Creating A Micro-Prairie

In this article I explain micro-prairie basics such as the benefits of having a micro-prairie in your yard and how to go about planting one. So let’s start with the benefits.

Why A Micro-Prairie

There are a lot of good reasons to have a micro-prairie. Here is a non-exclusive lists of reasons that I have found:

• Increase habitat — Native plants provide food and shelter to native species of birds, bees, butterflies and beneficial insects that non-native plants do not provide. Monarch butterflies, native pollinators and beneficial predator insects all need native plants.
• Increase diversity — Native plants are equipped to handle conditions in this area because they have been growing here for millions of years. Having a diverse collection of plants means that something will be growing even when conditions like moisture, heat, and cold change.
• Reduce inputs — Native plants don’t require fertilizer, mowing or leaf removal — all of which require a lot of fossil fuel and hence produce greenhouse gases. Irrigation is not needed so we save city water for important uses. You still have to pull weeds but overall the amount effort put into caring for native plants is less than for a turf grass lawn.
• Reduce runoff — Native plants have deep roots which loosen the soil and allow water to soak in rather than run off into storm sewers. Given the increase in heavy rain events, this benefit from native plantings is important. Native plant buffer strips in boulevards throughout the city could catch a lot of runoff.
• Reduce pollution — Native plants reduce pollution by eliminating fossil fuel intensive maintenance and by eliminating the use of fertilizer that could runoff into rivers, oceans and our drinking water.
• Improve aesthetics — Turf grass mowed to within an inch of its life is really boring. A micro-prairie ablaze with flowers, seed heads, interesting foliage, bees, birds, and butterflies is a joy to behold.

How To Get Native Plants

It is best to get native plants from companies that specialize in native plants. Many garden centers have cultivars of coneflowers and columbine that are different from the native version. These cultivars may not support native insects in the way that the native version does. So it is best to get authentic native plants from trusted sources. Most of the plants in my yard were provided by Prairie Moon Nursery in Winona, Minnesota (https://www.prairiemoon.com/). You can get plants in three different forms:

• Seeds — For the most diversity at the lowest price seeds are the answer. A typical seed mix will have 20 to 30 species of mostly flowers with 5 to 6 grass species. Mixes are tailored for growing conditions such as the amount of sun and the type of soil as well as height requirements. One thing to know about native plant seed is that the seed usually requires stratification before it will germinate. That means the seed must be exposed to several freeze/thaw cycles. This can be done by planting the seed in late fall or during the winter or by putting it in a refrigerator for a couple of months. The seed supplier can tell you how to do that.
• Bare root plants — These are plants that are dug up and the roots are cleaned of soil and wrapped to protect them. They are kept in a cool place until they are planted. Bare root plants are planted in the fall or early spring. They are more expensive than seed but some plants are only available as bare root plants.
• Live plants — Live plants are more expensive than seeds but you can get an instant garden with them. They usually ship in large trays in the spring. One advantage of live plants is that you can see what you have and anything else that comes up in your planting is probably a weed that can be pulled.

How To Plant Native Plants

Getting rid of grass and weeds is the most important part of planting native plants. Some articles recommend using glysophate weed killers to kill the grass. The safety of glysophate has come under fire and I do not recommend using it since there are safe ways to kill the grass. Here are three simple, non-toxic ways to get rid of the grass:

• Solarize — Removing grass with solarization involves covering the area to be planted with plastic. The plastic is weighted down and covered at the edges to trap heat under it. Applying the plastic in July and leaving it for a couple of months will cook the grass and weed seeds during the heat of summer. When the plastic is removed the area is ready to plant in the fall. It can be planted with bare root plants or it can be seeded after the ground freezes.
• Scrape — Grass can be removed by scraping off the top 3 or 4 inches which will get most of the turf grass roots. This can be done for spring planting with bare root plants or live plants or fall planting with bare root plants or seeds.
• Smother — Putting down layers of cardboard or newspaper over the grass and covering it with 3 to 4 inches of mulch will smother the grass. The cardboard or newspaper will decompose and add organic matter to the soil. One advantage of this method is that you can get an “instant” garden if you use live plants.

How To Maintain the Micro-Prairie

Maintenance of a micro-prairie is minimal but as you know there is no free lunch. Here are a couple of things you will need to do keep your micro-prairie healthy.

• Pull weeds — Even though you kill the weeds before you plant, birds and the wind will carry in weed seeds. Dandelions are the most common but thistles are the biggest problem if you don’t take care of them right away. I don’t recommend using weed killers since they kill indiscriminately. From a practical standpoint it takes longer to earn the money to buy weed killer and a sprayer and then apply it than it does to simply pop the weeds out of the ground when you first see them. The key is to get enough of the root so that the plant can’t come back from the remaining roots. A dandelion popper works well but an old screw driver works too. Just push the tool into the ground to cut the roots 3 to 4 inches below the surface. A healthy micro-prairie will tend to crowd out other weeds.
• Cut back stems — Many native insects survive the winter by nesting in the hollow stems of native plants. For that reason, the micro-prairie should only be cut down in the spring after the insects are active. Once you cut the stems just leave them on the micro-prairie where they will decompose and return nutrients to the soil.