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It’s usually about mid-January that people start turning their thoughts toward their backyard. In warmer weather, backyards can serve as additional living space and, if you’re like many families in the US, you probably spend a lot of time in your backyard. You would think that being surrounded by nature makes you automatically eco-friendly.
This is not always the case, because even though you do yard work and plant trees and mulch and pull weeds, you may be applying fertilizers to your lawn that can seep into the water table. In addition to that, if you use any kind of pesticides (which, everyone understands peak mosquito season), you’re also adding to the toxins that can be seeping down into the water table.Are you beginning to question how eco-friendly your backyard is? Not to worry, you can make your backyard eco-friendly with little or no effort and very little additional cost. What you need to do before you begin to tackle your yard projects this year, is explore what you currently have and do in your yard and see how you can change or modify it to make your backyard more eco-friendly.
- Look at your climate and compare it with what kinds of plants you have in your yard. If you live in a southern or desert climate, you probably won’t wind up with the rich, soft grasses that grow well in the upper Midwest, so it’s almost pointless to try. With the hot, dry summers of the south, it would be silly to try to grow that grass, as it’s going to cost you a fortune in summer water bills, not to mention how much it will cost you to bring in black dirt for the pre-planting prep. Try, instead to choose grasses that tolerate heat and drought well and are native to the area in which you live. This will help to reduce unnecessary water consumption and improves your chances for actually getting your plants to grow. Use this same philosophy with flowerbeds and trees. Try to plant trees in the fall, instead of in the peak of summer, as this will give new trees a chance to get established with rains and cool weather before the heat of summer can stress trees.
- Consider using plants to repel bugs. Marigolds have strong bug repellant properties, as well as many other flowers that can repel everything from mosquitoes to spiders. It’s a good idea to look at an organic gardening website or book for many more natural, eco-friendly backyard plants.
- Start making compost with your backyard waste. Instead of bagging and throwing away or burning your grass clippings, weeds and old mulch, consider adding them to a compost maker. You can get compost containers that don’t cost to much and they will help to prevent the need to keep buying soil for your planting projects. Compost containers are gaining popularity in eco-friendly backyards nationwide as they’re becoming less obtrusive and can blend with all backyard décor.
There is no better time than this summer to start working on your eco-friendly backyard. Since most backyards are a constant beautiful project anyway, you can start incorporating your eco-friendly projects this summer and not pay extra. In fact, you might even save a few bucks, and wouldn’t that be nice?
