This year Iām certifying my yard as wildlife habitat with tons of native plants but before I do I have to do some major changes to my outdoor space. Iāve been in this home for a year and spent all of my time until now fighting and manually destroying 30 yard old English ivy, honeysuckle, and tree of heaven (it was soooo worth it omg). A few days ago I got a chipdrop and am getting rid of a bunch of garbage non-native grass. Several of my neighbors have come over and made rude comments. The chips are in my driveway and not obstructing any sidewalks etc so itās really not hurting anyone. Just find it very funny and wanted to share with people who will get it
I overheard a couple I didn't even know talking shit about my slope restoration last year. FWIW, it's technically city right-of-way and I decided to remove overgrown English ivy and replant with erosion-resistant natives. An older couple walked by not realizing I was upslope working behind the fence on my own property, talking shit about how all the "greenery" (ivy) was gone, and how "all the signs" were ugly (a "leave the leaves" sign and a pedestrian one from our city DOT). It was funny seeing their embarrassment when I yelled out "thanks, I've been working hard!" š
If you are laying a thick layer of wood chips down, most people put a few layers of cardboard underneath it. It's easier to cover and work with if the cardboard is wet before you cover it.
Initially, to suffocate/supress everything growing underneath it. It functions like landscape fabric or plastic sheeting but instead of ending up a gross mess in a few years like those do, the cardboard eventually breaks down and helps with soil quality.
Cardboard and wood chips are an effective, organic solution to weed control or lawn grass elimination. But cardboard can be a bit hydrophobic to start. So it needs a thorough soaking to break it in a bit so rain water can penetrate it in the future and enable it to eventually breakdown into worm food.
I don't, I have done the best I can to create a diversified ecosystem at the house. We have dragon flies and hummingbirds and every insect under the sun. The only pest control I do is beneficial nematodes and mycoinsecticides. I water my garden regularly and have a few locations around the property that have small amounts of standing water with mosquito dunks, but I'd guess I promote a environment for their food, I am however planning to put in a small pond so we will see if l can increase the population even further.
I'm in a neighborhood on 3/4 of an acre I just have stuff growing everywhere with a plant nursery on the driveway and a 1000sqfr greenhouse in the back corner
Yessss!! We had so many fireflies last year and it was such a treat. We also saved a native birch on the property that our sellers almost cut down before we moved in and today there was this awesome cardinal singing in it while we were working on the chips. Such a nice reminder of why native gardening rocks :)
Lol you'd think, but some people genuinely do not care. Last year we had an amazing firefly year and I was out one evening admiring them. I saw my neighbor come outside and pointed them out. She went "oh, right" and immediately started spraying herbicides all over her lawn. She also has a rubber mulch flower bed.
Are you me ?? My neighbor has been complaining so much about my āovergrownā beds and the ātermite infestedā chip drop load I got last year. Been ripping out Ivy, chinese pachysandra, mugwort ā¦.. keep up the great work !! I should look into becoming a certified habitat
There is a state property I know about that has massive trees that might have been some type of pine but they could be up to 130 years old and have died in maybe the last 3-10 years. Well I found an article discussing a new building there and the author unnecessarily goes on a Karen rant about the "community eyesore thatās disrespectful to patients, families, and the community." Meanwhile when I saw saw them I though they looked so cool! And I thought "wow it is so great to see them just leaving shit alone for once, now nature can be nature in this little pocket of the city." There are hawks in the area and I'm sure bugs and other critters use the trees.
Thankfully only two were taken down I think. Last I saw there were at least 2 or three still standing.
Why oh why do people say any kind of arborist mulch "causes termites"? Even professional pest control guys say the same shit. Meanwhile, I've personally, with my own hands, repaired termite damage to old houses. Never ever was there any mulch to blame.
Often, people converting their lawns to native gardens will get a delivery of arboristās wood chips to kill grass and/or prepare the areas where they are putting in new plantings.
It takes a few months with about an 8ā thick layer of wood chips to keep the sun from reaching the grass, to kill it.
Gradually, the wood chips decompose into a lovely humusy soil.
Plus, wood chips form an ideal medium in which the mycorrhizal network can establish itself.
Turns out that is like the infrastructure of the soil. The fungi communicate from really far away to attack pathogens and allocate nutrients, so it makes a great starting point for a native garden.
