Gardening tasks that often make me sore can be easier on my body if I stretch first. Repetitive and strenuous tasks like shoveling, weeding on my hands and knees, hauling mulch in a wheelbarrow, or pruning with pruners, loppers, or hand saws often give me a sore back, knees, and shoulders. Since gardening is a lifelong project, it is best that we all take good care of our health and stretch before gardening so we don’t get laid up by knee replacements and other inconveniences. Here are a few stretches that feel good to me, I hope you find some stretches that feel good to you too. Loosen up: Stretch your arms up above your head and then reach down to the ground rounding your back as you go down. Hinge from the hips and don’t lock your knees. Coming back up, roll your shoulders forward and back. Lean your neck so your ear touches one shoulder then the other. Standing with your feet forward, twist your torso and arms as far around as you can. Lunge twist: With your left knee on the ground and your hips forward. Shift forward toward your right foot to stretch your hip flexors. Engage your core to support your lower back. Lower your left hand down inside your right leg while reaching your right hand up to the sky for a twist. Keep your core engaged, hug your shoulder blades toward your spine, and look up past your right hand. Switch sides. Stretch out your calves with your heel to the ground while you are down there. Cat and cow: With your hands and knees on the ground, arch your back up towards the sky until you feel a stretch. Then arch your belly button down towards the ground. Repeat up and down a few times. Then lower your but down on your feet leaving your arms stretched out forward. Stretch your shoulders and back against the ground. Toe touches: Sitting on the ground, extend your legs straight and reach for your feet. If you can’t reach your feet, bend your knees, grab your feet, and slowly extend your legs to stretch into your low back and hamstrings. Next extend one leg. Tuck your other foot into your opposite thigh. Reach toward your foot with one hand while stretching your other arm up and over toward your extended foot, twisting your chest toward the sky. Switch sides. Don’t forget to drink plenty of water throughout the day and I find that a well-timed snack break always perks me up.

Summer is when my garden starts to look like a jungle. As plants reach their full size, they crowd each other for space. A full garden is good, when the soil is completely covered in vegetation there is no light hitting the ground, so weeds have no space to grow. Another benefit of having no bare ground is less erosion damage. As rain droplets fall, they are intercepted by plant leaves that slow their speed when hitting the earth. However, this is the time of year when it is a good idea to take some notes about which plants should be moved around to give every plant the space they need. If a species is prolific and is crowding its neighbor, it may be time to send some of the plants on the edge to the compost pile. Also, plants crowding the path should be removed either to the compost or cut them back for now and transplant them later in the fall. Another solution to crowded walkways is to stop using some paths for the summer. Some of my more interior paths are just open during the spring when I need to get in there to weed and the paths disappear as the late summer bloomer mature. Newer gardens will still be producing annual weeds in the summer and even though it is hot, it is best to go pull them out before they go to seed. Invasive species are a constant problem in any garden and need to be removed regularly. Spring blooming invasives will begin to produce seed and should be removed before they can infest the garden with another generation. Plant diseases like aster yellows show up in summer. Stems and flower heads become deformed because of a virus that can be contagious to the other garden plants if the diseased material is not disposed of. If anything looks unusually about a plant, it is wise to try to figure out why right away incase there is a cure. Insect damage will also occur, but this is good because healthy insect populations support healthy ecosystems. Summer can be a time of drought. Native plants are generally drought tolerant or at least more so then exotic species. Newer plantings will still need to be watered regularly until they have mature root systems. The first two years of a garden bed becoming established it is a good practice to water the planting deeply once a week if it has not rained. Trees may want to be watered for even longer since they have such large root systems. Often transplanting can be very traumatic for a tree because so much of the root system is removed. To spend less time watering, plant smaller trees and flowers so that they can grow sufficient root systems quickly and support themselves. Spring blooming flowers will begin to set seed in the summer months or even earlier. Some species will have ripe seed all at the same time and some plants may produce one ripe seed a day. Walk the garden regularly to check for ready seeds to collect. Keep collected seeds in a dry cool place free of bugs and mice. If seed propagation seems intimidating try just collecting one species to get a feel for it. Remember that any seeds left out in the garden will either become food for some creature or will fall to the ground and germinate, maybe even in a place you like, if you’re lucky.

