Most of the people that I meet, in my work as an environmental engineer, have a sincere desire to be "environmentally friendly." They want their surrounding to be healthy as well as attractive. They want to share the world with (most) wildlife. They want fish in their streams, clean water,  clean air, and are even willing to pay for a  quality environment if that's what it takes (hence the major advances that we have made in sewage treatment).

Isn't it nice to know, then, that there are things (relatively painless things) that we can do close to home that can make a difference? These things are in our back (and front) yards. They are the common practices that we use to take care of our property.

What are the environmental issues that pertain to gardening practices?

This list is not complete, but it represents a reasonable start. The environmental issues that we can effect through our yard work practices include:

1. Stormwater runoff - Roofs, sidewalk, driveways, and roads are impermeable. Rain that used to soak in at such locations now runs off, into storm pipes, streams, rivers, and the ocean. Why should we care? This excess water can cause erosion in local streams and can increase the likelihood of flooding downstream.
2. Pollutants and sediment carried in stormwater runoff. Nutrients from fertilizers, soil from yards, dripped petroleum, and any number of other potentially harmful chemicals are scrubbed off by the stormwater and carried into receiving streams. Both the appearance and the health of the receiving waters can be damaged. Accumulation of nutrients from many sources (including yards) have been implicated in the degradation of numerous habitats.
3. Water table draw-down. Most parts of the southeast depend upon groundwater for their water needs. Many parts of this region are experiencing a drop in the level of their water tables, as local needs exceed the recharge capacity of their aquifers. Up to 50 percent of domestic water use can be attributed to lawn and garden use.
4. Waste minimization. Recent EPA and local regulations have made the creation of landfills a more expensive proposition than was previously the case ("tipping fees" have gone up 4 fold in some areas). Anything that helps to minimize the amount of waste going to landfills will save public money (not to mention energy requirements for transport).

1. Don't send your yard waste to the landfill. Compost or mow the yard waste into your lawn.
2. Select native plants to minimize pesticide use and water requirements.
3. Fertilize sparingly and when it can help.
4. Use pesticides sparingly.
5. Water deeply once per week, not once per day.
6. Capture some of the rainwater that comes off of your roof.

We teach our children not to litter. Our explanation of why it's wrong frequently includes "what would it be like if everyone littered. " Well, the same reasoning applies here. By making your little part of the world as environmentally friendly as possible, you've done your part to protect something worth cherishing.

1.    Don't send your yard waste to the landfill. If you have a relatively light leaf layer in your yard, consider mowing the leaves and other organic debris back into your lawn. This may also be the year, if you haven't tried it yet, to start a compost pile. There's something intrinsically satisfying is taking a waste product and turning it into something useful and, make no mistake, compost is very useful! I started composting all of our oak leaves with our kitchen scraps several years ago just out of curiosity. Now I'm hooked. Each year I end up with several yards of first rate soil amending material and send no leaves or kitchen scraps to the land fill.

Compost does many things for your yard or garden. Adding organic material to the soil is helpful for both sandy and clay soils. Compost improves the soil structure. In sandy soil, it helps moisture retention. In clay soil, it promotes root growth. There is evidence that the natural flora and fauna in compost provides protection against some pests and diseases. The nutrients in compost (and mowed leaves!) can supply up to a quarter of plant and grass N,P,K requirements and many micronutrients not found in most fertilizers.

By composting, you do other good things as well. A well structured (amended) soil can reduce stormwater runoff in predominantly clay soils. Energy use (and associated pollution) due to transporting the waste to a landfill is eliminated. Finally, recent EPA regulations have made the construction of new landfills very expensive ("tipping fees" have quadrupled in some places).

The Internet is full of good sites for basic composting "how to's". Here is one of the many such sites.

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2.    Select native plants to minimize pesticide use and water requirements. Native plants are called "native plants" because they grow naturally in a particular region. This means that they are adapted to withstand the meteorological conditions, local diseases and pests, and the soil conditions found in that part of the world. As a result, the need to supply pesticides, supplemental watering, and perhaps fertilization on your part becomes minimal.

See your nurseryman for specific information on native plants. See this link for more discussion on native plants.

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3.    Fertilize sparingly. There are some turf professionals that feel that fertilizer should only be used to improve or repair a lawn. Basic maintenance of turf can be accomplished just fine using nothing but grass clippings. If you feel that you need to fertilize plants or turf, try to use as little as possible (i.e., do not exceed manufacturers suggested rate of application). If possible, use time release or organic fertilizers. Time release fertilizers are less prone to be washed away during a storm. Organic fertilizers (e.g., manure, cotton seed meal) promote microbial community development in the garden. In general, though, if you don't apply it, it can't wash off.

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4.    Use pesticides sparingly. As is the case with fertilizer, if you don't put it on, it can't wash off. There are, however, times when pesticide use can be justified. In these cases, it is important to identify the problem and choose an efficacious product. See this link for more discussion on this topic.

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5.    Water deeply once per week, not once per day.  I almost called this section "throw your irrigation timer away." If you water daily, you may be harming your lawn and you are almost certainly wasting water. Light daily waterings encourage shallow root growth, making a lawn more prone to heat stress and more susceptible to drought damage in the event that regular watering ceases (as on a vacation). Much of a light watering will, in addition, be lost to evaporation without ever passing through the plant. Deep weekly waterings (~ 1 inch per week, applied during a single day) promote deeper root growth and waste less water. My friend (and irrigation expert and author) Pete Melby suggests that lawn irrigation be done manually. Putting an inch down on a compacted soil may require temporarily shutting the system down and restarting it to avoid runoff.

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6. Capture some of the rainwater that comes off of your roof. Rain barrels were once common features in the southeast. Every gallon of rain that you catch and store from a down spout represents one less gallon of chlorinated drinking water that must be put on your garden. Rain barrels can be made from 55 gallon polypropylene castoffs (from Coca - Cola and the like at about $10). Barrels that include taps and overflows are commercially available (see one vendor - no endorsement implied).

Another way to prevent rain water from running off of your site is to dig a dry well below your down spout(s). I use a dry well beneath a down spout to maintain maximum dampness in a heavy clay soil that has caused problems with our foundation slab.

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