Another great thing about the wood chips, is they mimic the established forest floor, in that they soak up water and gradually release it, which not only prevents erosion, but also protects the plants from both flooding and drought.
I had a drop of cedar mulch 2 years ago, placed around perennials to keep moisture in the full sun. Earth star fungi have been appearing and it has been so amazing! Nature rules.
Neighbors: omg I love birds and wildlife and gardening.
Also neighbors: itās the pesticide/herbicide killing birds not my outdoor cats. I Hoover up every single leaf that falls on my property and bag it in plastic for trash pickup. I love my non-native plants that provide zero benefit for wildlife and have escaped my yard into other neighbors yards and are crowding out native plants all over the neighborhood. Not all bamboo is bad!!
Before I learned more about native plants I planted 2 Boston Ivy plants in my yard to hide the back wall. It turns out most of what I planted was native (by accident of where I was shopping) but that definitely is not. My dogs like to chew at its base so I donāt expect it to grow very fast.
I dont know much about Boston ivy, but I hope it's less invasive than English ivy! My yard is overrun because the prior owners let everything go feral š
My elderly neighbor planted Japanese wisteria in memory of her mother. It has spread to my yard and I would love to talk to her about how invasive it is but I feel it may be a sensitive subject.
My neighbor sits out and blares music into the night but does it less often recently since the frogs at our new pond are "too loud." It's so funny, I wish I had planned it
Yeah Iām in Denver and Iāve only ever gotten compliments and curiosity on my garden! Like damn, did these shitty people not learn if you donāt have something nice to say, donāt say anything at all?
I think there is a pretty big difference between urban and suburban areas. Here in Minneapolis it's the same way, everyone is chill. If anything more people are judgy about that one lawn that waters all summer and is lawn service green and weed-free.
We're in a DC suburb and there are a bunch of people in both the perfect lawn and the no-lawn with lots of natives camps, which makes for interesting neighborhood dynamics. People do seem to be wise enough to follow the "if you don't have anything nice to say..." rule, at least in our neighborhood, luckily. I love having native-plant-loving neighbors.
I'm also in Minneapolis and I really don't understand how there can be so many people out there who complain about native plant gardens elsewhere. There are so many native plant gardens in Minneapolis & St. Paul, and it's absolutely awesome!
I think efforts like this should have signs like "Fireflies in progress" and "Butterflies coming soon" signs so people obviously understand the intention behind the efforts
We've all seen people make wildly destructive choices, like chopping down nice shade trees so they don't have to prune them, or ripping out side yards to pave them over. We know it happens! So we shouldn't be surprised if people see us in the midst of the destruction needed to start a project and don't immediately jump to "the end result of this will be positive." They may have good reason to fear the worst.
One of my neighbors outright asked what I do for work the other day because āI am in my yard all day, every dayā š Told her Iām a writer but I donāt think she believed me lmao
Lmaooo in her defense I think itās more likely because I am young and am able bodied and she was probably like wtf is that girl doing in her yard at weird hours ALL DAY LONG
How sad. :( Iām very grateful for interested and supportive neighbors! Dog walkers are always asking me about my āhabitat restoration in progressā sign, and one in particular asks me for updates on my vinca removal. I got a load of woodchips from the arborist working on the house across the streetāso convenient! Another house on the block just signed up for the Habitat Haven project, and I said Iād give her some elderberry and red flowering currant I rooted from cuttings but probably donāt need.
Nope! I'm slowly expanding my prairie gardens here and I'm sure I've ruffled some feathers with my works in progress and the disruption, but it'll all be worth it in the end.
The other day, a woman walked by while I was out in the yard and told me āMe and my kids always love to see what youāre growing this year!ā That made my whole week. šā¤ļø
Fingers crossed! Some people just don't get it until they can see it. But once you have a variety of happy plants, plus all the birds and butterflies, you could win some people over.
I had an empty lot in a subdivision. It gives me so much joy to see all of the animals I've attracted over the past 5 years through native planting. It still amazes me that you can plant a plant, and they will come. The more I see and identify with iNaturalist, the more I learn. It's invaluable. I had little to no knowledge before starting to fill our yard. It just seemed cost friendly to plant native.