Did you know you can turn acorns into an edible flour? Acorns are very bitter with tannins if you try to eat them raw. The process of turning acorns into flour will be a tedious one the first time. But just like shelling walnuts, each time is easier. The trick is to shell the acorns and then soak them in several changes of clean water until all the tannins have leached out. Once the bitter part has been removed it is time to bake them and then grind them into flour. Acorn flour is nutritious and makes tasty breads and cookies. There are many other unique food items just waiting to be discovered at our feet if we are willing and eager to go to the trouble of collecting, cleaning, and processing our food. Many nuts and fruits are edible. It is always a joy to happen upon an arboreal offering of ripe fruit or nuts. I feel so lucky when I find a ripe pawpaw to eat. We can also prepare for these harvests by planting the trees that produce the things we like to eat in our yards. Mushrooms are a fun item to collect out in the woods or to grow at home. It is always a thrill to discover a patch of morels or chicken of the woods. Mushroom spores can be bought and inoculated into logs to be harvested. Mushroom logs can be arranged in decorative patterns in the shady landscape while we wait for the fruits to ripen. When I’m out hiking, I often end up with a little velcro triangle seed called beggars ticks stuck to my pants. When the seeds are green I like to peel off the outer capsule and eat the bean inside as a little trail snack. I wouldn’t want to depend on this seed for sustenance, but while hiking, it is a simple thing to do for amusement. A good source of protein is to try eating insects. I have tried fried worms and grubs, and with enough salt they taste fine. Common insects to eat are cicadas, grasshoppers, crickets, grubs, and worms. Other cultures are much more open to eating insects than ours but we are missing out on a whole variety of interesting foods. I don’t have any recipes to share but I’m willing to experiment with eating insects. Foraging etiquette dictates that you only take a small portion of the harvest you find and leave the rest to reproduce into next year’s harvest. Responsible foraging allows wild populations to fulfill their role in the ecosystem and withstand the pressures of harvesting. Growing favorite foraging crops at home is a way to insure they are harvested sustainably.

No Mow May is trending now. The idea is to not mow your yard during May in order to support pollinators who will feed on common lawn weeds like dandelion and violet. This trend is misguided and helps to continue to blur the line between a yard that is just weeds allowed to grow and a native garden. It would be better if everyone had a pollinator garden where plants bloom throughout the growing season to support a sustainable habitat for all insects. Native early pollinators come out much earlier than may. Having food sources available for native insects in March and even February is important. Native pollinators are looking for native plants. Shrubs like the plum, service berry, and spicebush bloom early to sustain spring pollinators. Many of the flowers growing in our lawns are not native. Dandelions, clover, purslane, and mustards are common lawn weeds that bloom, but they are not native and we don’t need to protect them. The majority of the bees visiting our lawn are non-native honeybees. Caring for honeybees is the responsibility of their owners, we do not need to devote our garden space to their care. Lawn care can harm pollinators. Mowing can destroy hibernating butterflies and crush the underground burrows of bumblebees and beetles. Mower engines usually do not have mufflers and will drown out bird songs which can interrupt their ability to defend their territory and find mates. Lawn mowers pollute a lot, more then cars even. If you have a lawn service, they may be adding fertilizers and pesticides to your lawn that kills pollinators and pollutes soil and ground water. Let’s call it Less Lawn May, or Murder your lawn May? May is a great time to put in a new native plant garden. Less lawn and more native plants mean more habitat for pollinators, birds, and all creatures. Gardening for pollinators means you need a variety of plants with blooms occurring throughout the year. Plant asters for blooms up till frost and witchazel for blooms on warm winter days.

