Environmentally Friendly Landscaping - Many of the landscape methods that we have traditionally utilized have negative environmental repercussions. Host of the Gardening in the Mountains Radio Show Steve Pettis will help you manage your landscape in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
Changing the Way We Landscape
The traditional landscape has drawbacks. Inputs such as herbicides, fertilizers, water, and mowing are expensive and environmentally costly. More and more people are allowing swaths of property to revert to a more natural state. These more nuanced property managers are seeking out and planting native plants to accomplish this. There are many reasons for this change.
What We Are Trying to Achieve
Reducing Costs: Monetary and Environmental
Natural areas are cheaper to manage and more environmentally friendly. Regular mowing is not required. Herbicides are not needed to manage turf weeds. Fertilizers are unnecessary in natural areas where leaves are allowed to remain and decompose into valuable nutrients and organic matter.
Legacy
Natural areas leave behind a positive environmental legacy in the landscape. Native trees and shrubs can live for decades or even centuries. The natural landscapes we plant today become the woodlands and parks of the future. An oak may take 25 years before it starts casting any real shade but it can go on cooling our environment, stabilizing soil, and capturing pollutants long after we are all gone.
Improving Outcomes: Wildlife
Natural areas are beneficial to wildlife. Flowering plants including grasses produce nectar and pollen which benefits pollen and nectar feeding insects. Areas that are not mowed or cut back in late summer provide an overwintering place for beneficial insects, amphibians, and reptiles. Birds are attracted by the abundance of insects and seeds on which they feed.
Lower emissions
Natural landscapes are better for the environment than highly managed ones. Greenhouse emissions are reduced by lowering the use of environmentally unfriendly machinery. Chemical inputs such as herbicides and fertilizers are unnecessary. Soil health improves when chemical use goes down and compaction from heavy machinery ceases.