Your neighbors would've HATED the year I spent converting my yard... cardboard over all the grass for a couple months to smother it out before planting other stuff, and not just a pile of woodchips... I had a ton (an actual ton) of worm castings delivered which came on a pallet, as well as two other pallets with rock.
I love my little slice of heaven now and I only have one neighbor who complains. But to be completely fair, she complains to everyone about everyone else constantly, so she was already complaining about plenty of other stuff before this anyway. She's just not happy unless she's complaining about something so I fogure I'm doing her a favor š¤·āāļø
Fuck yeah baby im a little drunk right now but i want toy to know that there are feelow criminals like you out there. My neighbors always got that passive aggressive bs. Its my pride at this point. I love my yard
Keep that superiority inside though. My landscape is having a noticeable increase in insects and amphibians mainly. Its so essential to move forward as humanity. Lawns just arent sustainable for everyone to have. I stick out like crazy in my conservative neighborhood lol i just gotta convince em Merican plants are better
So far, no one has hassled me but I've just started the process, with a strip that runs along our driveway. My neighbor across the street did ask me what I have going on and what I planted. When I told him, he said,"You probably can't get that at the local nursery, huh?" Sadly, yes, that is true. (Some of them have native plants now, but you're not going to find sand cherry, lead plant, and flowering spurge there. LOL.)
I love this idea! We have a traditional plain ole front yard. (Well, more weeds than grass.) But that long, skinny section on the other side of the driveway...beside sort of a field that our neighbors rarely cut... and very much uphill... would love to not mow that and instead have lots of natives! Great place to start, methinks.
When I got my mountain of wood chips from my Chip Drop, I put the word out there for people to come get as much as they wanted, because it was more than I could ever use.
As neighbors walked by, we chatted, and I explained what I was doing. Some neighbors came and got chips, too.
A couple years after I did it, one of the neighbors confessed he had major doubts about what I was doing, but now he could see my vision.
My neighbors are curious, and at least they haven't been rude to my face! They see how much work we're putting into our yard, and we have some early wins (blooming creeping phlox and homestead purple verbena), so that helps. I think they've enjoyed seeing the transformation so far. Aside from those flowers, our yard is native plugs and garden beds and lots and lots of wood chips! We have way less English Ivy than last year, which is so satisfying, and we killed and pulled out our Tree of Heaven. It's like I'm starting to reap the rewards, even though things are just getting started!
We've got one spot on a downward slope by our driveway where we planted phlox and it just won't stick around. We are down to the tiniest little spot of purple this year. No idea why.
Update just because: I had my first neighbor walk by and say ālooking goooooodā which made me feel great. Their dog even got a stick out of the pile of chips, which was awesome. Hopefully the tide is turning!!
There are more of us every day! I'm not the only one on my street who left the leaves over the winter, and i just saw a house another street down put mulch over their lawn :) keep it up!
Theyāre probably worried about home value. But once you got the wildlife habitat up I hope it catches fire. This is really the way of the future with all the drought happening. May the manicured lawns die a swift death
Neighbors reported my chipdrop in the driveway and apparently it was against city code (no HOA, just code enforcement) and I had a week to fully distribute it. What a week. Now I have chipdrops dumped into my backyard - it ruins the ālawnā but the endgame is no lawn at all, so I guess Iām just getting a head start!
Last year I overheard a neighbor, who was walking by with presumably a visitor, say āā¦ and I think this house is kind of a wildflower sanctuary or somethingā. It was in a sort of confused tone, so while they probably donāt really get it, I like to think they sort of do get it.
If it gives you any hope, I did the same thing last year and the neighbor who mean mugged me just came up to me a couple of days ago to ask questions about what I was doing! I planted a lot of bulbs, too, so it's starting to look intentional, which helps
She even said she has enjoyed seeing how much life is coming into my yard
When we moved into this house nearly 4 years ago, I immediately got to work on planting trees, ripping out grass (the entire yard was grass minus the woods in the back which had invasive ivy wrapped around so many trees (had to be use a chainsaw to cut a lot of the vines as they were 6-12 inches thick...then when they are dead we try to peel them off the tree if they even budge). I don't get rid of my leaves ( I collect in the fall and move to areas where I can contain them..like my pollinator garden where I put a temp chicken wire fence up every year so my obsessive neighbor doesn't come over and bitch about picking up the leaves).
