Landscaping

Birds are sometimes given a bad rap, with all that talk about them being dinosaurs, and then there's the Alfred Hitchcock movie, and if you live in a city with pigeons, which have been compared to rodents, and all that poop!

But the fact is that attracting birds and providing them with means for a healthy habitat is a very useful thing. There are some great reasons to attract birds and provide them with healthy habitat, including 'helping bring nature back into balance', increasing the bird population, and insect pest control', says www.a-home-for-wild-birds.com.

Bird populations have decreased significantly in recent years. The most obvious reason is the pervasiveness of concrete in our modern world. By providing feed, we can help birds thrive! You can put out bird feeders, or just get a big bag of feed and dish out a scoop onto your yard every now and then. As more birds come to your yard to feed, they will be returning frequently, eating the insects as well as the feed. Eventually you will experience decreased need for chemicals to maintain the healthy vegetation and appearance of your yard.

Black oil sunflower seed is the feed to choose when trying to attract birds. You can buy feed at any feed store, or even places like Home Depot, or on-line. Just don't feed them chocolate, it does to a bird what it does to a dog, from a substance contained in chocolate called 'theo-bromine' which is toxic to these animals (see more on this at www.birds.cornell.edu .) For a good list of specific feeds that attract specific species of birds go to www.gardensalive.com. The website www.shawcreekbirdsupply.com has a list of ways to discourage certain species from coming to your yard, (i.e. the pigeon).

Birds rely on habitat, and with nature being 'paved over' for progress, the influx of invasive plant species, pollution, and industrialized farming, basic needs like feeding, rest and breeding are being threatened. The Audubon Society, www.audubon.org, provides a 'watch list' for all the species of birds that are currently under the threat of extinction. They also note that it is 'only citizen action that can fuel the changes that will improve the outlook' for watch-listed birds. All in all, feeding birds is something to feel good about. It helps the environment, beautifies your backyard, controls insects and keeps the cycle of nature in balance.

To the novice homeowner, a site is all about plants or buildings but for those that are eco-aware, it is all about soil.

Similar to the concept of a business’s location being the back-bone to its success, adequate soil analysis - the pH content and nutrients both available and lacking in a site’s soil - is the site’s make or break factor.

Initially, a simplistic soil test is adequate. This type of test provides information related to pH content. Measurement occurs on a scale of 1 to 14: one (1) representing the maximum acid content and 14, the maximum alkaline. More advanced testing, available through land grant Universities such as Virginia Tech, is critical for a thorough understanding of soil and its breakdown of content and natural nutrients.

Become aware of a phrase used by organic gardeners, ‘feed the soil, not the plant’. In other words, improve soil content through the amendment of humus: compost, leaf mold, peat, organic matter and aged manure.

Help move your area's landscape from eco-weak to eco-chic. Feed your site’s soil, not plants by annually adding 1/2 to 3 inches of amendments, composted humus/mulch, insuring your area’s soil stability.

What are you doing to improve the soil health of your area? As we move into the planting season, post suggestions. Share what is works-well for you!

Broken concrete recycled into a wall on a residential street in Albuquerque: this wall was laid up with some mortar, but it could have been laid up dry. The material works really well for retaining walls, also. It's attractive, cheap, and easy to work with (for someone with a strong back).

This particular wall really wasn’t laid up that artfully – the joints aren’t staggered as well as they probably should have been, and it’s not so level – but still, I think it looks good. It’s certainly functional. And, there’s no shortage of broken-up concrete – it's readily available.

I had a big pile of broken-up concrete that sat for a l-o-n-g time before I found someone to lay it up into a low retaining wall. My neighbors weren't very happy about this part of the process!

How often do we talk about leaving the planet the way we found it? The next generation inherits what we leave behind, so as we are looking to build a better tomorrow for them, lets use responsible materials for them to play on today.

There are several manufacturers of backyard playground equipment that are leading the eco-friendly way. These manufacturers are using FSC Certified wood and 100% recycled plastics materials. Let’s take a look at a few that we found:

KOMPAN
The KOMPAN NATURE line is suitable for children aged 2 to 12. All KOMPAN Nature play equipment is produced from FSC certified hardwood. They claim their wood comes from forests which have been assessed to be well managed according to strict environmental, social and economic guidelines.

“Children at play want challenging equipment. Keywords are quality, safety and a long life – and that applies just as much to the natural environment and the people who live there. That’s why KOMPAN has opted to process only timber from well-managed forests. The FSC certificate is the only one to provide that guarantee. We are incredibly proud that, in a period of 4 years, we have succeeded in being able to offer playground equipment made entirely from FSC certified timber.” Willem van Veenendaal, Managing Director KOMPAN BV

Pros: Great use of FSC Certified wood
Cons: They are located in the Netherlands

PLAY MART, INC.
The Play Mart team has taken the time to give you the blow-by-blow on all the materials used in their products. The plastic used in the posts, decks and structural supports of their playground equipment is made from 100% recycled structural plastic (RSP). An average Play Mart playset recycles 25,000 milk jugs (nearly 7 jugs/lb of RSP). And are you looking for a solid limited warranty? Play Mart offers Read the reviews of other manufacturers at GetWithGreen.com

Surprise surprise, reforestation begins at home--and it can even save you money. Green Options has publsihed an article by Paul Pruefrock today on landscaping for reduced home energy consumption. Ever notice how farmhouses in the middle of hot, dry fields are always surrounded by a ring of shade trees? Before there was air-conditioning, there was good, old-fashioned shade.

