Does Your Garden Qualify for National Wildlife Certification? 5 Steps!

Adele Kurtz
by Adele Kurtz
2 Materials
We've been at it for over 12 years: Creating an Ideal Habitat for Wildlife and Nature. It's actually pretty easy to be sustainable. Your garden may already qualify for NWF Certification. Here's the 5 steps they ask for. If you have most of them, your garden could be listed with the National Wildlife Federation!
Ponds & waterfalls are focus of our gardens
1. Got WATER?


Your Water feature doesn't need to be as large as ours, which has grown in stages from a small creek with 2 small waterfalls to now include a bog, a 17,000 gal pond and another 10' waterfall!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHY9J9WQ094


Yours could be as small as a birdbath you maintain regularly to qualify.
2. Provide plenty of FOOD.


Bees and butterflies love our property, too. We cast wildflower seeds and cultivate gardens every spring and fall. I extend my borders & create planned ovals & fringes of turned soil, then add fresh seeds and water. Meanwhile, seeds from preceding season blow in the wind -- into the fields & grasses that I allow to burst on their own.


TIP: mow high once or twice in the spring, then allow free growth with light weed-whacking to express themselves during summer, mow again in fall to disperse more seeds for following seasons.
Barn Owl Nesting Box
3. Make Places to Raise Young and Prosper.


We've got plenty of tenants: beneficial bees have made hives in our eaves; bats and birds nest; while owls, hawks, snakes and weasels help balance the rodent population.
Bat House
Natural Coverage: Places to create homes
4. Maintain Some Natural Coverage.


A bit of mess can make a wonderful home! I intentionally keep a place to throw my weeds and garden materials -- far from the house. Mice, gophers & chipmunks are inevitable in nature, but this area encourages them to keep their distance.


Most rodents are naturally timid and would prefer to hide. I keep the area around my home clear of debris and mowed as trimly as possible. Outside the trim zone, are plenty of fields and places they can forage and aerate.
Coal Mine on our property!
Simple Solutions like Insecticide Soap Work!
5, Lean Toward SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES.


Keep a light hand with your fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides. Try the old-fashioned home-made remedies FIRST -- like the ones you'll find on HomeTalk.


Two saturated sprayings with insect killing soap took care of the spider mites on this beautiful false spirea/astilbe.
6. ENJOY More of NATURE in your own backyard!


The National Wildlife Foundation only requires a few of the 5 steps to help you join the millions who care -- whether you only have a rooftop terrace or a major estate.


Through the years we've grown our 20-acre property, lease another 130+ acres, and have created a home for thousands of creatures large & small -- from bees to bears -- as well as the less spectacular but equally important life-forms like fungi and lichen.
Herd of elk -- > 50 -- visit regularly
Fawn found our garden
Sociable koi, water flows 24-7 x 365, >10 years, up to 2' to tail
bees & butterflies galore!
Our happy horses
Heron fly away if you SHOUT 'em OUT!
Lichen & lilies, mushrooms & weeds
Enjoyed the project?
Suggested materials:
  • Tons & Tons of Rocks   (most relocated on property)
  • Barn Owl Box   (barnowlbox.com)
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  • Tova Pearl Tova Pearl on Sep 12, 2016
    i found this so inspiring! i have never lived anywhere with access to so much space, its beautiful!
    • Adele Kurtz Adele Kurtz on Sep 26, 2016
      Thanks you so much Tova. It is my simple goal -- to inspire. We should all find our beauty in whatever space we have, and encourage its growth through honest appreciation.
  • Taters2 Taters2 on Sep 29, 2016
    Adele, You reminded me of our years in Durango, CO. A wonderful, natural (lots have been built up....they call it progress) place to live and enjoy!!! Trish
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