Comments on: Restoring Your Backyard Ecosystem

By: writerchad

writerchad — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 02:28:38 +0000

Treesrock and Eric King,
Thanks so much for your responses. I’m definitely looking forward to learning more, especially more about the power of pine cones. And ferns sound fantastic. I can’t wait to show my kids the cool and efficient design of a fiddle head.

By: Eric King

Eric King — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:12:02 +0000

Chad,
Whether you like it or not you already have a backyard ecosystem–we all do. The question is how healthy is it? A healthy ecosystem is like the terrariums many of us made as children, that is to say they require much less input from us to thrive. In America we have institutionalized a pattern of yard maintenance that is both labor and energy intensive which results in a standardized landscape that looks predictable and consistent. While there are elements of the landscape that benefit from this standardize appearance, in general it results in higher maintenance costs with lower environmental benefits.
The backyard ecosystem approach focuses on working with nature by creating areas that follow the rhythms of nature. These areas could be fern gardens that grow around collected roof runoff, or open woodlands full of Trilliums and Christmas fern covered in natural leaf litter. In this class I will focus on 1) Understanding the natural landscape 2) Benefits of working with nature 3) A case study.
I hope this helps.

By: treesrock

treesrock — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:19:11 +0000

hey writerchad, you are definitely a candidate for “Restoring Your Backyard Ecosystem”. The speaker, Eric King, is really well informed and interesting. I work at the Georgia Urban Forest Council (we are in Decatur!) and this is a program I strongly recommend for all neighbors that are wondering what to do with their backyard, be in balance, and not spend a ton of money. It will also be great time to ask any tree questions you might have. By the way, I always feel Pines get a bad rap, they are really great trees. Personally I love the layered bark, how they look after a rain, the efficiency of needles, and the power of pine cones.

By: writerchad

writerchad — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:22:30 +0000

I had the moss too. I miss it. I like it better than mud.

By: Decatur Metro

Decatur Metro — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:26:08 +0000

Chad, I could have written the exact same description about my yard. At one point we had moss that covered the shady, rear portion of our yard. But the drought killed most of that. Now? mud pit.

I’m wondering if I need this class too.