Climate Friendly Yard Makeover- Seeds of Life Gardens

May 2022, Linda is gesturing toward the site of a native, pollinator garden that was planned as a show piece for neighbors who are walking by.

The main goals behind the decision to take on this project were to demonstrate what is possible on urban, vacant ground and to share the experience with our neighborhood, city and beyond! Welcome to our story.

Seeds of Life Gardens is a project of Linda Chubbuck and Stan Slaughter in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. The two residential lots once had houses that were damaged by flooding from the adjacent creek. The houses and all utilities were removed and the lots became effectively orphans. Stan and Linda negotiated with the City of Lee’s Summit and eventually became to owners of the lots. Stan is an employee of Missouri Organic Recycling. As he and Linda started the process of transforming the lots into productive gardens, the idea for the Climate Friendly Yard Makeover was born. In early 2022, Missouri Organic agreed to sponsor a contest to recruit two more homeowners. The winners were announced on Earth Day, 2022 and the process began.

With no water service and the prohibition of fencing due to FEMA flood regulations, the lots are not a typical yard, of course, but being on a heavily used walking route in the neighborhood, there’s lots of visibility and educational value.

Berming the lots to slow, spread and soak all the rain into our soil

These are the fresh cut berms on the north lot and the south lot. View the berming video Here

Farmer Dan Krull and Jacob Canyon helped out by planting about 15 trees. Apples, plums, cherries and pears formed the basics of the food forest on the south lot. It really helps when your friends are experts! This happened the third week of April 2022. The grass is steadily being replaced by native plants and mulch between the trees.

Spring ‘22 brought a flurry of activity as Linda prepared a wildflower garden with cardboard and planted baby plants there. We also bought a goodly number of trees and shrubs to plant, like a row of nine barks on front of the north lot and hazelnuts along the south of the south lot as a border. See our video of the 2022 year here

With compost, water and time the south lot garden became productive in ‘2023. From the planting of asparagus to the first tall fronds, kale and pole beans were a big success. Cucumbers, squash and tomatoes also thrived. With no water service on-site Stan devised a system with his truck and barrel of water, a pump and garden hose to keep the garden growing. See that video here

Other delights from the Seeds of Life Gardens were cicada skeletons, Fairie houses, Asian pears, Skullcap flowers. Elderberries and Sunflowers. Planting seeds always brings surprises as life takes over and does what it does.

We’ve had some major challenges at Seeds of Life. Removing invasive Bermuda grass is important for us because it’s on the curb strip of both lots and can escape and take over the land. I’ve dug it out and tarped it to kill it. There’s still a large “escaped” patch on the south lot and more work to do. Watch this video on removing this invasive.

Planning out the garden is critical! On the right is a native plant design from Will Gibson of DTE Services. That plan selects the plants, colors, density and many other factors to give us a GORGEOUS Native Garden. On the left is a map we generated by measuring the lot, the berms, the path and other features so we would know where to put all those plants. Will’s plan called for over 500 sets which can cost between $3 and $6 per set. We had to economize and only plant the 120 plants we could afford this year. BUT it’s great to have the plan to refer to as we work toward this colorful, natural garden.

We built this planting table to grow the many native plants we wanted from seed. It’s fully enclosed in wire because we have birds, squirrels and ground squirrels that have damaged our plantings in the past. The big doors give us easy access and the planter is light enough to move easily with two people. Linda explains here.

Here are the videos for the raised bed build-Apply Dog food, Building lasage raised beds, Dave adds Mushroom blocks, Lasagne leaves, Shovel soil up…The Missouri Organic products we used in this build were-Nature Wise Compost, Green Frontier Compost, Just Char, and Soil Restoration. All are available HERE

Climate Friendly Yard Makeover-Jennifer

From Jennifer; “Before the makeover began, my front yard was a mess! Invasive Burning bushes lined my yard, there was an overgrown fence line, and a lawn neglected for decades. Earth Day 2022, Missouri Organic Recycling announced our home as its Northland yard makeover location. Over the next several months, I met with Stan Slaughter of MOR, advisor Dan Krull, and Caitlin Willis of Native Gardens KC. The goals were to develop the design, plan the removal of invasive shrubs, and prepare the planting location.

