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Showing posts with the label Plants

Three Reasons Why You Should Grow a Wildflower Garden.

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Gardening is a relaxing activity, proven to reduce stress and anxiety. People around the world enjoy gardening. Though gardening can be relaxing and enjoyable, not everyone knows how to garden (Including me). But, there is one type of gardening that anyone with even the smallest patch of grass can do. Wildflower gardening! Many people are annoyed by weeds. If you do yard work, you most likely spend large portions of time weeding your yard. But, what if you didn't have to? If you've ever seen a sidewalk, you've probably seen small flowers growing out of the cracks. One of the most common of these flowers is the dandelion. Dandelions have  many uses . They can be cooked and eaten, used as a natural medicine, and used in making art. The famously easy-to-grow flowers could be the next addition to your yard or garden. In this article, I will be covering three reasons why you should grow wildflowers in your garden. One - They provide homes, food, and other resources for animals. ...

Why you should leave the leaves this fall.

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When the first leaf falls, you know that autumn has started. I'm not going to do any exposition in this one, leaves are important! And I'm going to tell you why. (I decided to write this article after seeing a post by  blackforager  on Instagram. I love her account and recommend you check her out!) Leaves make soil healthier. If you're planning on doing any gardening, you may want to leave the leaves. Leaves function like compost. They sit on your yard, decompose, feed the microorganisms in the soil, and make it healthier. It's really cool and helpful of the leaves to do that. Leaves provide homes for animals. I discussed this partially in my article about  why you shouldn't mow your lawn . In the article, I discussed the environmental impact mowing/not mowing your lawn has. Fallen leaves function similar to tall grass or wildflowers, leaving a space for small animals and insects to live. It hurts the environment to get rid of leaves. If you ignore all of this and d...

Dandelions: And why they aren't weeds.

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 When I was little, I remember picking a dandelion and showing it to my parents. "That's a weed, not a flower," I remember them saying to me. But I didn't understand why people didn't like dandelions. What was so bad about them? As I got older, I learned why people don't like dandelions: They grow everywhere. They're weeds. But that still didn't make sense to me. Why is it bad that they grow everywhere? And what even is  a weed anyways? Well, I did some research. What is a weed? A weed is defined as "any wild plant that grows in an unwanted place, especially in a garden or field where it prevents cultivated plants growing freely." Cambridge Dictionary The thing about this definition is that it isn't "scientific" like you'd expect it to be. A weed is just a plant that we have decided we don't want, A.K.A. plants that grow by themselves. Many weeds, along with being pretty, can be very useful. One of my favorite useful wee...

Why you shouldn't mow your lawn.

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 The smell of smoke and hot dogs fills the air. The grass is unnaturally green, but patches of it are yellow and dry. On the pavement of the sidewalk you see a dried-up worm. Welcome to the suburbs! Short green lawns are common throughout America. But the hard truth is that they are terrible for the environment. This is because they lack biodiversity, and focus on having a clean and put-together aesthetic. In other words, lawns look fake. In this article, I will be discussing the reasons why you should not mow your lawn. Mowing your lawn gets rid of native flora. There are different types of plants everywhere. Literally everywhere! It's amazing how many varieties of plants we have on this planet. I'm sure you've noticed some of these plants growing in your own yard. And I'm sure that you, like most people, thought of them as a nuisance. Most people think of weeds and flowers as a bad thing, but why? What is the difference between these two flowers?: The only difference ...