Welcome to Minnesota Gardening

What is Minnesota Gardening?

Welcome to Minnesota Gardening, our growing, paid community dedicated to guiding Midwest homeowners toward more environmentally-responsible landscape and lawn care practices. 

We believe every small change can lead to significant positive impacts on our environment. Our members - just like you - share a common goal: make our home landscapes safer for our pets, kids, and neighbors by saving thousands of pollinators and songbirds, reducing our water use, and eliminating chemicals from our home.

Through collaborative discussions, expert guidance, and the sharing of resources, we provide homeowners with practical tools and plans for environmentally-responsible landscape, lawn care, and food gardens. From selecting native plants that thrive in our climate to exploring sustainable lawn care practice that reduce chemical usage to growing our own food, our community serves as a hub for innovative ideas and support. Together, we can transform our yards into thriving ecosystems that benefit not just our families, but also our local wildlife and communities.

As a member of Minnesota Gardening, by this time next year, you will have learned how to save thousands of dollars over the span of owning your home by having: eliminated chemical use, reduced your outdoor water use by over 85%, and increased energy savings by planting beneficial trees. As well, you will save entire weekends worth of your time by changing your landscape and lawn care practices.

Join us as we celebrate and promote environmentally-responsible landscape and lawn care practices. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting to explore environmentally-friendly options, you'll find a welcoming space here to expand your knowledge, connect with likeminded individuals, and inspire positive change in switching to environmentally-responsible landscape and lawn care practices.

Why join Minnesota Gardening?

Since you are here, my guess is that you may be questioning the safety of spraying weed killer where your dog runs and kids/grandkids play. Or you may be wondering what you can do to help with the massive collapse of chickadee, native bees, and monarchs populations. Or you may be worrying about the amount of pesticides on the food you are eating today...and what connection that has to the skyrocketing number of cancer diagnoses in our region.

As a member of Minnesota gardening, you will receive season, monthly, and weekly lessons on landscape maintenance, sustainable lawn care, and food gardening. So that by this time next year, we will have made your home landscape safer for your pets, kids, and neighbors while saving thousands of songbirds and pollinators, reducing your water use by 85%, and eliminating chemicals.

I will guide you through every step of the process so you can save the world, save thousands of dollars, and save weekends of time not doing things the old way.

Who am I?

My name is Brad Tabke. I live in Shakopee, Minnesota and am your guide into this new, wonderful world of environmentally-responsible landscape and lawn care.

I have a horticulture and landscape design degree from Iowa State University and for most of the last 20 years have used that in the commercial landscape maintenance arena. I became extremely concerned about the amount of water and pesticides being used in traditional landscape maintenance and the irreparable harm that landscape maintenance was doing to our local ecosystems. I started on a journey inspired by Doug Tallamy, Rick Darke, and many others working toward safer, more responsible landscape practices that protect songbirds and pollinators, use less water, and eliminates chemicals.