Your garden offers you a world of opportunities to make changes that will conserve resources and make for a more healthful environment—while still providing the beauty, bounty and function of which you dream. Today’s earth-friendly yard is colorful, diverse, good-looking, drought-tolerant, friendly to birds, butterflies (and families!), and in the long run can actually be less work.
While you can’t truly convert your space into a totally “green” one overnight, there are a number of easy changes you can make to get a jump start. Read on for some suggestions you may want to try at home.
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At Sartin Services Lawncare & Nursery, we believe we have a responsibility to our customers and to our planet to do all we can to minimize waste. That's why we invite you to bring in your horticultural plastic pots after you've planted. We’ll take care to recycle them; giving them new life as recycled pots or a range of other products, like round landscape lumber, landscape edging, and more!
REDUCE.RE-USE.RECYCLE
TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. | |
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Grow Organically
What exactly is organic gardening? The simple answer is that organic gardeners don’t use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides on their plants. But gardening organically is much more than what you don’t do. An organic gardener strives to work in harmony with natural systems and to minimize and continually replenish any resources the garden consumes.
Organic gardening begins with attention to the soil. You regularly add organic matter to the soil, using locally available resources wherever possible. Decaying plant wastes, such as grass clippings, fall leaves and vegetable scraps (no meat or food scraps) from your kitchen, are the building blocks of compost (see sidebar), the ideal organic matter for your garden soil. If you add compost to your soil, you’re already well on your way to raising a beautiful, healthy garden organically.
The other key to growing organically is to choose plants suited to the site. Plants adapted to your climate and conditions are better able to grow without a lot of attention or input; on the other hand, when you try to grow a plant that is not right for your region, you will probably have to boost its natural defenses to keep it healthy and productive.
Pesticides and Fertilizer
Truth be told, less than 10 percent of all bugs are harmful to plants, yet the average gardener uses pesticides at a rate 10 times per acre more than farmers, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Much of it is applied at wrong times or “just in case” to ensure a blemish-free landscape. Try to educate yourself about pesticides so you will use them efficiently, effectively and responsibly.
And consider this: the organic movement has caught the attention of companies that make fertilizers, pesticides and other chemical landscape products. Motivated by changing consumer preferences and more governmental rules on landscape-chemical use, even the nation’s biggest chemical companies are rolling out earth-friendlier alternatives, such as vinegar-based weed-killers, soaps and oils for bug control, and non-phosphorus and organic versions of lawn fertilizer. Use these options whenever possible.
Small Steps
“We can all make little decisions that add up to big changes,” says Larry Vickers of Sartin Services. “One simple thing we can all do to change the environment for the better is to just plant something. One tree, one shrub, even one flower by itself won’t make a difference, but if everyone plants something, that would make a big difference in restoring the balance of nature.”
Read More:
COMPOSTING: Good for the Earth and Your Garden | Nine More Ways to Make Your Lawn and Garden More Earth Friendly
