Nine More Ways to Make Your Lawn and Garden More Earth Friendly

	Where possible, let your garden plants seed naturally. It’s cheaper and easier to let nature sow seeds. Alternatively, gather seeds when they are ripe and store them in a paper bag somewhere dry and cool then sow them where you want them.
	Switch to earth-friendlier lawn-care practices, such as mowing high, letting the clips lie, core-aerating to reduce compaction, and even letting the lawn go dormant in droughts.
	Reduce weed problems by covering bare ground with organic mulch (like wood chips, bark or leaves), by using dense ground covers, and by spacing landscape plants so they just touch when mature. Hand-pull bigger weeds instead of using herbicides.
	Don’t overdo it with fertilizer. Periodically test your soil to determine what kind of fertilizer and how much you need before applying it. A prime example: Most home lawns already have sufficient phosphorus, but most four-times-a-year lawn fertilizers contain it anyway.
	Reduce runoff by regrading to allow rain to soak in on site or by adding garden beds that absorb water better than compacted lawns.
	When adding hard surfaces, go with water-permeable choices such as gravel or brick paths and paver-block sitting areas instead of concrete and asphalt.
	Prevent erosion by using terraces or retaining walls. Plant steep slopes with plants that tolerate dry, upland conditions, like warm-season grasses with deep roots.
	Do plant-selection homework before planting, not only to match the right plants to the right site but also to pick plants that are unlikely to get serious bug or disease problems so you won’t have to spray. Reduce water demands by selecting plants that are drought-tolerant.
	Reduce heat and air-conditioning bills by planting deciduous trees to the south of the house and evergreen screens to the north and west. More trees also increase oxygen in the atmosphere and utilize carbon dioxide (a “greenhouse gas”), slow evaporation from the ground and help cool temperatures in summer.