May 13, 2008
Habitat gardening is becoming very popular, it is a type of landscaping and gardening that uses native plants and water elements that help to maintain the natural ecosystem of the area. Creating an edge effect (as in the edge of forest or natural habitat) by using plants of all sizes laid out in a step down effect to allow all sort of spiders, and bugs that are useful in your garden, refuge. Water features like ponds and fountains provide bird baths and frog sanctuaries, and calming sounds of nature.
If you haven’t considered a vegetable or herb garden before, they can be quite therapeutic and rewarding. Money is saved by providing your own, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and beans but it also helps to regenerate areas of land that have been deprived of valuable nutrients.
Before planting…Before planting, analyze your space. Garden areas that receive full sun for a good part of the day are ideal for fruiting crops including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and snap peas. (You can also grow tomatoes in hanging baskets.) Shady locations are good for leafy and root cropssuch as lettuces, radishes and onionsthat can tolerate partial shade. In addition to garden bed space, you can take advantage of vertical space along a fence to support climbing plants.
Location is crucial when determining what and how to plant. Consider trying to grow grass in the southwest. The soil must be prepared by tilling and mixing the sand and other costly elements, then sod must be purchased and laid, not to mention the large amounts of wasteful watering that must be done daily. This may no longer be an option for many in desert like conditions, since droughts and water restrictions can delay or even ruin grass growth attempts. Xeriscaping and habitat gardens are much easier and less costly options.
How Green is Your Lawn?Why plant a lawn that needs to be mowed dozens of times a year when you could have a type of lawn that needs to be mowed four times a year?
The majority of all residential land is covered in turfgrass. Yet, keeping a thick green carpet of freshly mowed turf year-round isn’t very realistic when you consider things like weather, weeds, pests and the use of chemicals. One natural alternative is a low-maintenance natural meadow. Meadow lawns require less water and can be planted just about any place you’d put a groundcover.
Meadow lawns are more expensive to plant than sod initially because many native grasses are difficult to grow from seed and thus potted plants are necessary. Although the first costs of planting a lawn are low, it is maintenance costs which are costly. A meadow on the other hand yields a return on investment sooner requires less maintenance including, the increasingly scarce and expensive commodity that is water.
Keep a nice, manicured look on this alternative lawn by using clippers, a string trimmer or a mower once every three months. If you don’t want to do this level of maintenance, cut the lawn at least once a year to help warm the soil and invigorate new growth.
Green Facts:- Children who live in homes where chemical weed whackers and insect killers are used are four times more likely to develop cancer than their au naturale counterparts. (Source: Year 1995 study in the American Journal of Public Health.)
- Half of the forests that originally covered 48% of the Earth's land surface are gone. Only 1/5th of the Earth's original forests remain pristine and undisturbed. (Source: NRDC )
- In terms of surface area, lawns are the single most irrigated crop in the United States. That works out to about 128,000 square kilometers or 40 million acres in total. Don't forget to weigh in the fact that it takes 238 gallons of fresh, usually drinking-quality water per person, per day, to keep our lawns pert and verdant. (Source: NASA)
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