236. Earth First Gardening with Melanie Cotillo of Lazy Dirt Wildflower Farm
The Good Dirt: Sustainability ExplainedShow Notes
Spring has a way of pulling us back to the soil — and this season, Mary sat down with someone who has made the health of the soil and the well being of the pollinators and wildlife in her local ecosystem her first priority. Melanie Cutillo is the self-described Plant Wrangler in Chief at Lazy Dirt Wildflower Farm in Mexico, New York, a backyard nursery nestled just east of Lake Ontario, where she grows native and wildflower plants entirely without plastic, peat, or synthetic inputs of any kind.
It was a cold January morning walk to the mailbox and a chance encounter with a dried circle of New England aster in the snow that sent Melanie on a quest to grow native plants. The result is a farm, a philosophy, and a way of tending the earth that she calls "Earth First Gardening."
This conversation is for every gardener who has ever come home from the nursery with a carload of beauty and a pile of plastic waste—wondering if there's a better way.
Melanie and Mary talk about what it really means to be not just a gardener, but a guardian of the earth’s abundance. Whether you have many acres or simply a front porch, a city window or a community garden plot, this episode will remind you that what matters is how we tend to the land we have.
In this episode, Mary and Melanie talk about: What makes Lazy Dirt Wildflower Farm different from a conventional nursery — small scale, field-grown plants, zero plastic, and a focus on local ecotype native species The January morning that started it all: a circle of New England aster in the snow and a pair of tracks that changed everything Why Melanie ditched plastic entirely — and how a 10-by-25-foot barn full of collected pots finally pushed her over the edge The alternatives she found and invented: soil blocking, wool pots, burlap wrapping, and growing in native soil without bagged amendments or peat Why avoiding peat matters and what's lost when we use it: carbon sequestration, living soil, and a non-renewable resource extracted from ancient bogs The difference between a native plant and a nativar — and why it matters enormously to the pollinators and wildlife that depend on them How to ask better questions at your local nursery: Where does the seed come from? Can I bring back my plastic pots? Do you grow from seed on site? The concept of "tending" — and why you don't need land to do it. A street tree, a park path, a porch container can all be a place of care and relationship Native hydrangeas, dahlias, echinacea, monarda, jewel weed, sweetgrass, and tulsi — stories of plant relationships that illuminate the beauty and intelligence of the natural world Melanie's best tip for gardeners: make your seed list in July, at the height of the season, when you can see clearly what you have and what you truly need — then recycle the January catalog The new paradigm: from consumer to guardian, from transaction to relationship, from gardener to grower of community
Resources & Links Mentioned: Lazy Dirt Wildflower Farm — Melanie's website, where you can also find wool pots for sale Lazy Dirt Wildflower Farm on YouTube: youtube.com/lazydirtwildflowerfarm Melanie's Substack: So Wild Garden — behind-the-scenes of growing a four-acre habitat garden Garden Circles — Melanie's monthly Zoom gathering for gardeners; third Tuesdays at 6:30pm, with in-person farm gatherings during the growing season (find the link on her website) Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer The Wild Seed Project — native seed sourcing Ernst Seeds — native seed supplier Blossom and Branch Farm / Brianna Groh — inspiration for Melanie's no-till, native-soil approach Mount Cuba Center — research on native plants and their relationship to wildlife Mary Reynolds, previous Good Dirt guest, on the shift from "gardener" to "guardian" Wool Pots — available on Melanie's website; made in Britain from wool that would otherwise be discarded
We'd love to hear from you! Has this episode inspired you to try something different in your garden this sea
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This episode initially aired on June 19th, 2021