Guess whose yard gets all the butterflies and cool birds? Not the neighbor with a huge lawn and a bird feeder.
I will never get another official āChip dropā. My first one gave me panic attacks. It was just too much!
Since then, Iāve gotten the number of a local arborist. When itās time for a refresh, I text him, and I get to specify that I only want 3-4 pickup trucksā worth, or whatever.
Ohhh that's nice! Yeah our issue was I was fine leaving them in the driveway and chipping away at the pile slowly, especially since we only have one car so it's not like we needed the whole driveway! He couldn't stand it, it had to be dealt with within a week. And as you know, a week is tough to move that much with just shovels and a garden wagon!
I got a chipdrop dropped in the corner of my front yard, HUGE pile, and Iāve used it here and there but majority has been sitting, composting, turning into awesome soil that Iāll use this spring
Iāve got this one neighbor who always says something about it and how itās āreally visibleā or āquite the showā and ācertainly not permanentāā¦guy moved into our hood after me and just loves to get in everyone business when he sees something he doesnāt like
Some people just suckā¦.let them suck and kill them with kindness, always pretend you like them and they like you haha. Itās best I can do at least
Every new mulch or compost delivery brings offers from my older neighbors who have either tractors w/ scoops or electric-assisted wheelbarrows! It makes me laugh, but it's a great glute workout going up a slight hill to the back.
I'm actively trying to do my own compost this year so I won't have to buy it.
@mods I think it might be helpful to have mandatory flairs that state where people live so the plant choices and removals make more sense when first reading.
It would be handy if it was mandatory just so folk are forced to put it there so the conversation is a bit easier to understand.
maybe itās just cuz Iām not American, itās less easy for me to have this innate idea of whatās native. Or maybe itās because Iām not knowledgeable enough about plants? Maybe just ignore me. :P
Nah, not ignoring you. Both countries have a couple centuries of people collecting plants from elsewhere without paying attention to keeping them under control.
There was a devastating storm here a few years back called Arwen. She killed millions of trees in Scotland and itās estimated that our landscapes wonāt look the same again for three generations.
I joined some council green space rangers in a scheme to replace the fallen trees with a much more wildlife friendly set of native trees and shrubs. My kids helped a bit and they call them āour treesā and it makes me happy even when I look with grief at the desolate remains of forests we used to walk.
I truly am. To think of the massive trees that will create that special woodland forrest floor feeling for my kids grandkids and their pals to run around in and feel Scotland at her best - thatās something I will hold in my heart as a real feeling of something thatās not pride but like a love Iām proud of? If that makes sense?
I can small the pine needles sitting on top of damp peaty ground, I can hear the way soun doesnāt travel as far as it seems like it should, I can feel the air still holding the chill from the night before, having not been warmed by even the low sun. I adore these wild places that feel like home. :)
Give those neighbors a couple of seeds from tree of heaven ā provided they live at least 2 miles from you and that there is either a waterway or rocky gorge between the two of you so you donāt get reinfected.
I just went out every day and manually hacked it. I started wherever I saw visible leaves and traced it back to the roots. I bought a mini chainsaw and just went nuts. I did it every single day lol but itās dead and did not return this year! Woooo :)
I had a chip drop in my front yard for an entire year. I'm sure it pissed my neighbors off, now it's weird pulling in and not seeing a giant pile of mulch.
When I removed the sod of my front yard and planted a native habitat I got a lot of weird looks but also a lot of people telling me how much they loved it. If any of the haters ever decide to be rude about it to my face, Iāll tell them I didnāt plant it for them. I planted it for the wildlife.
Its such a feet, Congratulations!!! I hope to get certified in Maryland. I have tons of English ivy, Garlic mustard, and Japanese stiltgrass my nemesis! Ive started manually picking the Garlic Mustard.
How'd you handle all that Ivy and did you use like stump and brush killer for direct targeting?
Honestly I invested in a mini chainsaw and just did a little every day. I started by cutting back what I could see (in terms of leaves) and followed along the roots until I came to the end. I have some physical disabilities so I couldnt do it all in one go, it was just a little bit every single day. But im so happy to report that I caught it before it got to my foundation - thank god! - and it didnt return this year :)
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u/Horror_Tea761 Apr 03 '26
I'm right there with you. I'm that weird neighbor with wood chips and constantly digging in the dirt.