Interested in naturalizing your yard and garden?

These Lakehead Farm Lab Educators Will Help You Go Wild

With the arrival of spring, people are eager to put their green thumbs to use.

And many of us—from novice to expert gardeners—are wondering how to create more eco-friendly green spaces.

Fortunately, Linda Grant and Lindsay Sargent have some easy-to-implement advice to transform your yard into a garden blooming with native plant species and locally adapted vegetables.

Linda and Lindsay are both garden-based educators with Lakehead Orillia's Farm Lab.

It's a small on-campus model farm that grows food and flowers to help elementary, high school, and Lakehead students understand sustainable food systems and immerse themselves in hands-on ecological learning. The Farm Lab is supported by a three-year Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) PromoScience grant.

A head-and-shoulders photo of Linda Grant wearing a green blouse, silver chain, and glasses Linda Grant, who has a Master of Education in Mathematics and Gardening, has been an educator for 30 years, including at the elementary and secondary levels. She integrates First Nations Ways of Knowing, outdoor education, and experiential Learning into her work. Currently, she teaches K-6 mathematics education at Lakehead University and works at the Farm Lab as a garden-based educator.

Both Linda and Lindsay agree on some simple ways to become an environmentally friendly gardener.

First, try seeking out neighbours who've already naturalized their yards for ideas you can put into practice. It's a great way to share tips, gardening tools, plants, and seeds with one another.

Another way to jumpstart this process is to not mow a section of your yard.

"Soon, a variety of species will begin growing there," Linda and Lindsay explain. "This will encourage biodiversity, which birds and pollinators love."

To naturalize large sections of your lawn and replace traditional grass, mow it very short and then spread clover seeds over it.

"And, if you're clearing out parts of your yard, put the brush at the back of your property to give animals a place to live," Linda adds.

A head-and-shoulders photo of Linsday Sargent outside wearing a grey fleece zip-up, baseball cap, and hoop earring; a tree and a lake are visible in the background

Lindsay Sargent has taught in K-7 classrooms and has recently completed a Master of Education at Lakehead University. Currently, she's a sessional instructor with Lakehead's Faculty of Education and a Farm Lab garden-based educator. Her teaching and research interests include environmental education, garden-based learning, place-based approaches, and reconciliation rooted in the land. Lindsay is also the food literacy coordinator at Farm to Cafeteria Canada.

Another key element of sustainable gardening is avoiding chemical fertilizers. Instead, spread compost and manure to give your soil the nutrients it needs.

"In the fall, you can cover up the soil with compost and leaf litter, which will keep pests and weeds away," Linda says.

"Rotating plants every year and using row covers will also deter pests—like voles and insects—so that you don't have to use pesticides," Lindsay says.

"Sustainable gardening can be a wonderful lifelong learning journey that's good for the Earth and that allows you to pass your along your knowledge to others," Linda says.

Read on to discover a few of the plants that thrive in Ontario and for more tips about naturalizing your yard.

Learn which plants grow in your region—for example, these brown-eyed susans—and then introduce them into your yard or garden. "Google 'rewilding my yard' or 'sustainable gardening practices,' for inspiration," Linda says. "Plant nurseries and garden centres that sell native plants are a good resource, too." Photo Credit: Unsplash/Caroline Sterr

A close-up of a patch of purple aster flowers with yellow centres; a small moth sits on one of the flowers

To get started on your rewilding adventure, you’ll need just a few simple tools: a shovel, a hand trowel, a rake to even out planting surfaces, and a watering can or hose. Before long, you’ll be able to enjoy colourful flowers in your yard like these native purple asters. Photo Credit: Unsplash/Patti Black

A clump of yellow dandelion plants with green stalks and leaves

Traditional lawns are monocultures that are hostile to pollinators. Instead of spending time and energy trying to kill off plants considered weeds, let dandelions, creeping thyme, wild violets, and clover grow on your lawn. “At Farm Lab, we say that a weed is in the eye of the beholder,” Linda says. “Usually, it just means a plant that’s growing where you don’t want it to,” agrees Lindsay. Dandelion flowers are one of the first available foods for pollinators in the spring, so it’s important not to mow them down. A good practice to follow is “no-mow May.” Photo Credit: Unsplash/Alyona Milch

A group of drooping yellow goldenrod flowers with green leaves and stalks; an orange-and-black monarch butterfly with outstretched wings rests on one of the blooms

Colourful goldenrod is an excellent native species to plant for fall colour. Pollinators flock to it in late summer and early fall and, in the winter, it provides food for birds, mice, and other animals because it sticks up above the snow. While of tremendous ecological value, keep in mind that goldenrod spreads quickly. Cut it back in the late fall to contain it to the areas you want it to grow in. Photo Credit: Unsplash/Michael Barrick

A patch of bloodroot plants with green leaves growing in a muddy area with broken twigs; several plants have white blooms with yellow centres

Native forest plants like bloodroot (above), trilliums, fiddlehead ferns, and mosses can provide visual interest in shady areas of your yard. “Because I’ve naturalized my lawn, I only mow it two or three times a year in the sunny spots,” Lindsay says. Photo Credit: Unsplash/TR

A close-up of a milkweed plant with green leaves and a pale pink flowerhead; two bees and a moth are feeding on nectar from the flower

Having a variety of plants in your garden provides more food for pollinators, including butterflies, birds, and bees. The nectar of the milkweed plant is a favourite of insects, including the monarch butterfly. Photo Credit: Unsplash/Annette Meredith

A group of white potatoes covered with dirt lying on the ground Choose an area of your yard that receives a lot of sun to establish a vegetable garden. Linda and Lindsay recommend starting small, perhaps with a container garden, while you build up your horticultural skills. Potatoes (above), onions, and leafy greens are easy crops to grow and are well adapted to Canada's climate and geography. Photo Credit: Unsplash/Javier Albuja

Several raspberry plants with green leaves and red and dark purrple berries

These delicious black raspberries are native to Ontario and they’re a popular species at the Farm Lab. “This spring, a baby rabbit found a safe spot behind the raspberries' prickly canes to protect itself from foxes and other predators,” Linda says. Photo Credit: Unsplash/Nadine Eggenberger

A close-up of wild strawberry plant with two red berries; one berry has been partially eaten and a fallen log with lichen is visible in the background

When naturalizing, think about the shady and sunny parts of your yard and choose plants accordingly. Good native plants to grow include wild strawberries (above) and wild leeks. Photo Credit: Unsplash/Eric Prouzet

Check out these resources for eco-friendly gardening:

Keywords:

Sustainable yards and gardens