In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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October 2, 2007

Going green

Many of us spend weekends mowing lawns, blowing leaves, fertilizing, spraying and trimming weeds. Look in our tool sheds, and you’ll likely find an impressive array of power tools and chemicals. As gardeners we have a unique opportunity to turn at least our own patches of land into a sustainable paradise that doesn’t deplete the earth’s resources, add to the pollution problem or worsen global warming. Many of these “fixes” are really the guiding principles our grandparents followed.

Here are six simple ways to reduce your carbon footprint:

1. Start a compost pile: It’s the perfect way to recycle kitchen and garden waste, and an easy way to add organic matter to the soil. You don’t need a fancy bin, and you don’t even have to turn the pile if you want to make compost the slow way. Plus by composting scraps you’re keeping them out of the landfill.

2. Reduce the size of your lawn: We live in a summer desert climate, and lawns account for a lot of water use in the garden. Consider turning part of the lawn into a perennial garden that attracts bees or butterflies. Plant a butterfly habitat garden.

3. Mulch: Mulch protects the soil, conserves water, suppresses weeds and gives the garden a nice, finished look.

4. Replace your gas powered lawnmower with an electric or battery powered one. The pollution from a single gas powered lawnmower running for an hour equals that of 30 or 40 cars at rush time, said DIY GardenSmart show host Joe Lamp’l.

5. Find alternatives to chemicals whenever possible. Hose off aphids or spittlebugs instead of spraying. Use insecticidal soap on aphids, and BT for caterpillars like tomato hornworms or oak worms.

6. Water smart: More plants die from over watering than under watering. Check to make sure your sprinklers are watering the garden evenly. Set out cat food or tuna cans, turn on the sprinklers for about 20 minutes and check the water level in each can. You’ll quickly learn whether some parts of your yard are being flooded while others are being denied water.

Gardeners have been a part of the problem, Lamp'l said, and we can also be part of the solution.

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