Folder Lawn & Garden Practices for a Healthy Ecosytem Documents Search for documents Find by title or description… Search Reset pdf 1. Leave the Leaves / Soft Landings (Heather Holm) Published on 17 September 2022 Modified on 06 October 2022 Download 2-page handout here Read more on creating soft landings under trees here default 2. Homegrown National Park Published on 05 October 2021 Modified on 06 October 2022 Download https://homegrownnationalpark.org/ default 3. Soil Testing Services, NOFA/Mass Published on 06 October 2022 Modified on 06 October 2022 Download Learn what your soil actually needs and only add those nutrients in the appropriate quantities and at the right time. NOFA/Mass offers affordable technical assistance including soil lab analysis and inputs recommendations, soil health analysis. Learn more here. default Beyond Pesticides Published on 31 January 2022 Modified on 31 January 2022 Download 40 years of protecting health and the environment with science, policy, and action Resources include: Biodiversity / Center for Community Pesticide and Alternatives Information / Children and Schools / Invasive Weed Management / Rodenticides default Ecological Landscape Alliance Published on 05 October 2021 Modified on 31 January 2022 Download Advocating for responsible stewardship. Events include webinars and conferences. default Grow Native Massachusetts Published on 31 January 2022 Download "Every garden matters -- Every landscape counts" "Evenings With Experts" - don't miss this annual (free) speakers series default Lawns Into Meadows, Owen Wormser Published on 29 November 2021 Modified on 03 April 2022 Download Landscape designer Owen Wormser explains how to replace the deadscape we call lawn with low-maintenance, eco-friendly meadows. This award-winning, how-to book on growing a meadow is also about sustainability, regeneration, and beauty. default Lexington Living Landscapes Published on 31 January 2022 Download A Program to Promote Sustainable Landscapes in Lexington, MA. Homeowner resource, speaker series. default Native Plant Trust Published on 31 January 2022 Modified on 31 January 2022 Download Garden in the Woods, Framingham. Programs and classes for schools and adults. Go Botany - native plant ID tools. Image Nature's Best Hope. A new approach to conservation that starts in your back yard Published on 14 July 2021 Modified on 05 October 2021 Download (jpg, 95 KB) Nature's Best Hope.jpg Nature's Best Hope (2019) by Douglas Tallamy, Univ. of Del. professor and naturalist describes what each of us can do to support native pollinators and birds in our own back yards and parks. default Silent Earth: Averting the insect apocalypse Published on 08 December 2021 Modified on 06 October 2022 Tagged in EcosystemHealth, InsectApocalypse, InsectDecline, Pesticides Download Environmental Health News, 11.12.2021 As insects become more scarce, our world will slowly grind to a halt, for it cannot function without them. The author is Dave Goulson is Professor of Biology at University of Sussex, UK, specializing in bee ecology. He has published more than 300 scientific articles plus seven books, including the Sunday Times bestsellers A Sting in the Tale (2013), the Garden Jungle (2019), and Silent Earth (2021). The link is to a modified extract from Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse, published September 2021 by HarperCollins. default Stop Raking Your Leaves! Published on 24 January 2022 Modified on 25 January 2022 Download Leaves are valuable. Use them to amend lawn and garden soil. Illustrated article. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/07/stop-raking-your-leaves/ default Tufts Pollinator Initiative Published on 05 October 2021 Tagged in nativeplants, nativepollinators, pesticidefree Download Who: We are enthusiastic scientists interested in pollinator conservation and community education. What: As a certified Bee Campus USA, we support urban pollinators through habitat creation, community education, and ecological research. Where: Tufts University, on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts (just north of Boston). default What’s Wrong with Leaf Blowers? [Evanston RoundTable, 3.23.2020] Published on 03 April 2022 Modified on 06 October 2022 Download We are in the midst of a worldwide "insect apocalypse" resulting in massive declines of all kinds of insects. Thousands of beneficial species, including many of our native pollinators, are at risk and, without them, we will be at risk, too. What's wrong with leaf blowers? A critical issue for insects is that leaf blowers blast an extremely powerful stream of air at the ground (185 to 200+ MPH) in the process of stripping away fallen leaves. Leaf blowers act like tornados aimed directly at the ground. Their powerful blast -- like a tornado -- destroys the structure and micro-organisms in the upper layer of the soil, dries out the soil, and destroys insect habitat and the insects themselves. In a state of nature, those fallen leaves perform valuable services, providing: (1) winter refuge for countless insects, including native pollinators and fireflies; (2) essential habitat required by insects to complete their life cycle; (3) protecting the soil from drying out; (2) nutrients that enrich the soil. Please Leave the Leaves. https://evanstonroundtable.com/2020/03/23/whats-wrong-with-leaf-blowers/ default Wild Seed Project: Returning Native Plants to Local Landscapes Published on 31 January 2022 Download Based in Maine. Applicable to Massachusetts. Excellent information resource.