We need to see more sustainable native landscaping in public spaces. Sustainable practices should be the standard in community gardens, pocket parks, churches, school gardens, greenways, cemeteries, and corporate campuses. If each of us adopted a public space to steward, we could influence a far larger segment of the population and make native gardening main stream. Step by step how to install a public garden When undertaking to create a garden in a public space we all want to dive right in and get some plants in the ground. However, before starting I wish more people would stop to ask some very important questions about the site. Questions to ask: What is the budget? Who is paying for each item? Who is applying for grants? Who is maintaining the garden forever? Are their maintenance staff or a volunteer group? How much training do they need to do proper maintenance? How many staff are on board? Are the people who will be using and maintaining the space all in agreement that this is what they want? What signs will there be? How will visitors be educated about the garden? What is the installation timeline? Is this a spring or fall planting? Does the installation need to be split into stages? How will the garden be protected? Who is picking up litter? Will the garden be spared any future development? Is there a maintenance budget? How will the garden be used? Will the visitors be returning often or infrequently? Does the garden need features like picnic tables, play space, bike lanes, etc? Should the garden be wheelchair accessible or is there any other accessibility requests? Site visit Sharing the above questions with the project leader before the initial site visit can help them be prepared for the visit with answers ready. At the site note soil moisture, irrigation options, shade patterns throughout the day, foot traffic through the site, area to be planted, hardscapes, possibility of garden features like benches, views from inside the building, emergency access needs, where mulch can be delivered, dangerous areas, and any specific plant requests. Take lots of pictures from every angle. Ask for a site map that is to scale. Design plan Draw up a landscape design that incorporate as many sustainable features as possible. The designed garden should also be easy to maintain. Plant lists can include information about where to get the plants. Including images of the mature plants can help the maintenance team become familiar with the plants. Write up short and long term maintenance plans. Maintenance plans can be copied from other projects or tailored to each site’s unique needs. Create a budget and get approval on the plan. Installation Public garden installation day is usually a big to do. Invite everyone who is in any way involved to come help with installation. Especially, get the maintenance team involved in the installation. Sometimes having a big crowd of native garden novices can make a project take even longer, but everyone with dirty hands at the end of the day will be one more person who will care about the garden. Education at site Signs in the garden help a lot with educating the public about what is going on in a garden. If a garden is used by a regular group, like at a school, an educational activity or presentation would be useful. Informational messages may also be sent out to staff with garden updates. Beginning education before the garden is installed can increase enthusiasm and decrease surprises. Maintenance inspections Set up times for maintenance inspections throughout the first year. This inspection is not a time to do maintenance but rather to walk around the garden with the maintenance team and identify any maintenance problems that need to be addressed. Sometimes I find making weed bouquets during a maintenance inspection to be helpful as a memory aid. Ask the head of maintenance to be ready to take notes on inspection days.

Our urban woodlands are suffering from foreign invaders that choke out native vegetation and eventually dominate the entire forest floor. The four most common invaders are bush honeysuckle, Japanese honeysuckle, wintercreeper, and garlic mustard. Seeds of these plants can be brought into a healthy woodland by birds that snack on the berries and then fly to a new area and poop, or flood waters picking up seeds from infested areas upstream, and even on our hiking boots as we are out enjoying parks. Bush honeysuckle commonly invades a woodland from the edge, slowly creeping in a little more each year. The shrub shades out all small trees trying to germinate in the understory leaving only the aged trees alive. Then come the vines, Japanese honeysuckle and wintercreeper, climbing the trees up into the canopy, overwhelming the upper branches. The tangle of invasive shrubs and vines can make a woodland impenetrable to the people who would like to care for it. Even if the shrubs are cut down, the vines persist on the forest floor, exploding with growth from the increased light available. Removing the shrubs and vines often causes erosion of the topsoil since there are no other plants to hold it in place. Garlic mustard joins the gang traveling in with flood waters and on boots, traveling deep into the heart of the forest. The mustard forms dense stands and spreads seeds that will last for years in the soil. Once a woodland plant community has been displaced by these invasives its ability to regenerate is impaired. Topsoil is lost from erosion where the ground is not covered. The monoculture of non-native plants destroys the soil’s natural biome; the community of fungi, microbes, and insects that process nutrients. Seeds from the native plants have tried to germinate but the competition for resources was too fierce. The seed bank becomes entirely made up of the invader’s seeds to resprout year after year disrupting restoration efforts. We are noticing these four horsemen invading our parks and yards. Early detection of the invasion is the best way to fight them. Woodlands will recover more quickly if they still have a wide variety of native plants to recolonize the area. Healthy soil with a rich microbiome can bounce back after restoration faster and fully. Help to save us from the apocalypse, don’t let the invasives get established.

