One of the many reasons that Spring is such a great time of the year is that it is asparagus time. Asparagus is one of those vegetables that Recycla only eats in season – a period of time that is far too short in her humble opinion. For the past month, she has been serving her family those distinctive green spears often, much to her husband’s delight and her children’s disgust.
It’s dandelion season in many parts of the U.S. If you don’t have a sea of yellow on your lawn yet, you probably will soon. The temptation is to KILL THEM ALL with POISON POISON HERBICIDE POISON, but Enviro Girl begs you, please reconsider.
That monoculture of a green lawn is very unhealthy for many reasons. Let’s start with bees. The poor bees have been decimated in recent years. One of the reasons is because of chemical poisons people use to kill pests and weeds. Another reason is because bees require a diversified landscape. More plants means more biodiversity which benefits insect populations as well as bird populations. Just as people cannot live well on a diet of only one food, neither can any other creature. Biodiversity in your backyard benefits many creatures and even helps reduce population imbalances.
To get a stronger sense of how a monoculture destroys biodiversity, click on this link: Cornstalks Everywhere But Nothing Else, Not Even A Bee. If you plant only one thing, very few things survive. Consequently, other things thrive without their natural predators to keep populations in check. Enviro Girl’s in-laws live within an Iowa cornfield and she can attest to the devastation of planting nothing but corn firsthand. The mass amounts of black flies and Asian beetles is pretty overwhelming, but with no birds, bats or other insects to eat them, they continue to reproduce unchecked.
Soil and water health also depend upon humans NOT spraying herbicides across their lawns. Dandelion killer also kills the beneficial fungi and organisms in soil that helps other things, like grass and flowers and earthworms, grow. There’s no specifically targeted way to eliminate one plant with a broadfield application without somehow damaging other plant life and soil health. Residual amounts of weedkiller end up washed away into water systems, creating a new set of problems. According to the EPA, of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides, 17 are detected in groundwater, and 23 have the potential to leach.
It stands to reason, then, if weedkiller is bad for the environment, it’s also bad for us people. Again, let’s check out some EPA facts:
*Of 30 commonly used lawn pesticides 19 have studies pointing toward carcinogens, 13 are linked with birth defects, 21 with reproductive effects, 15 with neurotoxicity, 26 with liver or kidney damage, 27 are sensitizers and/or irritants, and 11 have the potential to disrupt the endocrine (hormonal) system.
*Scientific studies find pesticide residues such as the weedkiller 2,4-D and the insecticide carbaryl inside homes, due to drift and track-in, where they contaminate air, dust, surfaces and carpets and expose children at levels ten times higher than preapplication levels. In other words, just because you apply it on the yard and tell kids to stay off your grass, that’s no guarantee you’re keeping children away from the poison.
*This especially gave Enviro Girl pause as she knows of five young people recently diagnosed with leukemia: A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute finds home and garden pesticide use can increase the risk of childhood leukemia by almost seven times.
*Which doesn’t make this tidbit terribly surprising: The U.S. GAO has told Congress on several occasions that the public is misled on pesticide safety by statements characterizing pesticides as “safe” or “harmless.” EPA states that no pesticide is 100 percent safe.
*And if you’ve ever tried to read the label on a lawn care product, this probably doesn’t surprise you AT ALL: pesticide products are made of an active ingredient and several inert, or other, ingredients. Inert ingredients are neither chemically, biologically nor toxicologically inert. Inerts are not disclosed to the public due to their status as “trade secrets”. Active ingredients usually comprise only 5% of the actual product; the other ingredients make up the majority of a given pesticide product or formulation.
You can read more scary stuff here. Enviro Girl’s pretty freaked out right now, aren’t you?
So what SHOULD you do? Mow the dandelions, endure the two weeks of dandelion season, and do whatever you can to improve your turf (soil health, choice of plants, keep mower blade at least 3 inches off the ground) so other stuff crowds out dandelions trying to take root and thrive. If you’ve got a small lawn and plenty of time, you can fork ‘em out one by one. But please, pretty pretty please with sugar on top, for the sake of your environment and ours, do not assault your dandelions with weedkillers!
Recycla lives in Virginia and one of the many great things about early May in her area is that it’s strawberry season.
Strawberries might just be one of Nature’s most perfect foods. They’re at their best when they are eaten right after they’ve been picked. Strawberries grown in California (or further afield) and then shipped to your grocery store in January just can’t compare.
Mulch. It’s as essential to a good garden as seeds, soil and sunshine. A layer of mulch acts as a weed barrier, making it tougher for those dandelion seeds and thistle seeds to take root. It’ll also make it easier to remove those weed seedlings when they do get started. Mulch helps hold water in the soil, keeping plant roots moist between rainfalls and waterings. Continue reading
If you’re planning to plant peas this spring, go buy your seeds now. Depending on the type, peas take around 60 days to go from seed to your dinner table. This is a cool weather plant that does not like the warm days of June, so plant now to get a May crop.
Enviro Girl was at a party the other night and again found herself explaining Habitat ReStore to someone. It blows her mind that everyone living in her area isn’t already aware of this awesome shop. When a Dunkin’ Donuts opens up, people line up around the block. But Habitat ReStore, a place twice as fabulous as any donut shop, still seems to fly under everyone’s radar.
While some parts of the country are seeing their first spring blooms already, most of us are still under a layer of frost and snow. But even though you’re probably not pulling weeds or planting seeds yet, there’s plenty to keep an off-season gardener busy this time of year. Continue reading
One of Enviro Girl’s favorite winter hobbies involves a $15 outdoor bird feeder. Every day feathered visitors fly in for a meal, hang out on the tree branches and fence posts and add color to the dull winter landscape. Cardinals, finches, jays and sparrows congregate throughout the day and enliven the view outside Enviro Girl’s living room window.
Birds add diversity to any habitat which strengthens the environment. Birds are entertaining to watch, they help control insect populations and they play a huge role in propagating plant life. As nature hobbies go, bird feeding is inexpensive, easy and fun for people of all ages. In fact, Enviro Girl has purchased and set up feeders for her grandparents so they can appreciate the great outdoors from inside their homes. She cannot recommend enough the joy of a bird feeder strategically placed outside a nursing home window. If you’re looking for a way to brighten the day of anyone bedridden or confined, bringing birds outside their window is a great way to do it.
How can you create a backyard bird paradise? Even in the dead of winter, it can be done and here’s how:
As fall weather cools the temperatures and gardeners harvest the remnants of their crops, it’s a good time to save seeds. Saving seeds saves a thrifty gardener money and preserves plant species, especially if the gardener is saving the seeds of heirloom varieties. Saving seeds also reduces consumer exchanges involving energy use and packaging. Continue reading
If you can set aside a sunny afternoon, you can get the fall yard clean-up done in a snap. In many parts of the country it’s the end of the garden season — soon the days will be blustery and blizzardy and bitterly chilly. The tomatoes dangle helplessly from blackened vines, eggplants lie shriveled on the dirt, flowers turn crisp and brown. How does the eco-friendly gardener tidy up outside and best prepare for next spring? Here’s a handy checklist for you to post next to your potting bench: Continue reading
