5 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Garden

The new year is a fantastic time for making meaningful resolutions and doing some garden planning! This year, we're sharing five great New Year's resolutions for your very own wildlife garden. Choose one to commit to this year or make your own and share it with us!

1. Turn an Area of Turf Grass into a Native Garden Bed

Turf grass provides very little, if any, habitat for local wildlife. Plus, its shallow roots are not very effective at managing rainwater that comes your way. This year, resolve to find a spot in your garden where you can remove the turf grass and turn it into a native plant garden bed!

This spot can be as small or as big as you want it to be. Remember, you can always expand your garden bed in future years!

Not sure what native species to plant in this new garden bed? Discover some incredible keystone native plant species here and purchase native plants through Garden for Wildlife Inc. This link will redirect to a third party site.

Credit: Lisa Mey

2. Resolve to Minimize Pesticide Use

One simple New Year's resolution that can have a huge impact on local wildlife (and your own health) is aiming to minimize your pesticide use in your garden.

Whether you're using these chemicals to kill other plants, insects, or fungus in your garden, they can seriously harm beneficial species as well. Plus, these chemicals often wash away into local waterways where they can do even more damage.

Choosing to minimize the use of pesticides and instead focusing on tried-and-true natural gardening practices can be a great New Year's resolution for your garden!

3. Make the Switch to Electric or Hand-Powered Tools

Did you know that running a gas-powered lawn mower for just one hour can create the same amount of pollution as a 100-mile car trip?

If your garden tools are starting to wear out, this may be the year to make a resolution to switch to electric or hand-powered alternatives! These electric tools have massively improved over the years and can make a huge difference in minimizing air and sound pollution.

Credit: Jody Johnson

4. Provide a Water Source

When gardening, it's easy to get caught up in thinking about the plants, but water is another habitat essential that your garden can provide! Make a resolution this year to add a water source to your garden and create a plan to maintain it to ensure it stays healthy and clean for wildlife.

A water source can be as small and simple as a bird bath, or you can aim to provide something larger like a pond! Read up on some easy ways to provide water for wildlife in your garden!

5. Aim for 70% Native Plants

Are you feeling ambitious this year? Or maybe you're a seasoned wildlife gardener and you're looking for the next garden goalpost?

Take time this winter and spring to walk through your garden and figure out what percentage of your plants are native species. Aiming for a wildlife garden that is at least 70% native plant species is a great goal with scientific backing. If you're feeling extra ambitious, you can even aim for a higher percentage!

Curious what native plant species to add to your garden? Discover some incredible keystone native plant species here and purchase native plants through Garden for Wildlife Inc. This link will redirect to a third-party site.

Celebrate Your Efforts by Getting Certified!

Once you accomplish your New Year's garden resolution, take some time to celebrate and recognize your hard work!

Getting your garden recognized as a Certified Wildlife Habitat is a great way to celebrate the positive change you made in your outdoor space! You can check to make sure your garden provides all of the habitat essentials needed to certify here. Once your garden meets the requirements, you can get certified online and even purchase a sign to show your neighbors that your garden is wildlife-friendly!

Remember, making your garden wildlife-friendly is not a one-and-done sort of project. While setting an ambitious New Year's resolution can help give you motivation, it's okay to take it one season at a time and do your best. Each wildlife-friendly change you make to your outdoor space can have huge impacts on wildlife and can help encourage others in your community to do the same!

We're wishing you and your local wildlife a very happy new year!

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.