We are confronted today by the dramatic up and down swings of climate change, similar to those on the Dragon Coaster at Playland, but with existential consequences.
The first step is to put down your cell phones and look up. It will be great for your neck. Now that you are present, install rain barrels to capture and reuse rainwater to blunt the downstream flooding of neighbors. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection hosts rain barrel giveaways each year. According to the Department of Environmental Protection, 40 percent of New York City household’s water use in the summer is for outdoor chores.
Your garden can do its part in capturing stormwater, too. Maximizing soil and plants will increase the amount of ground water absorption, reduce nitrogen pollution of water bodies, and help limit flooding. Rain gardens and reduced lawn areas are two quickies.
Rain gardens can be as simple as low point swales that you grade to and where you direct downspouts. Add moisture-loving plants that will thrive, flower, and attract pollinators. Top readily available rain garden plants are Summer Sweet, Joe Pye weed, Virginia Sweet Spire, Button Bush, Bee Balm, Callicarpa, Swamp Milkweed, and Chokeberry. They are darn good plants to consider for elsewhere on your property as well.
Reduce lawn size to reduce your suburban status-climbing angst of achieving a perfectly green lawn. No more dwelling on crabgrass, bare patches, or the dreaded dandelion. The fog of lawn care is lifted. The only sufferers will be therapists as their couches remain empty of suburban sod sob story patients.
Do less to do good. It is tempting to clear out all fallen leaves in your garden and cut back your plants. Don’t. The natural mulch and dried stems provide vital hibernation sites for wildlife such as solitary bees and wasps. The mulch provides places where butterflies and moths overwinter. Leave the seed heads and stems of your plants, because they are important food for birds like chickadees and nests for bees. Also, the mulch acts as a natural sponge retaining rainwater, aiding your plants and reducing runoff that overwhelm storm sewers, flood streets, and spread toxins.
Imagine if Nursery Field in or on the edge of a flood plain was left with real grass not plastic? Think of all the storm water it could filter of impurities, capture nutrient rich silt while retaining storm surge water to reduce Milton Road flooding, protecting downstream homes and our precious Long Island Sound. Just imagine this unselfish, community minded, fiscally responsible, simple idea. Why would anyone think otherwise?
Enough of the ramble, now roll up your sleeves to…
Continue watering trees, shrubs, lawn areas, and planter beds until the ground freezes.
Keep weeding. Every weed you pull in the fall is 10 you won’t have in the spring. They aren’t growing much now but be sure to weed out all known bad actors. Show no mercy to Japanese Knotweed, Purple Loosestrife, and White Snakeroot — a very hardy, deer resistant, pollinator magnet. However, in the 1800s people died drinking milk from cows that grazed on white snakeroot, contracting what was known as milk sickness. That disease infamously killed Abraham Lincoln’s mother when he was a child.
Clean, sharpen, and store garden tools for winter. Drain and store hoses indoors to prevent freezing and cracking. Remember to shut off outdoor spigots and drain the lines.
Pollinators benefit from leafy ground cover over the winter and birds will eat the seeds off some plants, so don’t cut everything to the ground. Cut back or remove plants that get mushy and have no pollinator benefit — hostas and annuals, mostly. Other plants can stand through the winter and get a quick cleanup in spring.
Remove weak or disease-prone varieties. Replace with hardier ones. Or fill gaps next spring with long-blooming annuals.
Inspect garden structures such as trellises, arbors, and fences. Make any necessary repairs before winter storms.
Remove and dispose of any diseased plant material. Cleanliness in the garden helps prevent diseases from overwintering and spreading next year. Yank all nightshade plants from garden and dispose, do not compost them.
Inspect your houseplants brought in from outdoors. They may need a quick inspection to see if any bugs traveled with them or if they require water. There’s a stark difference in the humidity of indoor and outdoor air, making your plants thirsty.
Look up, how about those gutters? Seems like a reasonable father-offspring bonding opportunity. “Hey kid, I’ll hold ladder, you go up and clean the gutters. Make sure you clean any clogged downspouts.”