With the snow melting and birds chirping, I canβt wait to get back and play in the yard! Here are a few things to consider this Spring to make a positive impact on the earth and wildlife immediately around you.
- Leave your yard clean up as long as possible (or at least until daytime temperatures reach 10C consistently) in order to not disturb those insects who have yet to emerge from hibernation. This not only gives you a bit more time for planning your gardens, but also allows you to reap the many benefits of a healthy population of pest-munching beneficial insects and pollinators. Learn more specifics here.Β
- Rethink your lawn to make it more eco-friendly, drought resistant, and bio-diverse. Consider different varieties of ground cover, fixing more carbon, improving soil health, and more. Check out other sustainable lawn care tips here.
- Naturalize your yard to encourage regeneration of the environment around you for the benefit of wildlife, water conservation & management, soil health, air quality, your time and energy! Click-here to learn more. Make sure to also consider how you can integrate water conservation and management into your yard, maybe integrating a rain garden.
- Provide food for pollinators. Pollinators are essential to our food production, sustainability and bio-diversity by planting a Pollinator Patch, you can help them out. Stay tuned for our 1st ever collective CBL pollinator patches where each resident will be encouraged to create a pollinator patch of their own, whether in a plant pot, garden or lawn. Coming this May! Stay tuned here.
- Regenerate the tree canopy. A healthy tree canopy yields many benefits including; improving air quality & soil resilience, reducing energy use, and providing habitats for many wildlife, to name a few.
The City of Ottawa has a few tree programs that I encourage you to check out, and the CBLCA is organizing a free tree give away for residents, with Ecology Ottawa. Stay tuned here.
Want to stay up to date on more local sustainable, eco-friendly, and climate action topics and happenings? Check out these local resources:
- Ecology Ottawa
- Eco Westenders Facebook Group
- CBLCA Enviro Subcommittee Facebook Group
- For Our Kids – Ottawa Gatineau
Andi Plitz, CBLCA Environmental Chair
Leave a Reply