moment. Everywhere else, the sparrows kill them all. House sparrows are also carriers for 29 human and livestock diseases such as West Nile, schistosomiasis, equine encephalitis, and tuberculosis, among others. English starlings compete with blue birds, cavity-nesting birds, and purple martins, as they only nest in cavities. Make sure your dryer, stove, and exhaust fans are covered with a fine mesh. Starlings produce two clutches of 4-7 eggs per season and are quite aggressive, allowing them to overwhelm less fecund native species. Chances are you have seen starlings and wondered what that blackish, yellow-beaked bird pecking around the parking lot was. Here are some general passive control guidelines. Keep trash covered and protected. Keep gutters clean to prevent starlings from making a nest in them. Do not use bird feeds with cracked corn, millet, grubs, suet, or black oil sunflower seeds; instead use safflower seeds or thistle seeds and a goldfinch feeder that forces the bird to hang upside down to access the seed. Use a Magic Halo around feeders and nest boxes. It deters 88-94% of house sparrows in winter and 84% in the summer. See sialis.org/halo.htm for how to make a Magic Halo. Use nesting boxes with holes smaller than 1.25 inches (or 1.5 inches for bluebirds) and do not use perches. Consider diamond shaped holes that are less than 7/8 inch tall. Multiple holes can possibly allow better bluebird escape in the event of a house sparrow attack. Consider box types such as chickadee boxes, towers for chimney swifts, and nesting platforms. Sparrows and starlings generally don’t like those. Use a modified Magic Halo around nest boxes and box entrances to deter house sparrows. Everything so far are passive measures. To be frank, they are not terribly effective at handling the problem, which is that these two bird species are wiping out our natives. The only measures shown to be effective are active. Active measures for all intents and purposes means killing the birds. In this respect, house sparrows and starlings are treated like rats. The only way to take them under control is to bring down the population. That means killing them. We do it with mice and rats. We do it with house sparrows and starlings. Relocation is not effective. You only introduce the birds somewhere else and give them opportunity to kill everything else there as well. Trapped birds must be euthanized. If you find nests, destroy the eggs (or addle them) and remove the nest. If you can find the male defending the nest, kill him. Successive nest destruction will send male house sparrows on a murderous rampage. House sparrows and starlings are not protected species and exotic invasives, so trapping them is considered predator control and only requires a normal hunting license. If you go this route, you must be very familiar with humane bird trapping methods and bird identification. Starlings are pretty clear, but House sparrows are not. Make sure you are properly educated in identifying House sparrows, as many Little Brown Jobs (that is an actual scientific birding term) look alike unless you know what to look for. When in doubt, don’t kill it. To learn about trapping, go to sialis.org/hospdispatch.htm for more information. Trap birds with funnel traps, elevator traps, or in-box traps. Trap starlings in the winter when most migratory species are gone and these birds are more desperate for food. The best bait is suet mixed with sunflower seeds and mealworms. Trap sparrows during the active nesting season as well as in the winter. YOU MUST CHECK TRAPS FREQUENTLY. You do not want any bird to suffer death by ants or dehydration. Euthanize the birds and donate them to raptor recovery centers or reptile farms. Do not feed euthanized sparrows to cats as they can transmit toxoplasmosis. 7. Choose six from among these measures. a. Rain garden or buffer system to filter storm water. A rain garden is essentially a swale designed to catch storm water runoff, filter it, and absorb it before it gets to the road. Like permaculture says: stop it, store it, sink it. The best place to store water is in the soil. Once it gets to the road and into the sewer, water is wasted. A rain garden depression is often built near sidewalks or the road, though it should be built wherever water runs and collects. It can easily be part of a swale and pond water catchment system. Many people who do not collect roof water in ponds or barrels could choose instead to divert it to a rain garden. They are just plant filled swales and serve the same purpose. Dig a trench on contour, a round-ish crater, or both to catch runoff. But the round-ish crater sounds suspiciously like a pond you say. If you follow permaculture design for a few years, it may eventually be filled permanently with water because you just did your job so well. But rain gardens usually are only filled during times of heavy rain and are the last stop before the water leaves your property entirely. The plants chosen can withstand periods of drought and inundation and are usually riparian species. Plants on the top level are native plants that can withstand a lot of drought, but not necessarily inundation like the