 The design of your landscape is surprisingly one of the most important parts of green landscaping. Through careful consideration during the design process you can eliminate pests, reuse and conserve water and reduce heating and cooling bills.
Green buildings can be combined with green landscaping, which can help to manage energy bills in a highly significant way. Many trees can also work as a barrier against wind, which can protect buildings from chilling winds and other harsh weather; making the environment in your home much simpler to control. You can even take the next step and create a living roof out of grass or insulate your home using native plants. Placing deciduous trees and vines on the south side of a building can help to maintain shade in the summer and help your home retain heat in the winter.
You may want to try to collect rain water to water your landscape with. This can be done simply by placing a rain barrel in your yard to collect rain water in. This can be put under the gutters spout for extremely efficient collection. It is also possible to direct water strategically through your landscape for irrigation. Proper irrigation systems easily cut down on water usage. Many individuals believe that automatic sprinklers waste water, but in truth, if used properly, can actually save water. Keep your eyes peeled for moss growing in your yard, which is often a natural indication of over watering.
EnviroCitizen.org strongly suggests that you consider using native plants, flowers and grasses in your green landscape design. These native plants are best suited for your soil, climate and rain schedule, meaning they will require less attention, fertilizer and water! If fertilizer is needed, composting is easy, inexpensive and monumentally better for the environment than chemical fertilizers. While there are many environmentally friendly products out there, they do impact the environment through production. It is easy to avoid this by creating an at-home compost pile. The use of biodegradable home goods and yard and plant waste is an easy and inexpensive way to promote the growth of microorganisms to fertilize your green landscape!
Green landscape design can incorporate the use of bird and bat houses in an attempt to lessen pests without the use of pesticides, too. Sparrows and other varieties love snacking on caterpillars and other insects that would love to make a meal of your plants. In addition, good bugs like ladybugs feed on aphids and other small insects which harm plants. A mature swallow will eat its weight in insects every day, while bats will eat a huge volume of a variety of different pests.
If you are ready to move forward with your green landscape design, EnviroCitizen.org has a wonderful variety of environmentally friendly green landscape design tools !
|
