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Environmental Initiatives: Lawn and Garden
The greatest water use for a household is often outdoors. Here's helpful information. Each water-saving practice makes a difference!
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Lawn and Garden Conservation Tips: Careful water use is very cool!
- Good Fertilizing Practices
- When using fertilizer and applying it with a spreader, clean it after each use--over a grassy area well away from the storm sewer.
- Fall fertilizing is best for healthy lawn growth.
- Test the soil to see whether fertilizer is needed and apply only what's needed.
- Good Lawn Practices
- Grow the mix of grass varieties for our area--fescues, perennial ryegrass and Kentucky bluegrass, in descending order of quantity.
- Mow to two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half inches.
- Sharpen mower blades frequently, and avoid cutting more than 1/3 the length of the grass at one mowing.
- Leave grass clippings on the lawn, spreading out clumps; the clippings will disappear after giving up their moisture and nitrogen.
- Try lawn weed control measures based on good mowing, watering and nutrient-monitoring practices. If hand digging and other efforts--including tolerance--have failed, pursue the least-toxic practices and remedies.
- Good Planting Practices
- Plant native plants. Native plants are tolerant to variations in local climate and generally need little watering, fertilizer, pesticides or mowing. To learn more, go to: UW Extension, http://www.midwestlandscapeplants.org/
- Group plants that have similar cultural needs to make the most of resources and your time.
- Collect rain water in a rain barrel or cistern
- Water that runs off hard surfaces such as the roof can be collected and reused to water plants. Rain water is "soft," without groundwater minerals or added chlorine or fluoride, so it is more plant-friendly than tap water. Capturing water from gutters and downspouts in a well-designed rain barrel conserves the municipal supply while providing the best water for lawn and garden. To learn more, go to Sustain Dane's Rain Barrel Program web site, http://www.rainfordane.org
- Insects and Pests
- Know which insects are beneficial, which are actually damaging plants and which are just passing through; again, pursue the least-persistent and least-toxic remedies. Have you tried hand (or glove) picking? Insecticidal soap? Dish soap and oil in water sprayed on shelled insects? isopropyl alcohol on aphids? a 1:9 milk:water solution to kill plant mildew?
- Rain gardens
- Manage rainfall on your property as much as possible, using the contour of the area and plantings to slow down the flow of water, use it and offer it back to the atmosphere. To learn more, go to the City of Madison Engineering, Water Quality Initiatives, http://www.cityofmadison.com/engineering/stormwater/
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