For many of us, gardening represents the time in our busy lives
when we are most in touch with the earth.
For many of us, gardening represents the time in our busy lives when we are most in touch with the earth. Whether it’s sinking our hands into the soil, monitoring the weather to see when we need to irrigate, or noticing the presence of insects on our plants, gardeners of all types have cause to tune into nature. Naturally, gardening also provides us with an excellent opportunity to consider our impact on the earth and to take steps to be greener in the yard.
Since there is no limit to the environmental enhancements one can take while gardening, I’ve made three broad categories of gardening practices to help each of us find our place.
n Let’s start with the Lime Green Gardener. By just caring enough for their landscape to actively participate in the growing of plants, Lime Green Gardeners have taken the first green step. They’ve committed to creating an environment that’s conducive to plant life and doing so automatically removes CO2 from the atmosphere and cools the surroundings. Most Lime Greenies care about their garden’s appearance and keep their properties free of blight. Many Lime Greenies grow a bit of their own food which also reduces their carbon footprint.
What keeps these folks in the Lime Green category, however, is that they really don’t make much effort to reduce their environmental impact in the yard. They are likely to use herbicides and insecticides to control pests and rely heavily on chemical fertilizers. They don’t have drip irrigation systems and pay little attention to their landscape’s water consumption. Water runs off of their large front lawn carrying sediment, fertilizer runoff, and debris into the storm drain.
n Next, let’s uncover the Kelly Green Gardener. Kelly Green Gardeners do substantially more to make their gardens eco-friendly. They may have limited the size of their lawn and have installed some drip irrigation. They use chemical pesticides and fertilizers sparingly and have been known to hand-pick a weed or two before reaching for the herbicides. They try to grow lots of their own food and may have even had a winter garden. They have established a composting area in their yard that accommodates most of their trimmings. When buying soil amendment, they seek out composts and natural fertilizers. They may be trying to capture some of their runoff to replenish the groundwater and minimize stormwater pollution.
n Finally, there’s the Forest Green Gardener. Forest Green Gardeners really seek out ways to be environmentally-friendly. In fact, sometimes environmental objectives overwhelm gardening objectives in a forest green yard! Forest Greenies do all that they can to minimize their environmental impact.
Naturally, their gardens are exclusively organic and use drip irrigation only. They have no lawns whatsoever and they grow as much of their own produce as possible. They may even be attempting to cultivate dried beans and other staples that can be harvested and stored in the summer for use later. They are very active composters and seek to keep all of their organic trimmings and food waste onsite.
Moreover, they attempt to reduce or eliminate the importation of fertilizers, even organic compost, from other locations as a way of minimizing their footprint. They’ve built retention ditches and basins to retain stormwater runoff to avoid runoff pollution. If they have enough space, they’ll also be incorporating animals into their food production system. Lastly, they’ve also taken steps to create wildlife habitat in and around their cultivated plants to support beneficial insects, birds, and other animals.
So what shade of green is your garden? If you’re like most people, there are elements of every category that fit, so you’ll need to ferret out which category suits you best. The challenge is to see if you can move your gardening practices a couple of shades darker this year.
Eco-Fact of the Week: A green lacewing larva can eat up to 600 aphids! Want to learn more about beneficial insects, go to www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/ .
Eco-Web Pages of the Week: The Web is a great place and there are many, many great green gardening resources. A nice introductory course is available at www.suite101.com/course.cfm/17234/seminar .
Anthony Eulo is a Program Administrator for the City of Morgan Hill who absolutely loves to garden and considers himself a light shade of forest green. He welcomes your questions, comments, and thoughts and can be reached at 778-6480 or en*****@mo*********.gov.