The design presented by Caitlin Willis was A-Mazing! The plantings were designed to create a full and layered garden, formal in design, and it was massive! Initially, including over 700 plants and 29 varieties, the formal design involved three separate planting zones with significant pollinator and carbon-sequestering impacts. First is a Driveway Prairie that runs 64 ft of the driveway and gets full sun. Also, a Sidewalk Grove with trees and shrubs to invite songbirds and host keystone species and to create a visual barrier to a busy street. And in front of the house, a full, lush Sidewalk Woodland invites visitors to the front door of our mid-century ranch home."

This is the west half of Caitlin’s design. These seedlings were planted on October 11th of 2022.

Caitlin explains her plan here.

Caitlin explains her mini prairie and the berms here

Preparing for Pollinators

We tarped the planting area in early August to kill the grass and prepare the space for planting.

Video of the tarping process

Drone video of the yard and tarps

Greenability Magazine wrote about the process, here.

Planting day October 11th

“In the days and weeks leading up to the installation, Joel and I sourced our native plants and measured and placed the 700+ numbered flags that designated each plant's location. We purchased nearly 90% of the plants from @mowildflowersnursery in Jefferson City, with the rest from other local native plant nurseries.

Planting day was undoubtedly successful because of the efforts of Stan Slaughter. He put together a team of go-getters and can-doers. In five hours, a dozen volunteers dug over 700 holes, and in each went a native flower, shrub, or grass. It truly was a massive undertaking."

Special thanks to Caitlin Willis of @nativegardenskcllc

Video links- Passing out plants, Maggie’s overview

These are just a few of the flowers Jennifer enjoyed over the summer of ‘23. Regular weeding and seasonal mulching will keep this garden beautiful and productive.

This row of invasive Euonymus (burning bush) was taken out to make room for a more sustainable planting. Here’s a link to the video

Here, Caitlin and Jennifer discuss the visual barrier they want to create

Berm for Water Retention

We used a rotary plow to dig the swale and throw the soil up into the berm. Water will slow spread and soak into the berm and the soil below.

Stan’s video about the berm and swale process

This large old Crabapple is tired and needed a refresh, so Stan tried an old trick, digging holes out from the trunk of the tree and filling them with compost.

Using an 8 inch post hole auger to drill 15 inch holes, Stan then filled them with Nature Wise compost. The tree had a good bloom in the spring of ‘23 and survived the July heat without watering. Time will tell if the added nutrients will make a long-term difference, but this technique is credited with reviving entire orchards regionally.

This photo is from the spring of ‘23 after blowing 1/2 inch of compost on the entire lawn. Jennifer’s lawn had been neglected, yet still had a nice mix of clover and grass. Blowing compost in caused a nice burst of rich growth throughout the year. Doing this for several years can make the lawn lush and green for years.

Here’s how we did it

Video of the compost being applied

Missouri Organic Recycling's one-of-a-kind Climate-Friendly Yard Makeover will make a difference. I am excited about my yard transformation and the critical message the Climate-Friendly Yard Makeover sends to the community. The Climate-Friendly Yard Makeover is an extraordinary opportunity to make a tremendous change."

“Here in late October ’23, we’re reviewing the progress and changes we’ve made to the plan. Both the vegetable garden and the street side hedge planting are on hold, because the large planting we’ve installed is taking the bulk of Jenn and Joel’s available time. Given the multiyear establishment period, weed control and watering, it’s seeming really wise not to get overextended. After all, their planting is 160 ft. by 30 ft. with 900 plants. The compost application Missouri Organic blew in last November really revitalized the front lawn and kept it green through the long hot summer. The crabapple where we dug and filled holes with compost last fall kept the old tree alive and well through the drought. The last of Jennifer’s financial support from Missouri Organic was used up with the delivery of our Premium I natural color mulch. Because the plants need to be protected, Jenn and Joel will take some time to apply the mulch by hand around each of the plants.”

Thanks Jennifer & Joel for being part of this project, executing the plan, embracing the climate friendly principles, and sharing your journey!

Thanks to Dan Krull, @snakemandan, for his vision and advising on the CFYM process, information about native plants and food forests, videos, and more!

