Labor Day 2021 is already here! Yes, Labor Day is recognized this Monday, September 6, 2021.

Made any plans? The pandemic might be changing your traditional long weekend getaway. Why not take advantage of the situation to invest time in some late summer gardening which will pay off all through the fall month.

Your yard will look great and you will get a healthy dose of Vitamin N – as in Nature. If you enlist your family, especially the kids, they’ll benefit from activities not involving screen time.

Good Earth Plant Company’s nine best tips for Labor Day Weekend 2021:

1. Start a compost pile to create some organic fertilizer for next spring’s garden.
2. Start your fall garden cleanup so your soil will be ready and healthy next spring.
   

   Set up a simple birdbath and you will enjoy feathered visitors all year long. Photo: Georgia Lens / Pixabay

3. Install a birdbath to help native birds get through the dry Southern California fall.
4. Got limited space? Plant a balcony garden with late-season vegetables or herbs.
5. Plant some garlic or radicchio. They are both excellent cool-weather crops.
   

   Can’t cook? We bet you can do canning! Photo: Alina Kuptsova

6. Try canning. Even beginners can preserve summer fruits and vegetables with a few basic supplies and instructions.
7. Make refrigerator pickles. It is super easy to do. The same method works with many summer veggies. See the instructions here.  If you are REALLY lazy, hang onto your empty pickle jar full of juice, and put sliced cucumbers, carrots, onions or your favorite in the jar, and return to the refrigerator to absorb the juices.
8. Use vinegar for cleaning instead of chemicals. It’s an inexpensive, easy to find, environmentally safe alternative. For basic cleanups, use one part vinegar to nine parts water. This will kill most germs and cut most grease.
   

   A plan to make no plan might be the best plan of all this Labor Day Weekend. Photo: Leah Kelly, Pexels

9. Relax and enjoy nature. If your weekends are full of to-do lists or other obligations, Labor Day weekend gives you the opportunity to unwind and reflect. Spending time in nature restores your energy and refills your cup so you can help others.

The simplest way is to hang around outside. Put a chair in the shade and read. Listen to the sounds of birds and the wind in the trees, no earbuds needed. Enjoy your favorite cool beverage. Take a walk through a shady place. Feeling more ambitious? Make it a hike. Don’t forget the sunscreen, or you will remember your Labor Day Weekend for all the wrong reasons.

Through our work enriching people’s lives with plants and bringing nature into the places we work, live, and play, all of us at Good Earth Plant Company understand the power of connecting with a purpose to the natural world around us. Researchers have produced lots of evidence proving what we instinctively know is true: Nature is good for our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Nature offers both long and short-term health benefits.

. We’ve written about the “Indoor Generation” before.  Americans spend less than eight percent of their day outside. This is why I’m so passionate about the work we do at Good Earth Plants for our clients.

The coronavirus pandemic didn’t help as we locked down in those early months.

Depending on your circumstances, your activities might still be a little restricted. We were already more sedentary than a generation ago. When’s the last time you told your kids to play outside? When’s the last time YOU played outside?

Getting outside and active on Labor Day Weekend is a good start toward reversing this trend, and it doesn’t have to be much work at all. Happy Labor Day!