The first bee you see this spring will probably be a bumble bee. Female bumble bees emerge from their underground nests earlier in the spring than other bees. Their large bodies and ability to regulate their body temperature by shivering and basking in the sun keeps them active on cool days in spring and late into fall. Look for them on early blooming plants like willows and late blooming flowers like goldenrod. The bumble bee will collect pollen in her pollen basket on her hind leg and carry it back to her nest to feed her babies. The flower fly, Volucella, has learned to mimic the bumble bee so that it can enter the bumble bees nest and lay eggs. The fly larva act as nets cleaners, feeding on dead bees and other detritus. Thus, the bumble bee colony benefits from its guests / house cleaners and the fly larva have the protection of the bumble bee colony. To find a bumble bee nest keep your eyes on the ground. They are generally located in bare patches of soil that are well drained and on a slight slope. The entrance hole is as small as the bee and may sometimes have a pile of excavated soil next to it like an ant nest. Watch for bees flying low to the ground in a zig zag pattern and watch for them to land. Keep a few patches of undisturbed bare soil in your yard to invite bumble bees to nest.

The American toads in my yard are so loud I can hear them all the way down the block. Their chorus echoes between my brick house and the neighbors. I’m surprised no neighbors have complained of the noise, maybe it sounds like home to them also. The toads arrive because of my pond. In spring the pond is full of black masses of eggs and then tadpoles. I need to be careful to check on the pond regularly to maintain the water level, so the babies don’t dry out. I also have tree frogs which I don’t see so much in the pond but find them hiding in my pots or in the rainbarrel. Last summer I was entertained by having two tree frogs serenading each evening, one calling from either side of my deck. Every time I find a toad or frog in my garden, I feel is a special moment. I can’t help but to pick them up or at least give them a pat between the eyes. The amphibians need moist areas to live. They like the water of my pond and rain barrel. Keeping fish in a pond will discourage toads and frogs because the fish eat tadpoles. I also find them buried in the leaf mulch in winter or sheltering in a rotten log in summer. They also are very sensitive to chemicals used on the garden that they can absorb through their skin, so I keep my garden chemical free to protect my amphibians. I always top off the pond from the rain barrel because there are chemicals in the tap water that can kill amphibians. The amphibians may find our gardens naturally, traveling in from neighboring gardens or natural areas. They can also be introduced by taking a cup of egg masses from a friend’s pond and putting them in our own. Be sure to transport the eggs quickly, never leave them in a hot car. Acclimate the eggs slowly to the new pond. Don’t take eggs from the wild as it will harm natural amphibian populations. I have never found a salamander in my garden but hopefully someday I will be so lucky. My backyard garden also provides habitat for reptiles. I’m not sure if I have any permanent resident snakes but I find a few each year. Species I commonly find are the ring neck snake, rough green snake, midland brown snake, and the earth snake. They are all very tiny and usually curled up under a stone I am moving. I enjoy our chance encounters and wish them happy hunting before carefully replacing the stone. I hope some day to have a resident black rat snake that can help manage the rodents and maybe even terrorize the squirrels. Lizards have not found my yard yet. I have put out rock piles for them to bask on but I think that my island of native plants is just not big enough for a lizard territory. Gardens with more sun and rocks seem to be better at attracting lizards. I also do not have any resident turtles. The occasional turtle passes through, once a box turtle painted yellow passed through, someone’s escaped pet probably. Turtles should not be moved into our yards because they will try to return to their home territory. So I will have to wait for one to show up on its own and hope that it doesn’t get run over in the street on the way. When I’m moving mulch and compost I always check for eggs first since the snakes and turtles think these piles are good nest sites. Having reptiles and amphibians take up residence in our gardens is a good sign of creating a healthy habitat. They eat a lot of insects, worms, and rodents so need a complete food web in place. They can also be picky about their habitat, requiring fresh water, hiding rocks and logs, mulch piles, and protection from predators as well as poisonous chemicals. As gardeners we do our best to make everyone feel welcome and just hope that they come.

