I think it’s important to spend time in wild spaces (backpacking is great for this), but since home is where we spend most of our time, bringing nature into the backyard is huge for daily exposure. I work from home, so whenever I feel like I’ve been staring at screens for too long, I head out to the pollinator garden for a reset.
For me, it’s a combination veggie/pollinator/re-wilding source. The potatoes are going absolutely nuts, while everything else is kinda trundling along. The California poppies are doing okay, I think the soil might be a little too good for them (most CA natives thrive on too much sun, too little water, and a lot of hate and neglect, to the point that hitting them with synthetic fertilizer will outright kill many of them), but they’re starting to flower, so I’m looking forward to redistributing their seeds to some other untended beds in the area. Also taking over an abandoned Greenway with some mammoth sunflowers. If the city doesn’t like it, maybe they can put something there besides bald dirt.
Seriously, just a little effort spent on a garden and on re-introducing native plants has been huge for me.
I think it’s important to spend time in wild spaces (backpacking is great for this), but since home is where we spend most of our time, bringing nature into the backyard is huge for daily exposure. I work from home, so whenever I feel like I’ve been staring at screens for too long, I head out to the pollinator garden for a reset.
For me, it’s a combination veggie/pollinator/re-wilding source. The potatoes are going absolutely nuts, while everything else is kinda trundling along. The California poppies are doing okay, I think the soil might be a little too good for them (most CA natives thrive on too much sun, too little water, and a lot of hate and neglect, to the point that hitting them with synthetic fertilizer will outright kill many of them), but they’re starting to flower, so I’m looking forward to redistributing their seeds to some other untended beds in the area. Also taking over an abandoned Greenway with some mammoth sunflowers. If the city doesn’t like it, maybe they can put something there besides bald dirt.