ModVeg.com

Backyard

Goals: We hope to remove invasive plants, plant helpful plants, and increase the biodiversity of the neighborhood.

Resources

  1. Free plants for you to dig up and replant in your yard!
    • Ann has
    • Bob has
    • Clive has
  2. Learning materials
    • Doug Tallamy, Ecologist: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/meet-ecologist-who-wants-unleash-wild-backyard-180974372/. Doug Tallamy has written many books and has talks on YouTube about the importance of native plants.
    • https://pollinator-pathway.org
    • Tiny forests – Miyawaki Method: Tiny Forests With Big Benefits – The New York Times (nytimes.com).

Projects

  1. Remove invasive plants, and plants helpful ones.
    • How to remove honeysuckle properly by Cincinnati Parks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN8IGZ3mCEU.
      • 1. Cut honeysuckle branches with loppers or handsaw.
      • 2. Use a dauber filled with systemic herbicides such as glyphosate or triclopyr and dye to dab the herbicide on the honeysuckle stumps.
      • 3. You can use the branches to build brush piles to shelter animals.
    • We recommend planting ??? and ??? to fill in the space, so that new invasive plants do not fill the vacuum.
  2. Protect saplings from deer and other critters.
    • Install cylindrical fencing around the sapling.
    • Research other strategies to deter deer from killing the saplings.
  3. Grow more pollinator gardens. Bees and other pollinators need a pathway with short distances to the next pollination spot.
  4. Build a repository of local knowledge, share resources, acquire certain materials in bulk, and enjoy our neighborhood forest!

Next steps

  1. Neighborhood workdays: one Sunday afternoon per month?
  2. Resource planning: Some people love to work outside, and some people love to donate money to support the people working outside. We are considering asking neighbors to pool their money to buy fencing and other supplies and to hire some of our neighbors to clean up our backyard forests. What do you think?