I think most gardeners get a little out of shape over winter. But spring is coming, and to prevent injuries and be able to get all of our spring chores done it is time to get back in shape. Gardening uses most of our muscles, so a good all-around exercise routine is best. Don’t neglect those core and back muscles. Squats are a great strengthening exercise to get ready for the times I need to get down on the ground and then back up again. Sometimes I feel like I do a million squats a day out in the garden and my body reminds me of it when I try to go up stairs. There are lots of variations on the basic squat to keep it interesting. Lunges are similar to squats with the added element of balance. Holding deep lunges can help with balance as well as quick lunges with extra kicks in between. Lunges and squats work different leg muscles that we need for weeding and planting. Taking large steps through the garden to avoid stepping on plants is a gardener’s lunge. Balance is very important to the gardener so that I’m not toppling over on my plants as I try to navigate around the garden. Balancing on one leg helps me to prepare myself for tip toeing through the garden around newly emerged plants. Steppingstones, roots, and pits in the ground make walking more challenging so it is good to be sure footed with good balance. The wood chopper exercise where I lift and twist helps strengthen muscles that protect my back. This is a good exercise to do when I’m getting ready for lots of digging, mulching, or any activity that involves moving around heavy stuff like plant pots. Planting trees can be very hard on my back as I twist while digging, hauling the heavy pots, and then mulching tree rings. I often forget to work on my hand strength over winter and then find I have a weak grip in the spring. I need to keep my fingers strong to pull out all those newly emerged silver maple trees in my garden. Grabbing trowel handles and squeezing pruners takes a lot of hand strength to do for extended periods. I ramp up my hand strength with a squeeze ball and by stretching rubber bands. In addition to starting early in spring to build up my muscles, I also need to listen to my body. Spring fever can present so many tasks to do and so little time to do them. It is easy to overwork myself on a nice day. However, gardening is a never-ending task so we need to pace ourselves. Stretch before and after gardening and when an ache begins it is time to take a break. Listening closely to our bodies will help us work at the pace that is best for us for long term health so we can keep gardening for years to come.

Plants may be very different than us because they are rooted in one place while we can move. However, plants still need to be aware of their surroundings. Plants don’t have brains but they are still able to react to changes in their environment to help them survive. There are many similarities between us and plants in the ways that we sense the word. Plants are aware of light. We have all witnessed how plants grow towards light. Plants shaded by trees may bend to the side to find a patch of light. Germinating plants must be put under artificial light when they are grown indoors. Plants can detect a broader light spectrum than us and can respond to far red light and ultraviolet light that is invisible to us. Plants are also very aware of the day and night cycle. Some species need certain lengths of dark or light to decide to bloom to make sure it is optimum conditions for pollination. Plants are aware of being touched. There are time lapse videos of young vines reaching outwards until they touch a fence and then it winds around the fence. Windblown plants grow short and stocky, in response to the constant movement in their upper branches, they put more energy into growing thick trunks and deep roots. Plants can also sense vibrations such as an insect walking on their stem. The leaves of Wild senna will curl up when touched to avoid damage. Plants can pick up pheromones and they can sense odors in the air and respond to them. Ripening fruit produces ethylene which other plants can sense through the air and begin fruit maturity. Coordinating the time to ripen helps more fruits be distributed by attracting big flocks of birds. A hot item in scientific research right now is how plants will release scents into the air when they are under insect attack. Other plants nearby will pick up the scent and start producing chemical compounds to make their leaves less tasty to insects. It is almost like an air raid siren but with scent instead of sound. Plant roots can also pick up chemical signals through the soil or passed to them through mycorrhizae. Plants sense gravity. They know to send their roots down and stem up. They do this in a very similar way to what we do. When we get vertigo it is because our crystal otoconia have moved into the wrong part of our ear and need to be moved back into position. Plants use statoliths that are sensitive to being tilted against gravity to tell which way is up. Plants can sense the temperature. Some seeds need certain lengths of cold winter days in order to germinate. We often mimic the seeds requirement for cold by putting it in the refrigerator for winter stratification. Heat is also sensed by plants. After the heat of a forest fire, pinecones will open to spread their seeds in the nutrient rich soil after the competition has been removed. Some plants need a certain daytime temperature to emerge in spring or need a certain number of cold winter nights before they reach maturity and bloom the next season. Because plants don’t have brains or eyes, ears, or tongues it is often hard for us humans to think about them as sensing their world. We could say that plants can see because they sense and respond to light even though they don’t have eyes. The biggest difference might be that plants do things so slowly we often don’t hang around long enough to notice.

