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What Needs to Be Added to the Soil in a Butterfly Garden

North America is home to about 750 species of butterfly. A butterfly garden will help pull them to your home’s garden, adding sparks of living color to your plants as well as the air around you. Before you start planting your butterfly garden with herbs, shrubs and flowers, prepare the soil properly to decide on a strong foundation for a healthful, butterfly-friendly landscape.

Compost

A number of the plants that are common to a butterfly garden thrive in soil that’s well-draining and rich in organic matter. Compost provides exactly that, helping to boost the soil construction, add nutrients and improve the way that water moves through the dirt. For best results, add 3 inches of compost into the butterfly garden and then mix it into the top 8 inches of dirt. This helps maintain your butterfly garden healthy and growing all year.

Fertilizer

The majority of the plants grown in butterfly gardens really are blooms, because butterflies are drawn into the sweet nectar in the flowers. Examples include lavender plants (Lavendula spp.) , lilac plants (Syringa spp.) and daylilies (Hemerocallis spp.) . And like most flower plants, the following butterfly favorites boom in fertile growing soils that encourage optimal plant and blossom production. Create the right levels of soil by spreading a balanced fertilizer, such as a 10-10-10 flower fertilizer, in your butterfly garden prior to planting your flowers. For best results, use roughly 1/2 pounds of flower fertilizer for each 50 square feet of lawn, and mix it evenly into the top 6 inches of dirt.

Mulch

Butterflies are sensitive to herbicides and insecticides, so restrict chemical usage as much as possible. Mulch will help lessen the need for substances because it helps control weeds, and consequently your use of weed killers. Because weeds also often act as the main host for various pests, mulching also reduces the need for insecticides. For the best weed control, apply mulch in layer roughly 3 to 6 inches deep. As a side benefit, mulch also helps conserve soil moisture levels to maintain your butterfly garden more constantly hydrated.

Tips

To keep soil health, reapply compost annually from the spring at a rate of 2 to 3 inches of compost, mixed into the top 8 inches of dirt. Following the initial 3 years of your butterfly garden, reduce compost rates to 1 to 2 inches. Reapply fluid each spring, and apply again in early summer when the butterfly garden is not growing as quickly as you would like. This secondary application ought to be spread at a rate that’s half as far as the spring rate.

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