bottom species. These can be practically any native plant. Many people use wildflowers because they are pretty. Try cherry sage, flame acanthus, lantana, rock rose, Turk’s cap, coreopsis, any of the muhly grasses, mistflower, meadow sedge, winecup, and beautyberry. Bottom species could be any species that you would use for a wetland, such as sedges, buttonbush, inland sea oats, and horsetail (wonderful source of dietary silica). b. Drip soaker hoses. Do not use sprinklers. Soaker (weeping) hoses and drip hoses are much more water efficient than sprinkers. Because water never flies through the air, it doesn’t have a chance to wastefully evaporate. Because water is released slowly, more of it absorbs into the soil and isn’t lost as runoff. They are also quite cheap, easy to install, and simple to put on a timer (use a timer so you don’t forget to turn the thing off). To make it even more efficient, use smaller pieces of soaker hose connected to regular hose. The soaker hose goes on the plants, trees, etc, but the regular hose is used to fill the gap between plants. No reason to water a walkway. Soaker hoses can be left on top of the soil or buried underneath some light mulch. Loop soaker hose in a ring around the dripline of trees, not around the trunk. Water trees deeply 1-2 times a week when needed rather than frequent short waterings. This is also preferable for veggies, but may need 3-4x a week depending on the heat and rainfall. Use a vacuum purge valve at the end of the main line so water continues to empty out when the water is turned off. Soaker hoses produce better results with less work and water use. Perfect for this permie. c. Xeriscape planting When they say “xeriscape plantings,” the examiners will look for native plants that do not require supplemental water in your area. There is more to xeriscaping than just plant choice, but the actual design elements such as mulching and reducing lawn area are listed separately. This option looks purely at plant choice as a way to steward limited water resources. Whatever native plant performs on only rainfall meets this requirement. This means plants for your county, not just your state. Plants from East Texas will not do well here in North Central Texas. They want acidic soil and more rainfall than we get. Conversely, plants from far our West will not do well here because we get too much rain for them and the soil requirements may not match. Get plants known to grow well in your county on your ecoregion (Blackland, Cross Timbers, etc). Contact the Native Plant Society chapter for your county to see what grows well for you. Usually natives are drought-tolerant and low maintenance, which is helpful, because I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t have a lot of time. For us, that could include Mexican persimmon, flame acanthus, mistflower, lantana, Turk’s cap, winecup, beautyberry, and big bluestem. If you were curious, the other tenants of xeriscaping are: conserve water by reducing irrigation and using natural rain, improve the soil, limit lawns, use native plants, mulch, use soaker hoses instead of sprinklers, and design for low maintenance. Sounds pretty permie to me. Just be aware that xeriscaping is not about using no water. That’s stupid. If you don’t have water in the ground, you won’t have rainfall, and you can’t have water in the ground without native plants to keep it there. I am not talking about cactus. Cactus don’t store water in the ground. The emphasis must be on KEEPING the water you have where you have it, not letting it run off. That is the problem I see with a lot of supposed xeriscaping. They install all of these plants that don’t use a lot of water, but initiate no method to store the water they do get. Water runs off crushed rock, is not absorbed by the soil or plants, and leaves the location. It is a terrible way to do things. It doesn’t put the water back in the ground. Xeriscaping by definition is landscaping to reduce the need for irrigation. That doesn’t mean you should have nothing to do with water! A permie uses xeriscaping ideals every time they install swales to store water or mulch to prevent evaporation. Both of those things keep water in the soil and reduce the need for irrigation. If you want to xeriscape, and I think you should, build up your soil with organic matter, install swales and water catchment systems to store water on your property, mulch heavily, and use native plants. You will severely reduce the need for irrigation. What water you do get will never leave your property. It will stay exactly where your plants need it and make your plants drought-tolerant. Again, there is a difference between lessening water consumption for its own sake and conserving water to where it can actually be used. d. Watering infrequently and only in the morning or evening to prevent evaporation. This is an offshoot of xeriscaping. Use less water and when you do have to use it, water only in the cool hours of the day to prevent evaporation. Pretty straight forward. Who wants to water in the afternoon anyway? Too hot for that. e. Deciduous trees on the southern face of your house. This is a passive solar technique that