TOMS RIVER – In a state with a reputation for being high maintenance, the least New Jerseyans can do is learn how to keep their gardens low-maintenance.
Jersey-Friendly Yards, a statewide website created by the Barnegat Bay Partnership via a grant from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, is hosting “Bringing Nature Home to Your Jersey-Friendly Yard” on Saturday, October 14 at Ocean County College’s Gateway Building Lecture Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Experts will provide tips on how to create a beautiful, healthy, low-maintenance and eco-friendly yard, and there will also be a native plant sale and eco-friendly exhibitors with plenty of information on how to start a budding Jersey-Friendly Yard.
The day’s keynote speaker will be Doug Tallamy, Professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware and author of Bringing Nature Home and The Living Landscape. The two books discuss how planting native species at home play a role in sustaining healthy communities. Other speakers at the event will address how to maintain healthy soil, reduce fertilizer and pesticide use, conserve water and offer good habitats for pollinators and other wildlife.
For more information, or to register for the event, visit jerseyyards.org/workshop. There is a $35 registration fee to attend, which includes admission, refreshments and lunch.
Sponsors of the eco-event include Native Plant Society of New Jersey, Pinelands Direct, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, Ocean County Soil Conservation District, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Ocean County and Barnegat Bay Partnership.
