With the warm weather we have had lately, this has been a great week to talk about using sustainable practices in your lawn and/or garden! If you are following us on Facebook, you now know many different ways you can take this action at your own home. Here’s a quick recap of what we posted:
Reduce the Size of Your Lawn
If you’re interested in making your yard more sustainable, one of the best things you can do is reduce the size of your lawn to either grow food for yourself or for habitat to support bees, butterflies, birds and other wildlife. Or better yet, both! Want to learn more? Check out this article for more information:
Identify and Remove Invasive Plants
Another very important action you can take is to learn to identify invasive plants and remove them from your landscape to allow other plants to thrive. Blue Ridge Prism and iNaturalist are two great sites to help you identify invasive plants.
Support Wildlife on Your Property
The National Wildlife Federation has guidelines for providing the elements needed to support wildlife on your property: food, water, cover, places to raise young and sustainable practices. You can even have your yard certified as wildlife habitat, but you don’t have to get certified in order to incorporate some of these features. Adding native plants for pollinators or a bird bath can help provide much-needed food and water.
Eliminate the Use of Chemical Fertilizers and Herbicides
Lawn chemicals can run off into streams, harming fish and other animals and contaminating our drinking water. According to EPA, the use of lawn chemicals accounts for the majority of reported wildlife poisonings. Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that has resources for eliminating chemical use in your yard, including information on how to manage a weed-free yard.
Design Your Landscape to Save Energy
We know that trees are great for capturing carbon, but they can also reduce emissions by helping save energy, providing shade in the summer or a windbreak in the winter. You can also make decisions about your landscaping that will save water, like planting natives, grouping plants with similar water needs, and using mulch to reduce water loss.
Coming Up…
Week 3 starts tomorrow! Join us as we talk about Adding Native Plants to Your Landscape and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook to see daily updates.