Habitat Management

This clever little insert for your VegTrugtm Patio Garden gives pollinators, like the gentle, non-aggressive, and non-stinging mason bee, a much-needed helping hand. Larvae will develop through the winter and emerge as adults the following spring.

Dampen slightly, place it in the garden out of direct sunlight, and leave it be. Guaranteed not to fade in the sun or crack in the snow. One of the most beneficial — and adorable — bugs to invite to the garden, they'll happily feast on aphids, beetle...

A modern take on mud pies – with a purpose! This kit contains everything you and your favorite youngsters need to make bee-friendly flowering "cookies" for the garden. Roll out the dough on the included rolling with mat with the adorable child-sized...

Boost your garden's productivity by providing a happy home for peaceful, non-stinging Mason bees. Slightly smaller than honeybees, mason bees are incredible pollinators. Female bees fill the bamboo tubes with their eggs, and nectar and pollen for the...

Inspire children to plant their own wildflower garden for the birds! The kit includes 35 varieties of flowers and covers over 100 square feet. Also includes a field guide, instructions to make a pine cone bird feeder, and space to draw birds.

Becoming a citizen scientist has never been easier! Using the specially formulated seed mat (included with kit), cultivate your own butterfly oasis within the unique 4 ft by 4 ft raised garden design.

A group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope — and that's what you'll attract with this lovely butterfly feeder. Fill with sweet, nutritious butterfly nectar, sold separately, and enjoy knowing that you're helping these ethereal insects thrive.

Makes a great gardening project for children age 6 and up. A modern take on mud pies – with a purpose! This kit contains everything you and your favorite youngsters need to make butterfly-friendly flowering "cookies" for the garden.

Just when bats are finally being recognized as nature's most effective insect control, they are losing their natural habitat. In fact, the little brown bat is an endangered species.

Invite pollinating bees to your yard by planting beneficial habitat that includes nectar- and pollen-rich flowers. Each seed ball contains a packet's worth of seed, rolled with a proprietary mix of organics and clay to provide ideal growing conditions.

As the water evaporates, it leaves behind valuable salts and minerals that butterflies need. Placing pieces of overripe fruit on the stone is another way to attract butterflies. This hand-painted ceramic Butterfly Puddling Stone is a beautiful way to...

Developed by professional butterfly breeders, this Butterfly Nectar provides essential nutrients and will attract more butterflies to your yard and gardens. Mixed with water, it can be used in butterfly feeders, or further diluted and sprayed on flowers.

Place this sweet little bee feeder in the garden and you'll be making sure our buzzy friends have a reliable source of food at all times. Be sure to check on it once in a while and refill it when flower blooms are sparse.

Watch as your garden becomes the butterfly haven you've always envisioned! Fun for everyone. The finest pit stop for any butterfly fluttering through your area! Designed to make it simple to grow an encased milkweed oasis on one level, while cultivating...

Just one of these warty creatures can chow down on more than 100 pesky bugs and slugs a day, but they need a safe place to hide from both predators and sun. Weatherproof and with a lead-free glaze, you can confidently leave the toad house out year-round.

Begin your garden early by planting the provided seed-mat and placing your greenhouse roof down as a cold frame. Once your garden is grown, raise the roof and install the whimsically colorful sidewalls to create a sanctuary for visiting monarchs and other...

And most probably always will. And though some do use tractors, the Amish still predominantly farm, or at least travel, with horses. We can also assume, though, that gas—the finite substance that it is—will inevitably become too expensive to not at...

“It will lose some quality over the winter, but research has shown that the protein content will remain at 10 percent, even into February.” The only time stockpiling fescue doesn't work is during periods of limited rainfall.

Rubber boots will also be useful—after all, you're working around a puddle!— and I personally advise wearing safety goggles if digging in hard or rocky ground. Personally, I find the challenge of digging drainage ditches to be rather enjoyable; I...

Perhaps worse from a property-value standpoint, an overabundance of flies on a farm located near a neighborhood of nonfarmers often causes disputes that end up at county board meetings or encourages irritated neighbors to become extremely interested in...

This doesn't mean that season-extension facilities, such as cold frames or hoop houses, cannot be used, but it means that artificial inputs are kept to a minimum. Trees and shrubs can be selected for potential lumber harvest, animal habitat or to attract...

It has a dark green-gray color and very little aroma. You might not think of weeds as a problem for grown Christmas trees, but when the trees are small saplings, weeds can easily grow taller than they are.

In our version, the members provide a list of farm implements or machinery they own that they are willing to allow other members to borrow. These are happening on a large scale, but could absolutely be adapted to small-scale farming.

As fibrous roots and taproots decay, their space remains, offering a pathway for air and water to penetrate deep into the seedbed, making way for the next set of roots to grow. No-till farming also slows evaporation of water from the soil by protecting...

Unless you have enough livestock to polish off a bale in two to three days, this isn't the best option. Hay stacked on bare ground or concrete wicks moisture up through the bottom tiers, ruining the hay.

At the edge of your pasture, a darker, wilder place looms: the forest. If you have gnarly old maple or walnut trees, you could explore woodturning; Toby Fulwiler learned to use an old lathe after moving to 92 wooded acres in Fairfield, Vt., and now produces...

Follow these four key steps when soil testing. I recently purchased a farm I want to rehabilitate for crop production. A soil test is the first stepping stone to figuring out a management plan for your new farm.