Edible Landscaping with Perennials
Edible landscaping, or "permaculture," is becoming increasingly popular among homeowners as a strategy for growing food sustainably and economically that requires less maintenance than traditional vegetable gardening. An impressive variety of woody and herbaceous perennials can be planted for bountiful year-round harvests of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and herbs here in New England. These plants provide a delightful palette of flavors, contain impressive amounts of health-promoting nutrients, and are relatively resistant to stresses such as disease and drought. They also add beauty to the landscape and provide food and shelter for beneficial wildlife.
Designing plantings that match these perennials' specific habitat needs to your land and selecting varieties with superior taste, yield, hardiness, and resistance to pests and diseases can help to ensure their success. Let us help you create your own “garden of eatin!"
Designing plantings that match these perennials' specific habitat needs to your land and selecting varieties with superior taste, yield, hardiness, and resistance to pests and diseases can help to ensure their success. Let us help you create your own “garden of eatin!"
Welcoming Pollinators and Other Beneficials
Providing for the needs of our native pollinators and other beneficial organisms adds beauty to our living spaces while helping to promote ecosystem health and food security. Pollinator gardens are best located on sunny sites with some protection from the wind. Including flowers that bloom throughout the growing season as well as host plants to nourish butterfly and moth larvae ensures that the needs of these beneficials will be met through their entire life cycles.
Let us help you select and establish suitable plantings to welcome a delightful variety of birds, butterflies, and other beneficial wildlife to your land and community.
Let us help you select and establish suitable plantings to welcome a delightful variety of birds, butterflies, and other beneficial wildlife to your land and community.
Wildflower Meadows
Wildflower meadows can add beauty and biological diversity to your landscape. When properly planted and maintained for the first few years, they require almost no inputs of water or fertilizer and need only be mowed once every year or two in the fall.
Meadow plants, including native grasses as well as flowering plants, do not require rich soil - in fact, they often outcompete undesirable weeds in less fertile soil conditions. Careful site analysis and preparation as well as timely irrigation, mowing, and weeding in the first few years are keys to success in establishing meadows that will be stable over time.
Let us help you plan, establish, and manage a scenic wildflower meadow to provide wildlife habitat and delight viewers and visitors.
Meadow plants, including native grasses as well as flowering plants, do not require rich soil - in fact, they often outcompete undesirable weeds in less fertile soil conditions. Careful site analysis and preparation as well as timely irrigation, mowing, and weeding in the first few years are keys to success in establishing meadows that will be stable over time.
Let us help you plan, establish, and manage a scenic wildflower meadow to provide wildlife habitat and delight viewers and visitors.
Low-Mow Lawns and Lawn Alternatives
There is growing public awareness that high-input lawn management practices required to maintain a "perfect carpet of green" are wasteful of resources and harmful to the environment. Reducing mowing frequency, selecting appropriate grass species, and rethinking the size of your lawn can help to minimize labor and resources devoted to lawn care.
Mowing every other week at a height of no more than three inches allows clover and other herbaceous species to coexist with turf grass, resulting in better drought tolerance and providing much-needed habitat for pollinators. Boosting soil microbe populations with applications of compost and other organic amendments also assures long-term nutrient availability while improving drought resistance and minimizing unnecessary irrigation.
Kentucky bluegrass, which dominates most lawns, is shallow-rooted and turns brown unless it is watered frequently in the heat of the summer. Fescue grasses are an attractive and practical alternative; they are deep-rooted and grow well in most soil types, tolerate both shade and full sun, require very little water and fertilizer, and stay green most of the year. Fescues are also slow growing and require much less mowing than typical lawns.
Edible landscaping, pollinator gardens, wildflower meadows, rain gardens, xeriscaping, mosses, and groundcovers are among the options for replacing or reducing lawn size depending on site conditions and your vision for your property. Earthwise Landscaping can help you promote your lawn's long-term resilience, transition to a low-mow lawn, and establish attractive and effective lawn alternatives.
Mowing every other week at a height of no more than three inches allows clover and other herbaceous species to coexist with turf grass, resulting in better drought tolerance and providing much-needed habitat for pollinators. Boosting soil microbe populations with applications of compost and other organic amendments also assures long-term nutrient availability while improving drought resistance and minimizing unnecessary irrigation.
Kentucky bluegrass, which dominates most lawns, is shallow-rooted and turns brown unless it is watered frequently in the heat of the summer. Fescue grasses are an attractive and practical alternative; they are deep-rooted and grow well in most soil types, tolerate both shade and full sun, require very little water and fertilizer, and stay green most of the year. Fescues are also slow growing and require much less mowing than typical lawns.
Edible landscaping, pollinator gardens, wildflower meadows, rain gardens, xeriscaping, mosses, and groundcovers are among the options for replacing or reducing lawn size depending on site conditions and your vision for your property. Earthwise Landscaping can help you promote your lawn's long-term resilience, transition to a low-mow lawn, and establish attractive and effective lawn alternatives.