Climate Friendly Yard Makeover-Krystle

CFYM South KC

Her husband, Kevin and three children raise a garden and have a flock of chickens. Missouri Organic purchased and helped plant trees and berries to become a food forest. Krystle and Kevin fenced the area off from the family dogs and chickens. Alejandro Lozano of @qolconstruction completed the barrier fence to fully enclose the yard. Price is Right Tree Care removed three large trees in February ’23. Will Gibson of Down to Earth Services, Inc. designed the forest site that was planted in the spring of ’23.

To prepare for planting, we tarped the food forest and a prairie planting. Missouri Organic used our blower truck to apply mulch and compost to food forest site, garden pathways, beds and the lawn. Our biggest challenge at Krystle’s property was removing the invasive winter creeper and honeysuckle in the back yard and three large trees in the front yard.

Black plastic tarp on the site of the food forest. Having the tarp in place over the summer ensured that our spring ‘23 tree planting would have very little weed competition.

Preparing for Pollinators

This area along Krystle’s north fence was slated to be a pollinator/prairie planting from seed. It was lightly tilled and planted in November ‘23. Here’s a short video about this.

Removing Invasive Bradford Pear and Siberian Elm

Removing invasive Winter creeper and Japanese Honeysuckle

 "For me the biggest thing that made a difference was having support. We had no idea honeysuckle was invasive and to learn that it was and then have help to remove a majority of it was so amazing. We are super excited for our food forest and can’t wait to plant it." quote from Krystle

Krystle wanted a cold frame to start her garden plants. Stan researched the topic and built her a unit that utilized two salvaged window sashes Krystle had on site. Cold frames act like a buffer against cold in the spring and fall, extending both seasons. Check out the video

Food Forest

These trees don’t take much space now, so we’ve planted strawberries to use the sun for the next three years while the trees develop a canopy. Watch Farmer Dan Krull explain how to do this.

We also cut a swale along where the left side fence is back in April ‘23. Watch that video here

These big sections of the Elm trunks have been converted into a beehive space. We’ll put sticks inside to support the honeycomb and build a removable lid for each of these. Watch the Video

The bees didn’t find this log late last summer, but come swarming season in late April, this should be a popular spot.

Krystle wraps up her experience with Missouri Organic’s Climate Friendly Yard Makeover here. Behind her is the black plastic covering her pile of oyster mushroom logs.

3 Tips For Eco Friendly Landscaping

Given a deluge of news about the dangers we face in this period of global warming, it’s easy to become paralyzed into inaction. For many homeowners, the question becomes, “what can I do that makes a difference?” An answer that often comes up is to “Think globally, act locally.” It can start with making a change in managing the property that the homeowners control- their yard, hardscape, and landscaping.

Many homeowners have heard of various ways to do eco-friendly landscaping the “right” way. They’ll talk about grass clippings, irrigation systems, pollinators, and wanting to keep it low-maintenance. Rain barrels to harvest rainwater and drip irrigation come into the discussion. It’s no wonder that people become overwhelmed.

True eco-friendly landscaping is also sustainable landscaping, and keeping the local ecosystem thriving is the goal. Some go all in and reduce the grass lawn with vegetable gardens, lining the driveway with flower beds, rain gardens, and compost bins. As strange as it seems, homeowners are saving lots of water by installing gutters, which have been uncommon in the west, and catching water in rain barrels. They will pull the pavers and use wood chips for the walkways. With the climate shifting and drought affecting the American landscape scene, people are adjusting their water usage by xeriscaping. This landscaping idea can range from planting heat-tolerant plants to removing the lawn altogether and rolling out artificial grass or creating a desert landscape with sand, rocks, and cacti.

Sad to say that most of what passes for “lawn care” or “landscaping” services are antithetical to the health of the soil, the native plants, or the ecosystem. Artificially maintaining a monoculture of one species of plant with no diversity is not the way nature does it. The classic “well-cared-for lawn” may be pleasing to the eye, but it comes with a heavy personal, and societal cost manifested as susceptibility to drought, dependence on energy-intensive inputs, toxic emissions, poor soil health, and other problems. Overfertilization causes overgrowth of grass, which requires extra mowing. Poor rainfall penetration results in rapid stormwater runoff and pollution from herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, and excess fertilizer.

