Landscape Green

Untitled Document

Quick Facts & Stats
Easy Tips & Tools
Green Products
Useful Resources

About Lawns & Gardens

In the US, watering a home's lawn can consume up to 80,000 to 100,000 gallons of water each year (applying 1 inch of water for every 1,000 sq ft requires about 600 gallons) shallots

For many municipalities, storm water flows into the sewer system, overloading the treatment plants; however due to recent federal rules, these cities will be required to divert storm water from the sewage treatment plants which will be an expensive undertaking, resulting in sewer rate increases of as much as 20 – 100% per year over a period of one to several years

Each year, over 23 billion pounds of yard waste ends up in landfills, which not only adds to cost of disposal, but also closes the landfill faster, and produces mostly unrecovered methane gas over time

Vegetable and other food wastes contribute over 96 billion pounds to our country’s landfills each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Excess use of chemical fertilizers often leach into our communities’ lakes, rivers, and sewer systems, resulting in harmful algae growth and potentially hazardous contamination of our water supply

home garden About 31% of U.S. households or an estimated 31 million households participated in food gardening in 2008, and is expected to increase by 19% to 43 million households in 2009

As of 2008, there were over 10,000 community vegetable gardens across the U.S., and an estimated 5 million households are very interested in having a community garden located near their home

For a "Green" Landscape

watering lawn

Cut grass height to about 3 inches to promote strong root growth, which will minimize weed growth, and also will help to keep moisture from evaporating (will require less watering)

Use a mulching lawn mower to deposit grass clippings directly on your lawn, rather than bagging and or composting. This will provide valuable nutrients to your grass, as well as save you time and effort.

Water lawn no more than once per week (recommended amount of 1” of water per watering) to promote deeper root growth, which will help make the grass more drought tolerant. Using a moisture analyzer is a quick and inexpensive way to determine whether your lawn needs watering or not

Best time to water your lawn is early morning (4am - 8am) as to avoid excessive evaporation if done during the day and to minimize chance of forming turf grass diseases due to extended periods of being wet if done at night

Carefully positioned trees can save up to 25% of the energy a typical household uses for energy. Research shows that summer daytime air temperatures can be 3° to 6° cooler in tree-shaded neighborhoods than in treeless areas. Deciduous trees planted on the south and west sides will help keep your house cool in the summer and allow sun to shine in the windows in the winter

Your Garden

Apply mulch to vegetable garden and flower beds, which will reduce evaporation and help the soil retain water. Also, mulch prevents weed growth, so you can avoid the need for weed-killing chemicals

garden vegetables

Plant an herb garden

Install rain barrels, which can save you up to 2,600 gallons/year

Plant a container vegetable garden

Create a Xeriscape for your home, which incorporates native plant species to your area

Yard Waste

Build or buy a yard composter, to which you can add food scraps (except meat, fish or poultry products), as well as grass clippings, leaves, small twigs, and old garden waste

Storm Water

Install permeable patio and/or driveway pavers to decrease storm water runoff into sewers

Consider installing a cistern to catch and store rainwater, although it would require significantly more work and money than typical garden rain barrels