This week, our Ocean Friendly Gardens committee met for their first Volunteer Day of the spring. Three dedicated volunteers met at Methodist Lane in East Hampton to tackle one of our garden's worst enemies -- mugwort.
Most homeowners might think to apply a weed killer to approach this problem, but there's a reason we are opting to pull the weeds by hand instead. Avoiding chemicals will keep our soils healthy. When we have healthy soils, they work like a sponge to soak up excess stormwater and filter out pollutants. This is important for our bioswales, which were designed to capture and filter stormwater runoff that previously collected on the Village Greens in East Hampton. Stormwater runoff is one of the major sources of our water quality issues on Long Island.
If you are a homeowner on the East End, you can follow our Ocean Friendly Garden practices so you can be part of the solution for our water quality issues. Take the time now to make plans for your lawns and gardens this spring!
Here are a few native plant sales coming up in our area:
- ReWild Long Island has an online plant sale now through April 16. Pickup begins in May with options in Hampton Bays, Lake Grove, or Port Washington.
- Cornell Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener program will have a plant sale at the Suffolk County Farm in Yaphank on Saturday, April 29, from 8 am to 3pm, before their Spring Gardening School. You do not have to register for the school to come to the plant sale! Go early for best selection.
- Also check out: Marder's Nursery in Bridgehampton or Fort Pond Native Plants in Montauk.
- Long Island Native Plant Initiative has plants for sale by appointment in Brentwood and a plant sale later in the spring - to be announced.
Interested in lending a hand at our gardens in East Hampton? Contact our chapter coordinator: jenna@easternli.surfrider.org
