Pruning reduces pests & diseases while maximizing production. Prune fruit trees & cane berries as instructed for that variety late fall for the next growing season or as days lengthen before buds begin to swell in early spring. Compost fallen fruit/prunings in another location.

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Providing food and habitat encourages birds to forage and take shelter in your garden. Leave the seeds of late blooming perennials for our feathered friends to eat.

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Overwintering insects need winter cover. Leave the hollow stems of late blooming perennials for beneficial invertebrates to use as a cozy home for winter.

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Winter is time for record keeping, resource gathering, and reflection. Maximize your success with ecological site planning. With the "right plant, right place" approach, your garden landscape will thrive and provide abundance and habitat in a changing climate.

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Cover crops are an inexpensive and efficient way to rebuild soil fertility and organic matter while protecting your soil from winter damage. There are different cover crops for different purposes such as adding soil nutrients, feeding soil microbes, or keeping weeds at bay. #ecologicalgardenCCE

Embrace the mess! Dried flower heads, fallen leaves, plant stalks, & other garden debris provide habitat for overwintering invertebrates & birds - valuable allies to our ecological garden. Save most of your garden cleanup until daytime temperatures consistently reach 50°F. #ecologicalgardenCCE

Fall ecological garden tasks fit into three categories: (1) closing down the growing season, (2) preparing for the cold, dry winter, and (3) preparing for the onset of spring. These practices will ensure a proactive and ecological approach to gardening in the seasons to follow.

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Diversity creates resilience! Offering a diverse palette of native plants and other species will provide the ultimate habitat for invertebrates and birds, who in turn provide essential ecosystem services that keep our gardens and surrounding native habitats healthy.

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Techniques such as handpicking insects and using row cover, trap crops, and insect traps will deter pests that manage to infiltrate our ecological gardens, and provide alternatives to pesticides.

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Managing for drought and flood resilience, pulling weeds, and deterring pests and diseases will yield beauty and abundance. Companion planting, habitat for beneficial insects, and other forms of integrated pest management can reduce workload and increase yields.

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Establish different zones of your lawn using selective mowing. Allow areas that you don’t need for lawn to grow and flower into habitat, or turn them into gardens or walking paths. Leave clippings to decompose into the lawn for best nutrient cycling, and mulch the clippings.

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Planning for water needs will save you time & hassle. Design & install irrigation systems & rainwater catchments to capture spring rainfall and prepare for possible drought. Consider using drip irrigation to minimize water waste. A rain barrel system is easy to assemble! #ecologicalgardenCCE

It’s go time in the garden! Springtime is for planning your fertilizer schedule, and getting ready for planting! As the aboveground parts of the natural world awaken, there are many things you can do to turn your garden landscape into a resilient and productive environment.

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