The nail in the coffin of the modern lawn is the fact that it’s a biological desert. The 40 million acres of turf grass in the U.S. represent a huge “taking” from nature. All the creatures that once made a living on that land are now eliminated because none of the plants that they can eat remain. While most Americans might not know or care about this, the consequences are all around us. We’ve lost 30-40 percent of all the birds in North America in the past 30 years. Honeybees and other pollinator populations are collapsing. For more information about climate-friendly yards, check out Doug Tallamy’s website.

1. Organic VS. Conventional applications

The common practice of a toxic application of inorganic, high-energy fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides can be replaced by compost, natural fertilizers, and compost extracts. Natural mineral supplements and botanical stimulants are further steps forward in lawn health. It may take longer to get the results, but the rapid spring  “green up” prized by commercial lawn care comes with a hefty price in loss of soil health.

The grass in the foreground, managed by True North Outdoors, is thick, vibrant green and contrasts greatly with the grass in the median, which has conventional care. The photo was taken in September 2018. The green grass is indeed watered with sprinklers, but it saves water through careful timing of irrigation.

As a practical case in point, I offer that a couple of years ago, I spoke to a manager for True North Outdoor, a forward-thinking lawn service, about their experience. The manager related that under their care, which includes sprayed-on biological nutrients and minerals,  The grass didn’t get chemical fertilizers in spring and didn’t need mowing right away because of its slower start. He said the other companies managing large corporate lawns in the area used the usual synthetic fertilizers and had mowed their large properties three times before his crews had even started their lawnmowers. This amounted to huge savings in fuel and maintenance costs. Even more, savings came when the True North lawns needed less watering later in the summer because of better soil life and more organic matter. Any difference in the higher first cost of the better organic fertilizer was rapidly made up by the reduced mowing and water use. Finally, the True North managed corporate lawns filled in thick and green and were drought tolerant well into the fall.

2. Changing the Species

The species of plants we use can be converted to climate and pollinator-friendly species such as clovers and Eco-grass. The fine-bladed fescue mix in Eco-grass needs less water and has deeper roots that reach deeper water reserves. They also need no or very little mowing. It’s easy to start a change of species in your lawn. During the spring or fall window for planting new grass, mow the lawn as short as possible. Then using a verticutter from a rental outlet, score or scratch the lawn to expose bare soil. Spread the grass seed at the recommended rate and rake lightly to increase soil contact with the seed. Watering lightly to keep the grass moist for the startup phase is important, and depending on the weather, the seed may need to be sprinkled every day to be sure the sprouting seed never dries out. 

A very simple step, even before changing the turf grasses in the yard, is to top dress the grass with a ¼-½ inch of compost. Missouri Organic offers a blower truck that ensures an even blanket of Nature Wise compost and takes the work out of installation. The compost feeds organic matter to the lawn, increasing its vitality and water-holding capacity.  This brochure describes the local turf scene in Kansas City. Native plants make the biggest change. Consider planting a patch, a strip, or a border in native wildflowers. This graphic shows a comparison of the root structures of grass( on the left) compared to several native species. These roots make a huge difference in the native plant’s drought tolerance and can even help rebuild groundwater levels.

View fullsize

Click image to zoom.

3. Eco-Friendly Tree Care 

Eco-friendly tree care is also important. It really involves doing less. Mulching rings under trees is important, ideally all the way out to the drip line. 

Trees grow naturally in forests and need to have leaf litter/organic materials around them. This allows water to penetrate much better than a thick mat of grass that chokes infiltration. The organic mulch can then be planted with shade-tolerant native plants such as ferns and low-growing perennial shrubs that feed birds or pollinators. Many of the species of insects that feed on our trees, especially oaks, need mulch-type ground cover to complete their life cycle. It’s the larvae of these insects that are critical to feeding most of our baby birds. The caterpillars on the trees are the soft, tender food that birds need to feed their young. Leaving the grass right up to the trunks of trees exposes these insects to predators as they try to move into the soil for the next stage in their lives. Missouri Organic has red, brown, black, and natural color mulch available for purchase, and you can also have them do the installation with their blower truck. The colorants they use are safe organic substances, not petrochemical dyes.  

