Landscaping with the Planet in Mind

As a home gardener or a landscape professional what we do matters. Finding tools to become a good steward to our planet and community is a step towards passing a healthy environment on to our children
Learning about regenerative practices and being mindful of what we do when creating a landscape is important in making your garden a renewable resource that can be passed down to future generations and can save you time and money.
You should start the process by creating a list of goals and features, then move to learning about your site. Taking into consideration your soil, wind, and sun conditions, and by implementing tools like sheet mulching, water capture and retention, soil remediation (if needed), and proper plant selection you can create a garden that can almost take care of itself
There are a few things you could add to make sure your plan contains features to make your landscape friendlier to the earth. Think about using permeable hardscape materials when creating your patios, pathways, and other hard features. Avoid using chemicals in your install or to maintain your landscape.
You should become an advocate for pollinators by inviting them into your garden and using integrated pest management to control pests and allow your garden to thrive. You can learn more about this by visiting The Xerces Society website.
Avoid adding plastic of any form to your landscape, be it in the form of edging material, weed barrier or (heaven forbid) artificial turf. You can take it one step further and help encourage nurseries and grower to switch from plastic pots to more earth friendly options. The change is coming slowly, but you can help push that forward by learning about the movement and join the ranks by signing up to join the coalition. It only takes a minute to watch the video and another minute to sign. It is a worthy cause! Healthy Pots, Healthy Planet Website.
If you’d like a little help navigating the design process, I’d love to walk you through a truly healthy approach to designing your garden. Please feel free to reach out!
Julie Molinare is a Landscape Designer living in the Santa Clarita for over 20 years. Julie taught the Introduction to Landscape Design Class @ CSUN Tseng College of Extended Learning and is Owner/Designer of The Grass Is Always Greener Designs 661-917-3521 www.thegrassisalwaysgreener.net