Want A Sustainable, Beautiful, And Healthy Landscape?

Ecological landscaping is an easy and effective method of gardening that results in an outdoor environment that is beautiful, safe, and sustainable.

Conventional lawn care and maintenance are costly in terms of dollars and in health. While figures vary substantially, professional services for mowing, edging, and leaf clean-up, added to the cost of chemical fertilizer and weed control products, easily exceed $1,000 per year for many home owners. The varied health impacts include increased incidents of asthma, allergy, and in some cases, cancer (as determined by recent U. S. court rulings) from the air pollution created by the equipment that is used, as well as from the chemicals that are applied to lawns.

According to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the N. Y. S. Department of Environmental Conservation, gas-powered lawn equipment, such as leaf blowers and mowers, are responsible for significant amounts of air pollution. A typical mower emits volatile organic compounds, fine particulate matter, and some toxic compounds, into the air that we breathe at the rate of 14.76 lbs. per hour. Leaf blowers are similarly polluting.

Ecological landscaping offers alternative methods of creating a beautiful outdoor environment that reduce the need for mower and blower use. Some of its practices include

• decreasing lawn size and planting native plants, shrubs, grasses, and trees in its place.
• reducing weeds by adding mulch to flower beds and around shrubs, and corn gluten to lawns in April.
• killing weeds by spraying them with a vinegar and water solution, by pouring boiling water on them, or by pulling them by hand.

If weeding by hand is not feasible, a good alternative to gas-powered equipment is electrically-powered garden machinery (corded or battery-operated).

Ecological landscapers are professional stewards of the environment. Organizations such as the Ecological Landscape Alliance offer articles, classes, webinars, and a directory of landscapers who specialize in healthy and sustainable landscape practices.

The N. Y. S. Department of Environmental Conservation website provides a great deal of information on natural weed and pest control as well as native plant lists (NYS DEC Native Plants, Grasses, Shrubs, and Trees Brochure).

It is easy to go green, healthy, and sustainable. All it takes is implementing a few ecological landscaping practices.