works extremely well in hot climates like ours. I am doing it with my greenhouse. It is important to use deciduous trees. The idea is that the tree would shade the house in the summer, thereby reducing energy usage and keeping the home cooler, while letting light through in the winter to heat the home and keep it warm. It is key to use the southern face because that is the face that receives the most heat energy from the sun while not getting too little or too much. The eastern face gets sun in the morning, but it quickly becomes shaded the rest of the day. The western face gets the hot sun in the evening and makes your home boil. The southern face takes in warm sun, but not hot, for the longest period of time in our hemisphere. For passive solar houses, using the southern face properly is everything. We want to minimize all solar gain during the summer, but still use it as much as we can during the winter. Deciduous trees fit the bill. I would also encourage evergreen trees on the western face. Western windows just bring in way too much heat during the hottest part of the day. Minimize western heat gain as much as possible by using trees or awnings. This is an easy thing to do and I highly recommend it. It has very high payoffs for the investment. I would do it even if it didn’t bring me Backyard Habitat certification. f. No chemicals. In the ecologically minded garden that uses predatory insects, birds, small vertebrates, and pollinators to the work of maintaining the balance of the ecosystem, this should be self-explanatory. You do not want to use chemicals because chemicals are indiscriminate. They kill the ladybugs as well as the aphids. Chemicals also leach into the soil and are brought downstream into the local water supply, so chemicals are dangerous not just for you, but for everyone. Stay away from chemicals. If you have a bug problem, invest in a few thousand predatory insects that would love to eat them all. You can get five thousand lacewing eggs or the same number of adult ladybugs from GrowOrganic.com for $30 each. Praying mantid egg cases are $5 per case, with each case carrying ~200 eggs. When you see aphids, resist the urge to kill them. Give your ladybugs time to find them and have a buffet. g. Mulching. I should not need to go into the virtues of mulching, but in short, thick mulch cools the soil, prevents evaporation, protects plant roots, suppresses weeds, serves as a site of decomposition for the creation of soil, is habitat for beneficial soil microflora, and slows water down so it doesn’t run off the property as quickly. Mulching is so cheap and the benefits so high I do not know why someone wouldn’t do it. You don’t have to use bagged mulch if you don’t want to. Mulch just refers to anything used to cover bare soil. Try grass clippings laid over several sheets of newspaper or cardboard. Get leaves from neighbors (that don’t use chemicals!) and use your own. Six inches of rotted hay is wonderful and there are bound to be round bales of hay just going to waste in a farmer’s field. Do not use rocks or rubber mulch. Rock yields few benefits and radiates too much heat, which we do not need more of. Now, if you want to use rock around frost sensitive plants, that is fine, but not as a general practice. It is just too hot for that. If rock is all you can get, then fine. Rock is better than nothing. But it is not ideal. Rubber is a terrible idea. It never decomposes, you will never be able to get rid of it all if you change your mind, and does not contribute to the soil at all. Just don’t do it. Black gardening plastic is nearly as bad, can scorch plants to death, and prevents water infiltration into the soil. If you use sawdust as a mulch, make sure it is not pressure-treated, and only use it on acid-tolerant plants. It can also become very compacted. Not recommended, but again, if it is all you have, it is better than nothing. h. Reducing or removing lawns. When I see a lawn, I see water and money dying. That is the best way I can describe it. A lawn not only demands high amounts of water, fertilizer, mowing, and effort, but it gives nothing back in return except the misguided idea that lawns are for the wealthy and powerful. I don’t care if lawns are for the wealthy and powerful. Lawns are stupid. Yes, I said it. Lawns are stupid. The only reason I would keep any bit of a lawn, and it would be native buffalograss if I did, would be for young children to run around in. I completely understand wanting some lawn for children or grandchildren. But a lawn for this purpose does not have to be very big. 10x10 at most is more than adequate. Let the kids play amongst the trees too. If your HOA can stomach it, remove as much lawn as you legally can. Replace it with native plants, fruit trees, gardens, and wildlife habitat. Anything but Bermuda or St. Augustine. I like St. Augustine as much as the next Christian. He was a good theologian in many respects. But the grass is of the devil. If you wish to keep some of your lawn or are required to keep a percentage of it by your HOA, replace it with native buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides). It is a wonderful turf grass that