District Blogs

As the holiday season comes to an end you may have noticed your real Christmas tree looking a little ragged and dry. Instead of putting your tree out to the curb, where it’ll take up space in our crowded landfills, perhaps you can use it on your property. There are many ways your dead tree can be utilized, let’s take a look at the most conservation minded options. Shelter for Backyard Wildlife You can leave the tree right in its stand, and set it out in the yard for the rest

Your old christmas tree isn't trash. Find out how you can re-purpose it.

Fall garden care and stormwater

As we begin to think about putting our gardens to bed for winter, think about the winter habits of our friends the pollinators. Although...

Most earthworms present in glaciated portions of Ohio are considered exotic. They were introduced in the 18th & 19th centuries by early settlers or through trade of soil and horticultural materials transported from Europe and Asia. New species are continuing to be introduced spreading through fishing bait, compost and gardening supplies, and plant exchanges. In SW Ohio, we consider one non-native worm, the European Nightcrawler as a friend to our gardens. This is not the case

Now that its getting cold out and your garden is going dormant, it's time to winterize your rain barrel. You don't want the water in it to freeze and expand! Start by draining your rain barrel. Be careful as a full rain barrel is heavy, a gallon of water weighs more than 8 lbs., so a full rain barrel can weigh over 400 lbs. Disconnect it from your downspout, so that it can't fill and freeze. If your downspout convertor leaves a hole when disconnected, attach the winter cap to

Milkweed's not just for Monarchs Do you have hordes of hairy black, orange, and white caterpillars munching on your milkweed? If so, congratulations on meeting the milkweed tussock moth, an Ohio native. The caterpillars go through a number of instars, or growth stages, before reaching their largest larvae stage. The first instar for the larvae are often difficult to detect. They are initially pale yellow and bristly with black heads. These young larvae travel in a little fuzz

We've had a worm composting bin in our office for more years than I can remember. It is an excellent way to teach children about the life cycles, decomposition, comparing body parts, and to learn about the benefits for plants. Kids learn that by composting they care for their communities and the natural environment. They are relatively simple animals to keep alive, and provide the added benefit of producing compost. We have a youtube video showing some of the ideas below. Tw

What is it? Curly-leaf pondweed is a non native, invasive species. Growing up through the water column, it can grow in depths up to 10...

An invasive species can be any kind of living organism—a plant, insect, fish, fungus or bacteria—that is not native to an ecosystem and causes harm. -National Wildlife Federation Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is also known as Poor Man’s Mustard, Hedge Garlic, Garlic Root and Jack-by-the-Hedge. It is called garlic mustard because the leaves have a garlic smell when they are crushed. Why is garlic mustard bad? Classed as a non-native invasive plant, this species is a seri