Life-Friendly Garden Tour Fall 2025
Bigger Than Bugs
Dealing with pesky mammals, such as rabbits and rodents, without using chemicals.
Garden Tour: Sunday, September 14
Open Gardens: 10am to 2 pm
Social Hour: 2:00–3:30 pm • Arsenal Park Community Garden
Rain Date: Sunday September 21
UPDATE: The map is now available!
The full color version of the map brochure for printing and sharing is available here.
If you prefer to print a black and white version, that’s here.
Or scroll down to see the map online.
REGISTER TO ATTEND HERE.
Watertown Community Gardens is coordinating registrations and notifications for guests and visitors. When you register, you will also have the opportunity to support the Life-Friendly Garden Tour with a donation.
Gardener’s Roundtable: Wednesday, September 17, 7:00 – 8:45 pm • Watertown Free Public Library
Join Friends of Bees and Watertown Community Gardens for the 28th Life-Friendly Garden Tour, a day of exploring vibrant, chemical-free gardens in and around Watertown, while sharing stories and learning from the dedicated gardeners who maintain them. The gardens will be open in two sessions, from 10 am to noon, and noon to 2pm. We will conclude the tour with a Social Hour at Arsenal Park Community Gardens from 2pm to 3:30 pm.
You are also invited to continue the conversation with Friends of Bees and Save Watertown Wildlife at a Gardener’s Roundtable on September 17. We will hold a wide-ranging panel discussion of balancing gardening for habitat, beauty, and rodent management.
This year’s theme is “Bigger than Bugs.” Many of the common issues that arise in gardening are related to bugs, but this year we will share and discuss the challenges presented by the burgeoning populations of rabbits, rats, and others. The health of our gardens depends on thoughtful care for all living things — including the often-overlooked mammals, birds, and reptiles that help balance our ecosystems.
While pollinators like bees, butterflies, and moths remain essential, this year’s tour also highlights humane and non-toxic methods of managing rodents and other mammals in the garden. Rat poison and rodent traps may seem like simple fixes, but they cause harm far beyond their targets — poisoning owls, hawks, foxes, coyotes, and even domestic pets. Learn how to deter rodents by creating healthier ecosystems instead of relying on toxic shortcuts.
The goal is to make Watertown a safe place for wildlife, including owls, hawks, foxes, etc. to help keep our pest populations in check. We hope you can join in the conversation and feel inspired to add life-friendly gardening practices to your own yard.
The map is now available!
You can RSVP or make a donation here.
You can join our mailing list by emailing us here.
In Fall 2024, we explored Homegrown National Park
In the 27th Life-Friendly Garden Tour we explored how our gardens are part of Homegrown National Park. You can learn more about how you can expand habitat for birds and pollinators, by reducing lawns and adding native trees and flowers, here.
For our first Summer Garden Tour, we explored the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge.
The 26th Life-Friendly Garden Tour was our first Summer Garden Tour! We celebrated the Monarch butterfly. You can learn more about how you can help the Monarch Butterfly and support the Mayor’s Monarch Pledge here.
For the Life-Friendly Garden Tour, gardeners in Watertown who have not used chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers for at least a year are invited to participate as hosts. This could be your full garden, your front yard, or just your planting strip. (Both Watertown Community Gardens and the Department of Public Works have excellent resources for your planting strip available here (WCG) and here (DPW). ) If you will be available during the hours of the Garden Tour to answer questions and share ideas, you will receive a sidewalk flag or yard sign to help guests find you. If you won’t be available that day, you can still have your planting strip included in the Garden Tour, which guests can view from the street.
Since this is an outdoor event, we are not requiring anyone to wear a mask. We do recommend that you be fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19.
If you like to be added to the Garden Tour mailing list, send us an email here.
You may join our discussion group on Facebook here.
About the Garden Tour
The Life-Friendly Garden Tour was founded by Henrietta Light to educate about gardening without chemical inputs. Exposure to chemical fertilizers and pesticides can sicken people and cause long-term health issues. The impact of chemicals is even worse in the garden. Most insecticides kill insects, whether they are pests, pollinators, or beneficial insects. Herbicides also kill a broad range of plants, including host plants for butterflies and moths, such as the milkweeds that Monarch butterflies depend on. Chemical fertilizers damage the balance of organisms that create a healthy soil. Through the Garden Tour and other events, we demonstrate that no chemicals are needed to create vibrant, healthy yards.
The first Chemical-Free Garden Tour took place in 2007. Since eliminating chemicals is rewarded by an increase in living beings, the name was changed to the Life-Friendly Garden Tour. It usually is held on the second Sunday in September. This self-guided tour is free and open to the public.