READING RESOURCES

 MAYFLOWER 

CONSERVATION & HORTICULTURE GARDENING TIPS

SEPTEMBER
Conservation Tip: “…because most of the Cape is essentially a sandbar, anything spilled on the ground - gasoline, septic discharge, insect repellent - trickles through the sand and mingles with the ground water. Cape Cod has 560 miles of coastline, nearly 1,000 kettle-hole ponds,

 and one aquifer, all in jeopardy. It’s a constant balancing act here on the Cape, to protect what is so essential to why we all live here. It’s our coastal waters, our ponds and our ground water, our drinking water. How often is it an issue for us? Every single day, in everything we do.” Mark Ells, Barnstable Town Manager.
And don’t forget International Coastal Clean Up, Saturday, September 21st.

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Horticulture Tip:  Herbs such as parsley and rosemary can be dug up and potted for indoors.
OCTOBER
Conservation Tip: When woodpeckers drill, they actually chip out wood and create holes in search of food or to create cavities, potentially sites for nesting or roosting. In the fall, woodpeckers excavate several roosting holes in preparation for the coming winter. In the spring, a resurgence of drilling activity occurs in preparation for the nesting season. Drumming, on the other hand, is what a woodpecker does to attract a mate or mark its territory by alerting the competition. Drumming occurs most commonly in spring. Leave dead trees and snags around the yard to help provide natural feeding, nesting, and drumming sites for the birds.
Horticulture Tip:  Plant tulips for spring; divide perennials.

NOVEMBER
Conservation Tip:  Reduce your carbon footprint: adjust your thermostat to save about 2,000 lbs. (one ton!) of carbon dioxide a year by turning it down two degrees in winter and up two degrees in summer. Plant a tree: the average tree absorbs a ton of carbon dioxide a year. That’s the easiest two tons you’ll ever lift!​
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Horticulture Tip:  Add seaweed and manure to your vegetable garden
DECEMBER
Conservation Tip:  Why should we recycle? Recycling conserves resources, supports local businesses, protects our environment, and saves taxpayers’ money. Materials that would otherwise be buried in a landfill or burned in an incinerator are diverted from the waste stream. Through recycling, your “trash” is transformed into a valuable commodity that can be remade into many other useful products. ​
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Horticulture Tip:  Gather greens, holly and pine cones for your window boxes
JANUARY
Conservation Tip:  Solar energy creates clean, renewable power from the sun and benefits the environment. It can reduce your electric bill. Alternatives to fossil fuels reduce carbon footprint at home and abroad, reducing greenhouse gases around the globe. Most of the electricity generated in the U.S. comes from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas.
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Horticulture Tip:  Use sand to provide traction on walks. Use de-icing products only if absolutely necessary.
FEBRUARY
Conservation Tip:  “We poison the gnats in a lake and the poison travels from link to link of the food chain and soon the birds of the lake margins become its victims. We spray our elms and the following springs are silent of robin song, not because we sprayed the robins directly but because the poison traveled, step by step, through the now familiar elm-leaf-earthworm cycle. These are matters of record, observable, part of the visible world around us. They reflect the web of life—or death—that scientists know as ecology.” Rachel Carson, Silent Spring 
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Horticulture Tip:  Order a native perennial or shrub for your garden