Leave part of the lawn to grow naturally
by mar_mar
Environmental Conservation Journey Overview
Follow this step-by-step environmental conservation journey to see real progress updates, challenges overcome, and practical experience.
Progress Updates (6 total)
Update #1: Leave part of the lawn to grow naturally
Allow the indigenous plants to grow and count the different varieties
Challenges Overcome: I picked 11 different native flowers in one small spot in the yard
Update #2: I went out again and noticed some new varieties
30% completeI always had an affinity with nature but never stopped to document what’s in my own backyard until now.
Challenges Overcome: It’s probably the least challenging but highly satisfying goal. All I have to do is step out into my yard and brave rain and mosquitoes
Obstacles Faced: Perhaps the biggest challenge would be to keep up with nature’s gift especially this time of the year when bounties abound
Looking Back: Was happily surprised to find 1 tiny blue flower and 1 red. Because I didn’t plan on it initially, I ended up lumping them with the pinks&purples
Update #3: Today’s harvest
35% completeNot even a week has gone by before I found 7 new flowers and 2 ornamental plants
Looking Back: Many are edible, most attract pollinators, while the milkweed is the host plant to monarch butterflies and their larvae.
Additionally, a large variety of natural plants have medicinal usage like St. John’s Wort.
Update #4: As a side note, this is the time when I start collecting and drying out herbs and berries to use as herbal teas in winter
45% completeThere are only 2 new kinds of native wild flowers so my focus right now is on harvesting medicinal crop rich in vitamin c or with calming effects, for the long winter months.
Update #5: I went on the lookout for more varieties of naturally occurring flora
75% completeThe yard looks more mature and getting ready for the fall. There’s a large variety of mushrooms all over, the Concord grape is about to fully ripen and so is sumac that I couldn’t reach.
Update #6: Going out with a bang
100% completeDespite the unusual warm weather that’s allowing the wild flowers to continue to bloom, summer has come to an end.
And nothing says fall better than the fiery display of the naturally woven carpet.
Challenges Overcome: The goal allowed me to take a good and honest look at all the free gifts from nature that we mostly ignore.
And although I started by counting the quantity of the different color options, I ended up with a wider outlook on nature, on what it has to offer and the role we play in it all
Obstacles Faced: Getting rid of them isn’t going to be easy and probably impossible but I have an ally in my son who is doing the best he can to help. Thank you habibi 💕
Looking Back: What I learned was that in order to allow native species to thrive, we have to get rid of as many of the non natives but mostly the invasive and aggressive ones.