needs less than twelve inches of rain a year to stay green and stays 4-6 inches high without mowing. It has this habit of curling down, so it looks even shorter, and feels luxurious between your toes. Native American Seed Company sells it in combination with blue grama and curly mesquite. Buffalograss does not need fertilizing, has no diseases or pests, resists thatching, and is tolerant of many soil types (it doesn’t like acid though). Buffalograss requires sun, but if you have a lot of shade, consider Texas bluegrass (Poa arachnifera). i. Removing invasive exotics. This is self-explanatory. Kill invasive exotics. Do not tolerate them. The application lists invasive plants to avoid and kill: privet (Ligustrum japonica), nandina, Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese tallow, Chinaberry, bamboo, pyracantha, red-tipped photinia, Japanese boxwood, giant cane, and salt cedar. j. Indoor cats only. As mentioned previously, cats are destructive. You get a bonus on your Best of Backyard if you only have indoor cats to protect the wildlife. k. Composting yard and food waste. Composting is a critical component of natural gardening systems because it is your source of plant food. Rodale has an entire book on composting. I could go on for days, but since this article is already dastardly long (I’m honored you’re still reading!), I will say only what is pertinent. Compost because it saves you money, is cheap and easy, grows the best plants ever, and makes you look like a bloody cool gardener. It is basically decomposed organic matter. Because plants are cannibals. It reduces the need to fertilize, lightens heavy soil, improves the water holding capacity of sandy soils, and feeds your plants with naturally bioavailable nutrients that chemical fertilizers can’t hold a candle to. Compost. Just do it. It’s like mulching. It’s so easy and the benefits are so high there is no reason not to. There are as many ways to compost as composters. Find what works best for you. Some prefer the three box method, where you layer stuff up and then let it sit for a long time. You fill a box and then go on to the next one. Others like the rotating drum. The easiest method is the ditch. You have a ditch. You fill it with kitchen waste, grass clippings, leaves, wood chips, and anything else. Then you bury it over when it is full and make a new ditch. Lasagna gardening is basically composting in place. Researching different ways to compost is fun. You want a good mixture of green (fruit peels, coffee grounds, grass clippings, manure) to brown (dead leaves, hay, wood chips, branches, hair). Green brings in nitrogen and water. Brown brings carbon. Too much green and everything rots. Too much brown and it just takes forever to decompose because there isn’t enough water for the bacteria. Turn it every month to add oxygen for your lovely microorganisms. Some people make a compost fence. Take a 4x4 post and put small grid fencing on both sides. Fill the middle with small branches, twigs, etc. They will decompose over time and it takes up very little space. Vermicomposting in all the rage with permies. And fishermen. It is composting with worms. The requirements for vermicomposting are just about the same as regular composting, except you need a box/bin to put the stuff in and they need a lot of air. Use a series of PVC pipe with lots of small holes in it to aerate throughout the organic matter in addition to holes in the bin itself. Worms are very efficient composters, take up little space (even an apartment permie can do this), and provide tasty protein-packed worm treats for fish and poultry. Red wiggler worms and red earthworms are the most popular. Compost tea is compost soaked in water and then sprayed on your plants. It is the compost version of manure tea. This allows the gardener to use a diluted form of compost to strengthen plants on a regular basis. Compost tea has been shown to help against plant diseases and harmful insects. List of local native plant nurseries.
Barton Springs Nursery in Austin. Bartonspringsnursery.net Hill Country Natives in Leander. Hillcountrynatives.net McIntire’s Garden Center in Georgetown. Mcintiresgarden.com Native Texas Nursery in Austin. Nativetx.com Natural Gardener in Austin. Naturalgardeneraustin.com Red Barn Garden Center in Austin. Redbarkgardencenter.net Wright’s Nursery in Briggs. Wrightstexasnursery.com Get seeds and bare root plants in the mail from Native American Seed. Seedsource.com The Native Plant Society of Texas, the Lady Bird Wildflower Center, and the Texas Master Gardener programs all hold plant sales throughout the year. Look up their schedules at npsot.org, wildflower.org, and txmn.org respectively. If you know of other native plant nurseries, please send me an email at [email protected] and I will add it to the list! Comments are closed.
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Rebecca Burrow
I am a Christian permie designer trying to spread the word about Christian land stewardship through permaculture. I like goats a lot. Maaaaaaaah. Archives
September 2016
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Burrow Permaculture Consulting | Permie Blog |