

Geese even help protect chicken flocks by honking a warning or chasing off predators-and, of course, they also produce eggs. In addition to chickens, consider raising geese, which eat grass and some weeds but avoid large-leaf plants.
My free farm 2 decorations over time less tools portable#
Ensure the safety and comfort of your small flock with a portable chicken coop like the Omlet Eglu Go UP, the best plastic option in our researched guide to the Best Chicken Coops. Not only can they help control the beetles that are damaging your plants, but they’ll also provide free fresh eggs and manure to enrich your compost pile. Chickens love grubworms, nab grasshoppers, and also scratch into soil to reach other insects and larvae. Encourage natural pest control from predators.Īlthough keeping a few farm animals on your city lot requires some attention (and familiarity with local zoning requirements), animals like chickens can ease the burden of pest control or other landscape duties. RELATED: 12 Rain Barrels That Make Water Conservation Stylish 22. An easier DIY project is to create a dry riverbed by digging a gentle slope from the ground below the downspout to the perimeter around the tree, and then filling the pathway with rocks, gravel, or river rock. There are several ways to do this: One is a French drain, which requires some work up front but allows you to direct the water underground toward the thirsty target. If you can force the water that pools under your downspout to travel 15 feet away to your tree, you can prevent puddling and reduce the time (and water) you would otherwise have had to commit to irrigating the tree. Another option is to simply redirect the rain. Truth be told, however, a rain barrel needs periodic cleaning and should be emptied before winter, so it tends to add to your landscaping tasks. Go ahead and repeat plants that work.Ĭatching rain in a well-designed rain barrel is an eco-friendly way to garden, saving nature’s moisture for dry times. RELATED: Plant Propagation 101: Easy Techniques for Beginners 20. Leave them to spread as they will or control them as needed. Many good candidates are ground covers like creeping Jenny, but some edible plants, such as strawberries and mints, also send out runners and reroot. Leave the faded flowers on, especially toward the end of summer, to allow seeds to drop or blow in the wind and maybe even feed a few birds.Ī similar strategy is to choose plants that spread via runners. Best of all, it’s your neglect that helps them reproduce.

On the herb side, try dill (a host for butterflies) and parsley. Productive seeders worth consideration include colorful cosmos, California poppies, giant larkspur, nigella, and portulaca. Although some flowers grow only as annuals in your area, you might be able to save time by starting them the first year, and leaving them to self-seed so new plants just appear out of the ground spring after spring.
