Green Pinwheel

How you maintain your garden or landscape can have important positive or negative effects on the health of the soil, air, water and vegetation that we all use! Here are some sustainable gardening techniques that you will help you conserve and protect our natural resources.

Mulching

Mulch helps keep water in the soil and available to the plant, rather than evaporating into the air. This can help reduce water consumption. As mulch breaks down, it provides nutrients to the soil, which can help reduce or eliminate the need for additional fertilizers. Be sure to use mulches that are from sustainable forestry practices (not Cypress tree mulch), and that are free from pests and diseases. Your cooperative extension office can help you find sources of mulch in your local community.

Reducing Lawn Areas

Grass lawns often require chemicals and frequent maintenance. Gas-powered lawnmowers produce high amounts of greenhouse gases, which contribute to the air pollution that causes global warming. Since lawns are often made of only a few types of plants that most animals do not consume, they do not provide a lot of value for wildlife. Replacing grass lawn with native wildflowers, bushes, and trees provides the food, shelter, and cover that help to maintain healthy, natural ecosystems and reduces your time and labor working on the lawn!

Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping is an approach to landscaping that minimizes outdoor water use while maintaining soil integrity through the use of native, drought-tolerant plants. This is a common practice in drier areas, such as the West and Southwest, where water supplies and water quality are in very short supply.

DIY Greenhouses for Under $300

It's seed-starting season and spring is just around the corner. If you're looking to start seeds indoors and realize that you don't have enough windows space to sprout seeds indoors, or don't want to raise your electrical bill by installing grow lights, building a greenhouse from recycled and salvaged items might be the solution you need.
Probably the most popular examples of DIY greenhouses you’ll find on the Internet. This greenhouse by Angela Davis of My Rubber Boots uses old wooden windows that you can pick up at the local dump, architectural salvage store, yard sale, or even in your alley. The best time to salvage windows for this garden project is during construction and remodeling season where you live. Take Angela's awesome photo tour of her window greenhouse and garden.

What if farmers made house calls?

By: John Robb

"In backyard farming, your not only selling the veggies, your selling the experience." Charlie Radoslovich of Rad Urban Farmers.Of course, since most people in the developed world don't know how to grow food anymore and many of the methods and tools used to grow high quality food are still being developed, we are going to need to some help.One great way to do that is to join a local foodscaping program. This type of program is like a food subscription at a CSA. However, in this program, the farmer comes to you. He/she converts your yard into a high performance garden and teaches you how to garden it successfully. In the US alone, there's 50,000 square miles of lawns. That's obviously a terrible waste of a very valuable resource. But it gets worse, we spend over $30 billion a year landscaping those yards. We're not only wasting it, we're paying to waste it. Wow! One big reason a home's yard is so valuable is due to its proximity. It's a growing space next to where you live. A place you see every day. An accessible space.