The fall and winter is the perfect time to put down compost and mulch and get started feeding your lawn for a robust and climate-hardy 2023. Let’s get it started!  

Guide to Lawn Aeration: When, Why and How to Aerate Your Lawn

Re-thinking the road to a great lawn: It needs to breathe.

As homeowners consider improving the appearance and performance of their landscaping, it’s important to think of the big picture. The long-standing ideal of deep green, thick, weed-free grass is rightfully being questioned from a number of angles. Even if the goal is still the same kind of lawn, the expense of lawn care, the water usage, the drought tolerance, the pollution, and the excess runoff all call into question how we’re meeting that goal. Increasingly homeowners and innovative lawn care providers are moving to lawn care tips that mimic that ideal lawn but with many fewer impacts. Even further outside the traditional box are climate-friendly steps that feature native plants, garden beds of many types, swales and rain gardens that hold water on site, and many others. All of these possibilities are based on and critically influenced by the soil quality that our plants have to deal with. Lawn aeration is the single action that most moves the needle toward good soil health.

Why is a healthy lawn a problem in the Midwest?

First, where did our soils come from? The compacted soil common in the Midwest is the result of fine ocean sediments settling for eons and then being exposed for millions of years when the shallow oceans receded. These clay soils have fine particles that resist the aeration process and are drained of nutrients. For this reason, rainfall doesn’t penetrate very far and surface-applied fertilizers mostly run off with the rain. This leads to rapid runoff during heavy, late spring rains in urban settings. These rains tend to wash off the fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide. This makes urban stormwater a nasty mess. The fertilizer that does remain causes rapid growth and excess mowing in the early spring followed by slow and sickly growth after the fertilizer is used up in early summer. Give most lawns a “D” for soil health.

Your lawn was an afterthought

Second, our homes were “pasted” into native landscaping that needed “improvement” such as excavation and grading. This might have meant scraping off the topsoil, stacking it in a corner, doing the foundation excavation and grading and then putting a nice layer of topsoil back over the site. While that sounds great, it almost never happened. What did happen is that the lot was graded using the clay from the excavation and that clay has a terrible effect on lawn aeration. Building lots are trending smaller every year and there’s no room to store the topsoil. It’s also valuable so the builder often sells it to increase his profit. 

Soil compaction and lawn aeration

Finally, the building process is now more mechanized with loaders delivering sheetrock to the second floor and everything from skid steers to bulldozers compacting the subsoil that passes for the soil. The sod then gets rolled out over this biologically dead clay and tries to grow. It’s hard to imagine a less natural situation or a greater challenge for roots to penetrate and grow. It’s no wonder that high input costs and poor performance are the results. Missouri Organic offers a jump start at this stage. Our Soil Restoration product contains 50% Green Frontier premium compost and 50% granulated biochar. This puts a layer of great plant food and activated charcoal to hold water and nutrients right at the root level underneath the sod. Builders are increasingly realizing the benefits of taking this critical step at this stage. Soil Restoration can also be used with core aeration. 

Choosing the Right Grass

So, how can we improve the situation without tilling it all up and starting over with new grass seed? Actually that’s one of the best options for a rapid change, but there are several other steps to be taken that have less impact and expense. This excellent article helps you identify the type of grass you have and the advantages and drawbacks of each common type.

Our most common types are cool-season grasses. These are typically fine-bladed fescue, kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass. Also available but less common and needing more care are warm season grasses. The common varieties are bermuda grass and zoysia. Early spring is a good time to consider how your grass meets your needs. Then you can make the decision to start over with different plants, treat the crabgrass, or simply overseed. 

Why Your Lawn Needs Aeration

One of the best tools homeowners have for better lawn care is to periodically aerate lawns. The bacteria, fungi, and all the other creatures in the soil need to breathe to have good soil dynamics. Opening up the soil can be as simple as renting a diy machine called variously an aeration machine, spike aerator, plug aerator or core aerator. This machine uses hollow tines for punching holes and lifting out plugs of soil onto the surface. This leaves 1-inch by 3-4 inch long cylinders of soil all over the surface. While this is a significant disturbance to the turf, the long-term benefits are great. These plugs of soil may look like a flock of geese has been pooping all over the lawn but the cylinders of soil will melt away rapidly and don’t have to be removed. If you have sprinkler heads the small holes will wreak havoc with them so be careful at this stage. 

