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Murdo Morrison's Suburban Backyard Habitat

© Carol Wallace

Our house sits on a rather typical suburban lot in southern New Jersey. When we first saw the garden we realized it had potential. Fortunately the previous owners had been organic gardeners and had never used chemicals in the garden. The development was about 10 years old at that point in 1994. Like most developers they had cleared off the top soil in what had previously been an orchard. In doing so they solved one problem and created another. Thanks to them we did not have to worry about pesticide residues. However, the resulting soil was thin and a layer of marl lay under it at a depth of about 8 to 10 inches.

From the beginning we had wanted to make our backyard wildlife friendly. We were lucky in that our lot had many more trees and shrubs than most of the other lots on the street. However, the marl made creating new beds a challenge. To the original trees we have added four apple trees, including a crab apple, and a mountain ash. The mountain ash will provide berries for birds and it is an old tradition for Scots to have a mountain ash in their yard. Unfortunately this beautiful tree is not widely use in the eastern United States. To the shrubs we added two pyracantha (fire thorn) bushes and a dogwood, both sources of berries for birds.

We extended the existing perennial bed and added another on the opposite side of the garden. Three butterfly bushes attract many butterflies in the summer. Other perennials that are wildlife- friendly were added, including bleeding heart, hibiscus, purple coneflower and columbine.

Even with composting, the garden soil made it hard to achieve good yields of vegetables. Last year we built two raised beds. We brought in top soil and added cow manure and compost so that we now have a deep rich soil to grow tomatoes and peppers in. Our first summer's yield more than justified the hard work. Just before this latest season began we added a generous amount of aged horse manure. The old methods still work.

We also grow herbs and a number of annuals that provide food for birds and butterflies, including bird spray millet and butterfly weed (asclepias). Many of the herbs such as borage and bee balm are important for bringing bees into the garden for pollination of vegetables and the fruit trees. We do not rush to dead head flowers in the garden since many such as coneflower, when they go to seed, are an important source of seed for birds later in the year. Also, for non-hybrids, the seed heads are a free source of seed for next year's garden either as self-sown plants, or by collecting the seed and re-sowing the following year.

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