The secrets to healthy soil & plants

February 2, 2021

Get the "Dirt" on How to Have Healthy Soil and Plants

Keeping Both Your Soil and Plants Alive

Featuring Dr. Bruce Crawford

Free online discussion

Thursday, February 11 at noon

While you look forward to spring, learn more about how to turn your yard into part of Homegrown National Park!

The Horticulture and Conservation committees of the Garden Club of Madison is hosting a discussion with Dr. Bruce Crawford, who will share his thoughts on how to keep both your soil and your plants alive and healthy. Dr. Crawford will speak about soil and using native sedges as green mulch, and then answer questions. This is the fourth segment in the Garden Club's series of discussions focusing on topics related to naturalist Doug Tallamy's groundbreaking book Nature’s Best Hope — which shows how residents everywhere can turn their yards into conservation corridors that provide wildlife habitats.

An honorary member of the Garden Club of America, Dr. Crawford is the State Program Leader in Home and Public Horticulture at Rutgers University's New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.

Photo by Kaboompics.com from Pexels

In case you missed it:

How to Be Bird-Friendly in Your Backyard and Beyond

Watch the Garden Club's previous presentation, a discussion of how to make our yards and communities more bird-friendly with special guest Stephanie Punnett, Program Director at New Jersey Audubon's Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary.

Photo by Jack Bulmer from Pexels.

WATCH

Become Part of Homegrown National Park

University of Delaware entomology professor and best-selling author Doug Tallamy points out that “Our national parks, no matter how grand in scale, are too small and separated from one another to preserve species to the levels needed." So Tallamy conceived the Homegrown National Park initiative — a call-to-action for each of us to "restore habitat where we live and work, extending national parks to our yards and communities.”

This grassroots ecology project invites residents across the nation to plant native trees, shrubs and flowers, reduce expanses of turf grass, and remove invasive plants. If every property owner replaced half their lawn with native plants, it would add up to about 20 million acres. That’s one big national park!

Check out the Homegrown National Park website to learn more. And get your property on the map! An interactive, community-based map will show each person’s contribution to planting native by state, county and ZIP code. It's a cool way for individuals to see their part in the greater whole — creating new ecological networks and restoring biodiversity.

More Webinars to Watch — All Free!

Energy Efficiency for NJ Homeowners

Hosted by Morris County Parks and

New Jersey's Clean Energy Program (NJCEP)

Wednesday, Feb. 10, 5:00–6:00 PM

Find out how New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program (NJCEP) can help make your home safer, healthier, and more comfortable with energy efficiency. Participants will have the chance to talk one-on-one with an NJCEP representative to answer specific questions about your home energy efficiency needs.

Beneficial Insects in the Garden

Hosted by Native Plant Society of New Jersey

Wednesday, Feb. 10, 7:30 PM

Are your roses covered with aphids? Are caterpillars devouring your tomato plants? No need to reach for the spray can when you can safely keep these pests under control by using nature's own arsenal. Dr. Susan Petro, a biology instructor at Ramapo College, will discuss the beetles, bugs, flies and wasps that are your allies in the battle against plant-devouring insect pests.

Buying Bee-Safe Plants: How You Can Help

Hosted by Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Friday, Feb. 21, 10:00 AM

Learn how to identifying pollinator-friendly growing practices in nurseries and greenhouses, how you can encourage your nursery to incorporate pollinator-friendly pest management into their business, and gain confidence in your capacity to make a difference.

Photo by Matthias Zomer from Pexels.

Get Out!

Trees are not only majestic and beautiful, they serve so many vital ecological functions. They sequester carbon, which reduces air pollution and helps combat climate change; they produce oxygen, help prevent soil erosion and flooding, and help purify rainwater on its way down to the aquifer that supplies water to our homes. Plus they provide habitat and food for countless forms of wildlife. Learn more about our local trees!

Winter Trees of the Forest: Guided Walk at Loantaka Brook Reservation

Location: 468 South Street, Morris Township

Wednesday, Feb 24, 2:30–4:00 PM

Get some fresh air and learn the science of winter tree identification along the easy trails of Loantaka Brook Reservation. Pre-registration is required.

$15 per person.

Photo by Simon Matzinger from Pexels.

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