The most important thing you’ll hear is do it in manageable amounts. It’s no good if you try to kill the whole lawn and wear yourself out.
Personally I just want to say how jealous of the water feature I am
vile_lullaby
Depends on what your goals are. If your goal is insect diversity, and wildlife benefit. I’d sheet mulching a couple manageable sections and then plan out what you want to put in them.
Id eventually invest in cages for plants if you want to do plugs or chicken wire until the plants get a little bigger.
If you try to kill the whole yard at once you’ll get overwhelmed.
Id personally plant a button bush by that water, it’ll attract a lot of hummingbirds and other cool pollinators.
Network-Silver
Figure out where you want trees, make beds around them and grow from there. My preferred method of making a bed is to edge an area, cover it in cardboard and mulch, maybe plant one thing in the area if I really can’t wait, then give the cardboard time to break down before I fill in the bed.
The first year or 2 may look sparse but make sure you leave room for growth. Native plants are fun.
hobbyistunlimited
That water feature is by far the most important part of this. I would check your local university for resources. I know the university of Minnesota has very good resources for how to effectively restore waterways. However, you want to be specific to your region.
The most important thing is that you eradicate all invasive as much possible before you get started so they don’t come back. It’s gonna be tricky with the water feature, but it’s usually cardboard and or a herbicide. People here will hate herbicide, but it is okay if used according to label. You will want to find natives to fill in wetland area and then slowly build that out into the lawn with natives are less wetland specific.
hollyberryness
Once upon a time I started with the trees: freeing up the root flares, making a nice big mulch ring and planting flowers around the drip line and outward. Then I focused on the edges of the yard (almost done!!) and am working my way inward. I prioritized the southern edge since it is sunniest and would get going quickest.
Inch by inch!
AppropriateBunch147
Crazy man.
Unable_Worth8323
Found this resource specifically for wet areas! Lots of plants you could add to your wetland. A balance of sedges/reeds and flowers with a couple bushes, maybe some ferns, I bet it would bring a crazy amount of birds/wildlife to your backyard.
As others have said, I definitely recommend taking it slow, focusing on removing invasives and planting one section at a time. If you can identify what you already have, maybe you have some natives already growing that you could encourage!
8 Comments
Region is Connecticut
The most important thing you’ll hear is do it in manageable amounts. It’s no good if you try to kill the whole lawn and wear yourself out.
Personally I just want to say how jealous of the water feature I am
Depends on what your goals are. If your goal is insect diversity, and wildlife benefit. I’d sheet mulching a couple manageable sections and then plan out what you want to put in them.
Id eventually invest in cages for plants if you want to do plugs or chicken wire until the plants get a little bigger.
If you try to kill the whole yard at once you’ll get overwhelmed.
Id personally plant a button bush by that water, it’ll attract a lot of hummingbirds and other cool pollinators.
Figure out where you want trees, make beds around them and grow from there. My preferred method of making a bed is to edge an area, cover it in cardboard and mulch, maybe plant one thing in the area if I really can’t wait, then give the cardboard time to break down before I fill in the bed.
The first year or 2 may look sparse but make sure you leave room for growth. Native plants are fun.
That water feature is by far the most important part of this. I would check your local university for resources. I know the university of Minnesota has very good resources for how to effectively restore waterways. However, you want to be specific to your region.
The most important thing is that you eradicate all invasive as much possible before you get started so they don’t come back. It’s gonna be tricky with the water feature, but it’s usually cardboard and or a herbicide. People here will hate herbicide, but it is okay if used according to label. You will want to find natives to fill in wetland area and then slowly build that out into the lawn with natives are less wetland specific.
Once upon a time I started with the trees: freeing up the root flares, making a nice big mulch ring and planting flowers around the drip line and outward. Then I focused on the edges of the yard (almost done!!) and am working my way inward. I prioritized the southern edge since it is sunniest and would get going quickest.
Inch by inch!
Crazy man.
Found this resource specifically for wet areas! Lots of plants you could add to your wetland. A balance of sedges/reeds and flowers with a couple bushes, maybe some ferns, I bet it would bring a crazy amount of birds/wildlife to your backyard.
https://seagrant.uconn.edu/2023/04/05/native-plants-for-riparian-corridors-in-ct-guide-available/
As others have said, I definitely recommend taking it slow, focusing on removing invasives and planting one section at a time. If you can identify what you already have, maybe you have some natives already growing that you could encourage!