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Montana Wildlife Gardener
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We created a wildlife garden at our home in a small city lot in the center of Missoula, Montana. Our garden uses plants native to the Missoula valley, and receives no irrigation. Our front yard is a wild Misoula prairie, with over 70 species of plant
Recent Posts Tagged With 'small space gardening'
Backyard birding: a year in review
Having wildlife in my backyard is one the greatest rewards from native plant gardening. One easily quantifiable indicator, of the "success" of our garden is the number and diversity of species of birds that use our yard and variety of uses they have ...
Greenhouse weatherization, and germination report
The greenhouse has been doing well, especially since we've had a relatively mild fall so far. It has been a lot of fun extending the gardening season- before the greenhouse we would have been long done vegetable gardening by now. Despite the relative...
Greenhouse Winterization, part 2
The transition to the winter greenhouse garden continues....We removed most of the cold intolerant plants, but kept a few Thai pepper plants that had some flowers and fruits on them, and they are still doing great. Frankly, I was happy to get rid of ...
8th Street Pocket Park: Phase 2
Phase 2 of the Pocket park is about to begin (a photo of the adjacent Phase 1 is above and click here for more info on the park). We received a neighborhood grant to work on the northeast side of the park, and this week will will start implementing ...
8th Street Pocket Park
The 8th Street Pocket Park is a small neighborhood park that uses native plants and landscaping to provide education and outreach to neighbors and students that my wife and I have been working on for the last couple of years. Because of its small siz...
Even native plant gardens need maintenance
Even native plant gardens need maintenance. All too often I see native plants advertised as "low-" or "no-maintenance". Although it is true plants native to your area will require less maintenance than conventional, generic plants (that is, those n...
Greenhouse update
It's been a little over a month since I built this greenhouse and my wife is really enjoying it. Here are some pictures showing the changes and growth over the last month. The garden has really filled in around the greenhouse, and if you didn't know ...
Garden tool closet
Here are some pictures of the newest addition to our garden- a garden tool closet. It is smaller than a shed (about 2 x 3 1/2 feet), and occupies a tiny footprint, but has room to store a lot of garden tools.I like the name "closet" because it speak...
No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come: Greenhouse construction update No. 6:
That quote from Victor Hugo in the post title is a reference to succumbing to my wife's desire to move into the greenhouse before it is finished- I have held her back long enough. Although I'd just as soon keep building and fiddling with the greenhou...
Front Yard Mini Makeover
Here is a brief update of a project I completed earlier this spring- a small makeover to our front yard prairie, and a couple of pictures of what is flowering now (above is sticky geranium, Geranium viscosissimum, this is easy to grow, and quick to f...
Greenhouse construction update No. 5
It was a busy weekend. Since the last construction update, I completed the exterior and began finishing the sheetrock. On the exterior, I installed the roof, gutter, rain barrel, painted, and put up a trellis for an orange honeysuckle (Lonicera cil...
Gardening for Wildlife in Montana Outdoors Magazine
In this month's Montana Outdoors magazine, there is a story about gardening for wildlife, birds in particular. Although the author's chose to focus on "birdscaping", rather than more encompassing "wildlife gardening", the story promotes gardening wi...
Greenhouse construction update No. 4
The greenhouse is starting to take shape. Here are a few pictures from today. There is still a lot left to do, but it is nice to see the progress. These are not the final colors (except the white window sashes)- since this is made from re-used materi...
Plant a standing snag for wildlife
Standing snags (dead trees) are a common structural component in forests and riparian areas. Their importance in the wild is well known, studied and understood. But they can have the same beneficial role in your garden as well. A standing snag may ...
Build a brush pile for wildlife
Building a brush pile is a really fun project that will benefit many species of wildlife. Spring is a great time of the year to build a brush pile, since most of us will be pruning, trimming, cutting and otherwise preparing our yard for the growing s...
Homeowners are integral to plant and wildlife conservation
I was recently inspired by a new paper in Conservation Biology by Tallamy and Shropshire (download here), which demonstrates the importance of native plants over exotic plants in home gardens for Lepidopteran (butterfly) species diversity. This work ...
Where to begin...
Where to begin…Now that weather forecasters have predicted wind chills of –20 for tomorrow, this seems like a good time to think about an important part of gardening and landscaping: planning. Though I have been itching to start work on my greenh...
Native plant gardening for wildlife and biodiversity
Here is a great new paper from Conservation Biology and a wonderful book for native plant gardeners Bringing nature home: how native plants sustain wildlife in our gardens by D. W. Tallamy .Both share a common and inspiring theme (and a common author...
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What we started with and what we have achievedOur garden began as 1 ½ city lots (40’ x 135’), covered with poor quality lawn, a doghouse, a kennel area (with waist high, noxious weeds), and the exposed soil of a dog run. There was no shade; ther...
