READING RESOURCES

 MAYFLOWER 

RESOURCES FOR NATIVE PLANTS

Sources for Native Plants
Native Plant Information and Resources
Lawn Watering Advice
Information on Pollinator Plants
 Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod (APCC) Fact Sheets

CONSERVATION & HORTICULTURE GARDENING TIPS

SEPTEMBER
Conservation Tip: ““In the past, we have asked one thing of our gardens: that they be pretty. Now they have to support life, sequester carbon, feed pollinators, and manage water.” ~Doug Tallamy, Nature’s Best Hope
Horticulture Tip:  Continue to deadhead and collect seeds as they ripen and before they disperse for winter storage. ​
OCTOBER
Conservation Tip: “Earth supplies enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Horticulture Tip:  Bring tender plants inside and dig a hole if you are considering a live Holiday tree and gather leaves for winter composting. ​

NOVEMBER
Conservation Tip:  Leaf litter, as it breaks down, enriches the soil. It also creates overwintering habitats and nesting materials for many species. Frogs, toads, pollinators, snails, worms, spiders, beetles and millipedes use leaf litter like a cozy winter blanket. Decomposing leaf litter also stores carbon. Leave a light layer of leaves in your gardens and around your trees to help your soil, the critters, and the climate.
Horticulture Tip:  Begin supplementing our birds’ natural food supply with seed and plant spring blooming bulbs such as tulips and daffodils.
DECEMBER
Conservation Tip:  Conserve resources and energy. Consider this: when food is wasted, the land, water, energy, and other inputs that are used in producing, processing, transporting, preparing, storing, and disposing that food are wasted as well. Food waste dumped in landfills contributes significantly to methane gas emissions in the USA. Please compost and cut your food waste.
Horticulture Tip:  Observe your garden now while it is stripped of summer foliage and flowers because it is easier to consider your garden’s structure and design.
JANUARY
ConservationTip: “If it can’t be reduced, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, or removed from production.” ~ Pete Seeger.
Or as New Englanders say, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”.
Horticulture Tip:  Keep composting; decomposition slows down but decomposers like bacteria, fungi and other microbes survive in Cape Cod compost piles during the winter.
FEBRUARY
Conservation Tip:  Most bugs are good bugs. Only about 5-15% of the bugs in your yard are pests. “Good” bugs, like lady bugs, lacewings, and the praying mantis, help control pests. So, provide a home for these beneficial insects by growing native plants. Flowering herbs and members of the Daisy family are particularly attractive to beneficial insects. You’ll also be providing needed food for birds by welcoming insects to your yard.
Horticulture Tip:  Force branches of forsythia, spires apple, peach and pussy willow.
March
Conservation Tip:  The capacity of the seas to absorb human wastes and provide us with sustenance is not infinite. Be proactive against ocean pollution and overfishing
Horticulture Tip:  Prune Roses, remove excessive long growth, damaged or crossing branches.
APRIL
​Horticulture Tip: 
Perennials can be divided this month.  Compost the center section and replant the vigorous outside portion.
Conservation Tip: 
In addition to the 800 million gallons of gas burned in lawnmowers in the USA each year, we use vast amounts of toxic chemicals to keep our lawns weed free. 40% of the chemicals used by the lawn care industry are banned in other countries because they are carcinogenic. ~ Doug Tallamy, Entomologist