5 Things Scientists Say to Try in Your Yard This Spring

With spring gardening season in full swing, Natural Sciences researchers have suggestions for the perfect vegetable garden, flower bed, lawn or landscape. In fact, scientists with the University of Texas at Austin can help you do more than have a great looking and productive yard: they've got tips that would help the local environment and maybe even the gardeners themselves.

1. Choose native plants over invasive species.

Non-native invasive species crowd out native species and decrease biodiversity, even rendering the landscape less hospitable for local wildlife.

According to a recent study by University of Texas biologist Norma Fowler, the longer an area has been settled the more invasive plants are found. That's because many invasive plants – ligustrum, Japanese honeysuckle and chinaberry, for example — routinely wind up in home landscaping (they're even sold at local garden centers), but they are escape artists. You may plant them in your yard, but they spread beyond your property.

Xeriscaping, or landscaping that requires little or no water, has gotten more popular in Texas, in part because it's environmentally friendly and because for most land-owners it saves on watering costs. (Another bonus: it requires much less yard-work.) Even without water, non-native plants, though, can spread.

Find recommended native alternatives to invasive plants for lawns and xeriscaping at the bottom of this article.

2. Plant for pollinators.

The plants we put in our gardens can be a big help to our native insects. Texas bees, flies, wasps, moths and butterflies are an important part of a healthy ecosystem and native plants serve their needs best.

Shalene Jha, an associate professor of integrative biology, studies the connection between native pollinators and plants. Pollinators need two things: food and shelter. Since 70 percent of native bees nest in the ground, it's important to leave some soil bare and undisturbed. The other 30 percent of native bees are cavity nesters and depend on dead trees, rock crevices and logs for nests. Native flowers with conspicuous blooms are favorite foods.

As for butterflies and moths, many of them lay their eggs on native plants, such as milkweed. Choose plants with inconspicuous flowers and plant a mix of spring and fall blooming plants.

3. Repel pests with some forethought.

Biologists Larry Gilbert and Rob Plowes are among the scientists in the Invasive Species Research Lab at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory studying ways to prevent certain invasive pests, like tawny crazy ants, from growing out of control. Gilbert says these bugs ride in on potted plants and mulch delivered from elsewhere, so it's important to look closely at anything purchased from nurseries and garden centers. If there are signs of small, brown, crazy-moving ants that look like this, beware.

For other pests, Plowes recommends managing your landscape with an understanding of the preferences of the potential pest species. For example, fire ants (and other weedy species) establish in disturbed areas with bare ground or low plant cover. Fire ant colonies can be degraded with injections of very hot water, he says.

Welcoming more biodiversity is another good idea: bats and small mammals that eat mosquitos and other pests and native plants that attract birds and bugs. It's a good idea to avoid herbicides and pesticides, experts say, too, since they can repel plants and animals you want to keep around.

"If you have a specific pest and it seems to dominate the landscape, it is an indication that you don't have enough diversity of both plant and insect community," said Leslie Uppinghouse of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. "By adding plants that draw in birds, bees, bats, and bugs, the natural predator and prey balance can be restored. In order to do that, you need water, shelter and food for all."

4. Consider a root-microbe transplant.

In 2015, integrative biology professor Ulrich Mueller discovered a cheap and easy way to engineer healthier, faster-growing plants. He harvested the microscopic life—or microbiomes—from the roots of the healthiest plants in a set and transplanted drops of them onto seedlings 2-4 days old.

You can watch a video about how Mueller conducted his study, and, if you're really ambitious, try his simple four-step process with your next batch of seedlings. Anyone "can potentially use these methods to improve growth and health of crops," Mueller said.

5. Garden with children.

According to research from Jaimie Davis, a nutritional sciences researcher with the University of Texas at Austin, gardening with your kids might make them healthier. Davis found that children who were taught about gardening, growing food and cooking as part of an afterschool program saw reductions in obesity, body mass index, waist circumference and increases in dietary fiber and vegetable intake.

"Getting kids back to those roots, getting their hands in the soil, planting the seed, harvesting and preparing the food, it seems to be very effective at changing behavior and encouraging healthy eating," Davis said.

Davis recommends growing herbs like basil, mint, dill and fennel, since they grow quickly and can be used in lots of dishes; radishes, since they grow quickly, which is attractive for kids to watch; and tasty fare like tomatoes and berries.

More Tips from the Experts

UT biologists and experts with the University's Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center offered several alternatives to common invasive plants that look just as good in Central Texas landscaping as their invasive counterparts and don't contribute to environmental degradation.