Mosquito fogging in neighborhoods initially seems like a way to make gardening more enjoyable with less of these pests. However, fogging chemicals will drift in the air onto plants indiscriminately killing any insect that comes in contact. Pesticides commonly disrupt the nervous systems of insects so they can no longer fly or will suffocate them by clogging up their respiratory system. Pollinators are just as susceptible to pesticides as mosquitoes. Bees can pick up chemicals on their feet from walking on a plant and bring these poisons back to their hive, poisoning the entire colony. Fogging is often a decision made by a local municipality, so it is easy to contact the administrator and make our concerns heard. If a lawn company comes to take care of the lawn it is necessary to ask what fertilizers and chemicals they plan to use on the lawn, why each chemical needs to be applied, and if it is necessary. Do some research on whether those chemicals are safe and organic. Zero chemical, zero fertilizer lawns are the safest option for pollinators, ground water, and pets. When neighbors are spraying herbicides, pesticides, or applying any chemical to their yard it might have negative impacts on our gardens. Pollinators don’t know to stay within the borders of our garden and may become poisoned after straying over a fence. With aerial sprays, chemical drift from wind can bring poisons across borders. Water will also bring pollutants into the garden from any property upstream and all the oil and pollutants off road surfaces. We may need to educate or bargain with our neighbors to keep chemicals out of our yards. Salt is another common soil and water pollutant coming in from the driveway, or sidewalk. Many native plants are intolerant of salt and will slowly fade away or immediately yellow and die before spring. Salt levels build up in soil over time and are slowly leached into the ground water, contaminating a bigger and bigger area of the yard. Try to use alternatives to salt on paths and divert water from running off salted streets into the yard. Encourage the local authorities to use less road salt in winter and to explore alternatives to salt. Soil testing is a great idea when starting in a new space. Who know what the previous property owner did. Overuse of fertilizers, leaching limestone gravel, and heavy metals can all be left in soil and may need to be worked around. If certain spots in the garden just don’t seem to grow, soil testing might reveal the answer.

Reduce reuse recycle The three Rs don’t just apply inside the house, they can also be applied to the landscape. Landfills are such an eyesore. They also contribute to blowing trash that ends up in our cities, groundwater pollution, and methane in the atmosphere. Trash trucks cause wear and tear on our streets, contribute to auto emissions, and wake me up too early on every Monday when they stop in front of my house. I try to reduce the amount of trash I create any way that I can. This includes reducing the amount of packaging, junk mail, and fast food containers that come into my house as well as reusing all of my yard waste in the garden. It takes a conscious effort, creative thinking, and perseverance but I feel it is worth it. Reduce Lawn and mowing Use of sphagnum moss (non-renewable resource) Use less tap water by catching rainwater Reuse Clean pots and use them again Maintain garden tools and hoses Stumps and logs in the landscape Recycle Compost kitchen scraps Collect Stormwater runoff to water plants Fall leaves turn into leaf mulch Repurpose I’m not sure where the line is between having an interesting collection of artistically displayed garden art and having a yard full of junk. I suppose it is in the eye of the beholder. I have a collection of bent bike wheels that I have wired together in geometric patterns that look like sculptures of flowers but to some people they look like scrap metal. I tend to see the beauty in junk and don’t mind the look of a cluttered garden. So, my garden might contain a bit more repurposed junk than is the normal aesthetic. I love to find new purposes for waste. Every item I can repurpose is one less thing in the landfill. Repurposed items don’t have to only become art. Plastic cartons can become seed trays, an old skillet could be a bird bath, broken blinds make good plant tags, a bird will nest in an old boot, and the list goes on and on. Use your imagination when you look at trash and see what else you can come up with. The benefit of starting with trash in the first place is that if the project doesn’t work out, just put it back in the trash with no guilt.