Pruefrock writes that planting trees can greatly reduce energy consumption in both summer and winter:

"In the summertime, steps you take to keep the outside of the house cooler can help lower (or maybe even eliminate) the amount of air conditioning you need to run. And providing evergreen plants to buffer the north walls, as well as the direction of the prevailing winter winds (often, but not always, to the west), can help stop drafts and help keep the house warmer in the winter."

You can find tree-planting instructions here, and at arborday.org. To learn more about trees that will grow quickly to provide shade and insulation, visit Fast Growing Trees, and if you want to feed your family in the bargain, you can find more information at the Fruit Tree Planting Society.

The other day I was doing a post on my site about one of the Case Study Houses, the Greenbelt by Ralph Rapson (CSH#4). It's an interesting house; very simple but intriguing in the way it incorporates a green space between its public and private functional areas. It's the kind of house I go for.

I'm fascinated by an original illustration of the Greenbelt, seen here on the cover of Architecture magazine (March '05):

The image is an interesting snapshot of the naive optimism of the era. There's a commuter helicopter hovering over the house. Clearly, even as suburbia was being born, the problems of sprawl and disconnectedness were apparent. I suppose that at the time the solutions looked obvious. I also like the Jeep in the driveway, just ready and waiting for weekend fun. Even then we were fascinated with SUVs as fashion statements, expensive toys, symbolic of a new lifestyle halfway between city life and country pursuits remembered from childhood days on the farm. When you have new found wealth and freedom on Saturday you need a vehicle that can take you, say, to the nearby mountains for skiing, or on an adventurous day trip into the desert, or just up to the cabin in the woods.

But the image that gets me the most is that of the lady of the house hanging out the family's laundry to dry on a clothesline in the yard. I cannot remember the last time I saw that, but it was a long time ago. I do specifically remember from my childhood in the seventies that both my grandparents dried their clothes on a line, and so did most of their neighbors.

Those days seem to be very long gone. It's even more ironic to me to see a suburban family drying clothes on a line. I live in the burbs of Detroit, and I can say without doubt that if I did that it wouldn't be long before the neighbors started whispering and I got a call from the homeowners association. The bylaws of most subdivisions wouldn't stand for it for a minute.

Laundry is on the mind because our washer went out recently, for good this time, and we ended up buying a new washer and dryer. We bought the most efficient we could, and I've noticed a huge difference already, especially in the dryer. We're using much less water in the wash and our clothes dry much, much faster in the new dryer. But I still can't help thinking how much energy we could save by simply hanging clothes out on a breezy day.

And then just tonight I was surfing around the Web and out of the blue I stumbled on this very recent Seattle Times article: A Hip, Modern Clothesline Can Turn Your Laundry Green. According to the story a clothes dryer is responsible for up to 1,440 pounds of carbon dioxide annually, and can account for as much as ten percent of your home's energy consumption. That's a lot. If you could just dry half your clothes outside over the course of the year you'd make a meaningful difference. It's something to think about.

Of course, the Seattle Times article ends with "Before you let the family's laundry all hang out, check with your condo or homeowners association. Some associations ban hanging clothes outdoors." That's something to think about too. If we want to change our habits we need to change the rules too. That's the real challenge, and it doesn't stop with just laundry.

As anyone who has ever used a lawn mower will attest, these engines are not very efficient. They emit high levels of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, producing up to 5% of the nation's air pollution. A conventional lawn mower pollutes as much in an hour as driving your car for 100 miles.

In an effort to keep the lawn looking good, we annually use 800 million gallons of gas, producing tons of air pollutants. In fact, just switching to a push-type mower instead of a power mower will help reduce CO2 in the atmosphere by 80 pounds a year per lawn.

Perhaps more surprising than the gas we use, is the gas we misuse. According to the EPA, 17 million gallons of gasoline are spilled each year while refueling lawn equipment. To put that into perspective, that is more than all the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez.

Once we mow the lawn, the clippings generate over 160 million tons of solid waste annually. The second largest component of our solid waste is this yard waste.

Ironically, most grass is not meant to be cut so short. The short, well-manicured lawn does not have the same effect of shading the soil, increasing the need for water. Additionally, tall grass can have a much deeper root system, resulting in less need for watering.

Thanks to the Green Options blog for pointing out this disturbing statistic:

... a 2001 Swedish study showed that “Air pollution from cutting grass for an hour with a gasoline powered lawn mower is about the same as that from a 100-mile automobile ride.” Homeowners cranking up those gas powered machines on the weekends may create as much as 5% of the nation's air pollution.

Not to mention the attendant noise pollution. It is always annoying to have one's suburban Sunday idyll interrupted by power mower after power leaf blower.

Image Michael Krzymin, www.sxc.hu