Setting Your Lawn Up for Great Performance

This is also a great time to dethatch the lawn using a verticutter to cut back excessive thatch and get that raked off the lawn. Thatch buildup is a symptom of poor soil function. A biologically active soil will decompose the thatch. Start by using the lawnmower and mowing at the lowest setting. Early spring is a good time to do this and then overseed with your favorite grass seed. Getting the air into the soil is a good idea because new root growth is rapid and causes the subsequent grass growth to be more robust and drought resistant. Top dressing compost into the core aeration holes is even better. Compost loosens the soil and getting it deep within the core holes is perfect. Missouri Organic Recycling offers a blow-in service that quickly and efficiently “paints” a ¼ to ½ inch layer of compost over the entire lawn. This eliminates the shovel and wheelbarrow, leaving a smooth, even layer of Nature Wise compost ready to nourish the grass.

Save Money and Do It Yourself

If you’re on a budget and can do some physical labor, a broadfork is a nice, mid-level intervention. Regardless of the soil type, a broadfork aerates and slightly lifts the soil without the total destruction of the soil’s structure that a roto-tiller does. Even sandy soil can benefit from the aeration and biological jump start that a broadfork can provide. After a rain, the tines of the fork will penetrate the soil surface more easily and simply pulling back on the handles will slice and lift the soil. A broadfork is a great aeration tool to correct compaction from foot traffic, as it’s a manual treatment and easy to use on a specific area.  Here’s a good blog post about broadforks.

Rip and Drip Technique

Another effective and less invasive technique that is used to transform larger acreages of heavy clay soils is called "rip and drip.” Various implements are used to cut a narrow slice into the soil (the rip). Then a rich, biologically active liquid is applied (the drip) into the slice. The liquid is variously a blend of compost, worm compost, molasses, kelp, milk, biochar powder, and other biologically active elements blended with rain water and strained so it can run through the application equipment. While the rip is fresh and open these inoculants and stimulants penetrate deeply along with fresh oxygen to create an explosion of life at depth. Because the adoption of this treatment is in its infancy, contractors who could implement it are rare. But making a simple compost extract and sprinkling it into the holes after the core aeration or broadfork work (above) would be a way to emulate it.

Starting All Over

A more radical solution is to apply compost to the yard and till it in. It has the big disadvantage of destroying the lawn, but it may be the best treatment when the lawn is no more than a thin chemically dependent, green "rug on drugs.” Tilling itself is controversial, as it destroys the internal structure that soil organisms create. Once the structure is disrupted the soil organisms feed voraciously on the once-sequestered organic matter causing a large loss and disruption of the existing structure. If, however, the soil is heavily compacted, there is not much to lose and a big benefit to gain. Tilling in 2-3 inches of compost to a depth of 6 inches is recommended in order to make a long-term difference and jump-start soil function. Compost replaces the organic matter lost to the tilling and provides ideal plant food. It also inoculates the soil with a wide range of microorganisms and starts rebuilding the soil glue that clumps the soil into crumbs and improves respiration.. Reseeding with clovers or other more eco-friendly alternatives works at this stage, but even bluegrass or fescue lawns with a functioning soil food web under them can retain rainwater, have deeper roots and be much more vigorous after the tilling. 

Long-term Planning: Slow and steady works too!

The long-term play is to top-dress the lawn in the early fall every year. The rain and snow will drive the nutrients from the compost into the upper layers of the soil and help restart soil function. Over the years increased soil life will digest the thatch layer that was a persistent mulch and use it for more biological food for the lawn. The increased organic matter in the soil Is like an “all-day sucker” slowly feeding plants throughout the growing season, holding water, and building soil structure. Eventually, you’ll be able to maintain a healthy lawn with or without the climate-friendly, bird and bee-friendly extras. You’ll enjoy the lower maintenance costs, drought resilience, and pride in having navigated your way through the maze of confusing information to a great natural solution! Winter and spring are great times to add compost and rebuild soil life. 

Get started today by reaching out to the experts at Missouri Organic. Call us at (816) 535-9741 or by using the contact form. We’re looking forward to helping you achieve the lawn of your dreams.