Green Gardening
Mary, Mary, quite eco-friendly, how does your garden grow? With rain barrels and compost bins, and native flowers all in a row.
Like it or not, grass is bad. Take your pick – fescue, rye, bluegrass – they don’t belong in the Midwest, and they require vast amounts of resources to care for. Weed and feed mixes in the spring, grub and pest toxins and gallons of water in the summer. Weekly or bi-weekly mowing. All these actions add up to one big carbon foot-print. The gas in the lawn mower; the oil and fossil fuels used to create the fertilizer; the water that is sprayed on lavishly; the runoff from chemical applications. Our crisp, clean lawns are, well, environmentally messy.
And considering the environmental loss from a yard full of fescue, the carbon cost rises. The lack of mature trees, for one, reduces a yard’s ability to recapture carbon dioxide, and the added shade from mature trees help reduce your home cooling costs in the summer while providing a wind break in the winter. But what is a suburbanite suppose to do on a treeless landscape?
Water for Free!
Rain barrels are excellent sources of free water. They are as easy to build and install as they are to use. Rain barrels are positioned under the downspout of a home gutter system to collect runoff from rain. A barrel may hold 55 gallons of water. Water which can be used to water plants during dry spells. Capturing the water is not only free but has the added benefit of reducing erosion typical around downspouts as water rushes out and through the lawn. One barrel may be used per downspout and multiple barrels may be linked together for those torrential downpours. Simple measures are taken to prevent mosquitoes from infesting the water supply. Free and no-fear all in one. Roll out the barrels.
Bring Back the Natives!
Native plants are plants that do well in your area. They should. They were here first and over time have adapted to our weather and our soil. While you may not be ready to completely eliminate your lawn, you can reduce its size and increase your yard’s ability to capture carbon dioxide by creating spaces of native plantings. Native plantings can include tall grasses, shrubs, woody-plants, flowers galore and even trees.
Native plants offer a host of benefits: Native plants are adapted to the rain or lack thereof common to our area. They do not require extra watering. They don’t require chemical fertilization. Most are perennial or self-seeding. Plus, native species of birds and butterflies will frequent your native island plantings. Your state’s Department of Conservation should have resources to help you determine what plants are native to your area.
Composting:
Helping nature reduce, reuse and recycle: Composting turns yard wastes into organic material perfect for fertilizing your annual beds, vegetable gardens and native plantings. Lawn clippings and leaves are excellent starters, just be careful no herbicides have been used on the lawn, or your compost may be detrimental to the flowers you were hoping to nourish. Chemical herbicides can stay active long after the grass becomes compost.
Structures to house your compost pile range from the simple to the sophisticated. From a chicken-wire fenced area to a solar powered compost tumbler, the eco-gardener can find it all.
The pile of leaves, grass and food scraps make for an attractive home for earthworms and beetles, and smaller microbes and bacteria, all of which aid in composting. The composting organisms decompose the yard waste transforming it into rich humus. The humus, when ready, can be tilled into existing flowerbeds to add natural and organic fertilizer to the soil.
Composting organisms and microbes require four equally important things to work effectively:
1) Carbon for energy – the oxidation of carbon produces the heat. High carbon materials tend to be brown and dry, like [brown leaves], dried pine needles and straw.
2) Nitrogen for the health and well-being of the micro-organisms. High nitrogen materials tend to be green or colorful, like fruits and [vegetables], and wet. Grass-clippings, animal manure and kitchen vegetable scraps provide nitrogen.
3) Oxygen, for oxidizing the carbon and fueling the decomposition process. Turning or aereating the pile is essential to allow needed oxygen to the center of the pile.
4) Water, in the right amounts to maintain activity. Most of this water is provided by the same ingredients that provide the nitrogen.
A good starter size for a compost bin, and also the minimum size a compost bin is three by three by three feet — one cubic yard. Any smaller and it won’t be big enough to generate its own heat, and composting won’t occur. Any larger, and the pile may be unmanageable. The compost pile will need to be turned once a week, so that air can get to the middle of the pile. Air is a key ingredient in an active pile, essential for fueling the heat, which is essential to killing off pathogens and driving the decomposition process.
At peak performance, an active compost pile may reach internal temperatures between 100 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit. As the temperature drops, this is a clue that it is time to aerate the pile introducing oxygen to the center of the pile. More carbon may be added to for energy. Monitor moisture levels. A maintained compost pile should humus-ready in one to two months.
Ready to Leaf Out?
Depending on how many trees you have in your yard, you may have more leaves than you care to compost. Is your only option to rake the leaves and wait for a curb side service to haul them to the landfill? Not at all. It turns out; this age-old tradition has no scientific bearing. Leaves on the lawn may actually be a good thing. Why not mow them into your lawn this fall and add nutrients to the soil?
“…the organic matter and nutrients from leaves mown into lawn areas has been proven to improve turf quality.” (Michigan State research)
Live in the city?
You can green up the city, too, even if green space is not to be found on the ground. Consider the green roof initiative. And check out GreenRoofs.org to find out what you can do to help jump start this initiative in your city.
Go Green!
About the Author
Eric Jackson is a program director for a local botanical garden. He gives lectures and presentations on various topics including local foods, green-gardening, recycling and conservation of resources.
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