Down to Earth

A few years ago, the National Wildlife Federation published a great article called “How Green is Your Garden?“, encouraging gardeners to consider the carbon footprint of their gardens. (Did you know a garden could even have a negative effect on the environment?) She offered six tips for reducing your garden’s carbon footprint, and I was inspired to spend some time examining those tips and deciding if they were too difficult for an average gardener to implement.

Below, you’ll find the six tips along with a brief summary of my thoughts on implementing these tips in an average garden. For a detailed look at each tip, click the links to read my original posts from 2009. Happy Earth Day!

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Tip #1:
Reduce the size of your lawn. Better yet, consider eliminating it entirely.

There's definitely an initial investment of time in changing your water-hungry lawn to a greener garden. However, down the line, your payoff is very rewarding indeed! Our lawn maintenance is almost zero during the winter months, and during the summer months, it takes only 10 - 15 minutes a week. Take the time to do some up-front work, and reap the benefits in the long run.

Tip #2:
Use hand tools instead of power equipment.

Although tools like a classic reel mower may take a little more exercise and cause some Beaver Cleaver remarks from neighbors, today’s models are easy to maintain and operate. If you’ve reduced the size of your lawn as suggested in tip #1, then this tip becomes pretty easy to implement. Plus, hand tools like rakes are a heckuva lot cheaper than leaf blowers.

Tip #3:
Choose materials with low-embodied energy.

The most difficult part of this tip is probably the research involved. Just remember to consider the total amount of energy involved in manufacturing the materials and transporting them to your yard. Choose materials like wood or crushed shell over concrete bricks or solid cement. Ask questions to find out where and how materials are made, and choose locally when possible.

Tips #4 and 5:
Emphasize woody plants that capture more carbon than fleshy herbaceous species. Plant trees and shrubs where they will block winter winds and provide shade in summer.

The key here is to remember that “woody plants” doesn’t have to mean trees. In a small lot, you may not want to plant many more tall trees than you already have. However, you can choose shrubs or woody plants that provide the same benefits. Plan your plantings to help your house conserve energy, sit back, and enjoy! (Don't forget - you can get 10 free trees with an Arbor Day Foundation membership!)

Tip #6:
Minimize, or better yet eliminate, the use of fertilizers and pesticides on your property.

Most Florida-Friendly plants will need minimal fertilization to thrive in our sandy soil, but when fertilizers are necessary, choose natural over synthetic. Depending on where you live, these may not be available locally, involving a little more work combing the internet. As for pesticides – many of the bugs in your garden are beneficial. Fire Ants? Don’t get me started on Fire Ants. Try a natural killer and spot treat only when you find them rather than putting down a broadcast killer on a regular basis.

Power to the People

NOTE: I'm continuing to explore the difficulty of implementing NWF's six tips for a green garden.

Tip #2: Use hand tools instead of power equipment.

Why?

• As I mentioned in yesterday's post, the carbon footprint of gas-powered lawn mowers is surprisingly large. In fact, according to an article in the March 2009 National Geographic magazine, "The average gasoline-powered push mower ... puts out as much pollution per hour as eleven cars—a riding mower as much as 34 cars."
• Using electric tools instead? Well, don't forget that the electricity still has to come from somewhere, and that "somewhere" is often dirty coal power plants. Those electric tools aren't always all that convenient either - last week, I watched the guy across the lake mowing his lawn with an electric push mower attached to a lo-o-o-ng extension cord. I can just imagine the conversation with his wife that led to that moment. "I don't care if the lawn mower isn't charged up, Bob. You said you'd mow the lawn this afternoon, and I want it mowed!"

How? Well, with the Leave it to Beaver theme song running through our heads, we here in My Florida Backyard turned to the old-fashioned Classic Push Reel Lawn Mower, made by Scotts.
The mower itself is really pretty easy to push. As easy as a self-propelled gas or electric mower? Well, of course not. But it rolls along pretty smoothly. After a few test runs, we determined that the mower does a great job cutting regular old grass. It does not do so well with the tougher weeds that seem to spring up to six inches tall overnight.

In the end, after doing some research, we also decided to invest in the Black & Decker Automatic Feed String Trimmer and Edger, even though it required electricity. If you have to choose power tools, electric tools in general will provide a lower carbon footprint (although I can never really get those dirty coal plants out of my mind...). Still, in fairness, we did try a hand-edger tool first, and it just didn't seem to get the job done.

Level of Difficulty: Well, there's no doubt you get a little more exercise when using a classic push reel lawn mower. But, if you drastically reduce the size of your lawn, it's definitely do-able. In fact, it takes only about 15 minutes to mow, trim, and edge the little bit of grass we have left. Would it be faster with a power mower? I doubt it, though it might take a little less man power. But, we definitely saved money with this option. The reel mower cost only about $100, and we don't have to buy gas for it - the only maintenance is having the blades sharpened every few years.

So, on that difficulty scale of 1 - 5 (5 being the hardest), I'm going to rank this one about a 2, assuming you've reduced the size of your lawn. Although it's a little more difficult to push the mower, it's really not that hard at all, and you save the hassle of getting gas to fill the thing. Plus, it's nearly silent to operate, so you can mow the lawn at any time without worrying about disturbing the neighbors.

I should mention, though, that you may take a little ribbing from your neighbors. "Hey, Cleaver!" one neighbor down the street calls out every single time we mow the lawn. But we're willing to take a little guff to make My Florida Backyard just a little bit greener.

P.S. I didn't mention other power tools for maintaining your yard, such as leaf blowers. Suffice it to say that doing the work by hand will always be a little more difficult, but it can (and really should) be done that way. When I was a kid growing up in Ohio, we raked the leaves from an acre of trees by hand every fall, and we did it as a family activity. Did I love doing it? Probably not. But rakes are cheap, and we didn't have much money. Now, here in Florida, a leaf blower is pretty much inexcusable, given the lack of "fall foliage". Come on, people. Get out the rake, if you must. Or better yet, plant gardens under your trees and let the leaves fall where they may, providing free and excellent self-mulching.