Our Organic Approach to Landscape Management
Traditional landscape management focuses on taming and subduing outdoor spaces, often relying on toxic chemicals and unsustainable practices in order to do so. American landscapes of the mid-1900s relied heavily on chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides to keep non-native (often invasive) plants looking artificially green.
Today, as we see our forests being stifled by invasive plants and our waterways clogged with chemical runoff, our ecosystems, local wildlife and pollinators, and human communities are suffering the negative effects of such an outdated style of land management.
At Our Land Organics, we take a longer-term approach to land care.
An Our Land Organics landscape design and installation
We focus on practices that heal the land and create biodiversity.
When creating new landscapes, we utilize native plants that provide food and habitat for local pollinators without the need for irrigation or fertilizer regimens.
When approaching land maintenance work, we enter a yard with a holistic mindset that focuses on nourishing a particular ecosystem, rather than taming and subduing.
Instead of viewing landscapes as burdens to be forced into submission, we view our clients’ yards as assets that enrich local ecosystems by providing food, habitat and beauty.
We are accredited by the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), and all the work we do is guided by the industry’s latest standards of organic land management.
Our knowledgeable and thoughtful team is dedicated to land stewardship, and we are focused on maximizing the ecological benefit of every yard we step into.
We are also committed to continuing education, offering all employees time and resources to keep up to date on the latest and most innovative practices available. As skilled and experienced professionals, we are positioned to share our knowledge and commitment to organic practices with the communities in which we live and work.
Stewarding our land begins with learning from professionals who have been practicing an organic approach to landscape management for decades. We have been accredited through NOFA’s Organic Land Care program since our inception in 2014.
In practice, this approach translates to innovative practices, such as the way we address leaves in our clients’ yards. Fallen leaves contain massive amounts of nutrients and organic matter, yet the traditional “tame and subdue” mindset recommends devoting time and resources to their removal.
At Our Land Organics, we view leaves as a valuable natural resource, and we utilize them wherever possible by shredding them into a fine winter mulch. This method of leaf removal speeds up the decomposition process and ensures that decomposition takes place where it will have the highest ecological impact–in your yard.
Another example: We consistently seek to reduce the size of lawns in our landscapes, opting instead for native groundcovers and low-growing clover mixes that provide food for pollinators and don’t require mowing. When asked to view land as an asset, many clients begin to see their yards' untapped potential. Lawns are needy, unproductive monocultures that provide little to no ecological value, and when seen in this light, many clients choose to spend their time and energy creating different types of environments.
This massing of carex pensylvanica, chrysogonum virginianum, aquilegia canadensis and tiarella cordifolia provide a plethora of habitat and pollinator resources under this beautiful beech tree. Prior to this installation this backyard was comprised mostly of wintercreeper and honeysuckle. Native groundcovers are underutilized in residential landscapes. We are driven to course correct this oversight as the conventional use of english ivy and wintercreeper as ground covers has had devastating effects on our forest habitats.
Additionally, we are always adapting our approach to fit clients’ unique sites and management styles. We meet clients where they are, prioritizing their goals while also offering our professional perspective.
Rather than applying one standard management plan to every yard, we construct individualized management packages that consider each yard’s particular plant palette, together with our client’s aesthetic preferences and long-term goals.
We provide varying levels of consultation services to educate new clients on the plants in their yard and how to get the most out of them. For existing clients, we frequently check in and make necessary changes to ensure that our management services are helping them actualize the landscape they hope to see.
No synthetic support needed! Native gardens thrive without the support of fertilizers and pesticides.
No management job is too big or small for our agile crew, and we offer varying levels of management packages to fit any need. If you’d like to stop seeing your yard as a wilderness to be tamed and begin to unlock its ecological and aesthetic potential, reach out to us today.
By: Wesley Sexton, Client Relationship Manager