As summer winds down and Autumn looms ahead, gardeners and landscape lovers want smart gardening tips for how to make the most of their home environments. And Michigan State University wants to give those tips to them–for free.
MSU says that smart gardening starts with the use of native plants in the landscape, and the August 27 report from the Lansing State Journal also states that native plant use has two obvious benefits: it’s wallet and earth-friendly.
Licensed Landscape Architect and author Mary Palmer Dargan says in Lifelong Landscape Design that creating environments that connect with nature in an earth-friendly way is essential when making plans for the home landscape. That’s why she uses native plants throughout her landscape designs for homeowner clients in the South.
Smart gardening tips include more than just choosing native plants, of course, which is why MSU has created a website titled migarden.msu.edu, so consumers looking for more information can find it for free.
Another smart gardening tip on the site involves mulching leaves and grass clippings to put on your lawn rather than buying and using fertilizer to provide the nutrients needed to help it grow and stay healthy. But smart watering practices is important too, which Dargan says should include the use of a rain barrel, to catch natural waterfall rather than using water from your faucet to hydrate plants.
But not everyone is comfortable creating their own landscape design or willing to do the research required to know which plants are native to their area–and which ones will benefit most from their property’s sunlight or rainfall levels. So those individuals will not care that MSU has created their helpful smart gardening website, as these folks will prefer hiring the Mary Palmer Dargans of the world, who can guide them through this process more easily and seamlessly.
Fortunately, those individuals can have a botany expert and a licensed home landscape designer all in one with Dargan, who has co-authored two books on the topic of gardening and landscape design with her husband Hugh, also a licensed landscape design architect. And the landscape expert couple offers their own free online advice and tools at Landscape Your Life.com, too, because “healing the earth one garden at a time,” is their mission in life.
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