Sustainable gardening practices promote healthy plants and soil without the use of pesticides, leading to abundant blossoms and delicious vegetables.  Simply building the soil with organic matter, rather than continually applying chemical fertilizers, allows microorganisms to flourish and release the food that plants need to grow.  In addition, live, complex soil retains water and discourages disease, saving the gardener from excess watering and spraying.  Sustainable practices create a healthier backyard environment, and also benefit the surrounding land and water shared by the entire community.

Ideas for Sustainable Gardening

SOIL and WATER

• Saving water is key to sustainable gardening practices.  In addition to specific suggestions below, be mindful of water use.  Use drip irrigation where possible, water early in the morning and customize automatic irrigation systems.

• Water plants deeply and unless you are starting seedlings, you don’t need to water daily.  It is better to water 5” once a week, than 1 inch once a day.  This encourages roots to establish broadly and deeply and allows plants to find water in the soil and survive drought on their own.

• Compost kitchen scraps (everything but meat and oils) including recycled paper towels, and coffee filters.  Also leaves, small branches and organic matter gathered from maintaining your garden can be added to your compost pile.  (Just be careful not to include weed seeds and diseased plant material unless you are using the hot compost method.)

• Mulch garden beds to preserve water and to prevent weeds and invasive species from sprouting.  One of the best mulches is ground or shredded leaves found in your own back yard.  Leaves can be easily ground with a lawn mower or put through a small shredder and will ultimately condition and nourish the soil as they break down.  Using your own leaves for mulch saves on transport and insures that you are not introducing plant pathogens or toxic material into your yard.

PLANTS

• Try to remove all invasive species from your property.  The most common invasives in our area are: purple loosestrife, Japanese barberry and all it’s cultivars, oriental bittersweet, euonymus alatus (a very popular nursery plant), Norway maples, garlic mustard, eleagnus umbellate, Japanese honeysuckle and multiflora roses.  (Note: Even if the nursery tells you the cultivar is sterile, do not plant or buy it.)

• Understand the cultural requirements of a plant.  If it is in the right location, it won’t require much care.  Once a plant is established, it won’t have to be coddled with irrigation and fertilizer.

• Buy things that are grown as locally as possible.  They will be hardier and will use less energy to get to you.  Local plant sales are often great places to find interesting plants and cut down on travel for both you and the plants.

• Clean up diseased leaf matter from around plants and cut out any branches that are dead or diseased.  Clean clippers afterward.  Throw any diseased litter in the trash or in the compost heap, only if you know it gets hot enough to kill the pathogens.

• Use home remedies to control pests and diseases.  Aphids, whiteflies and spider mites can be effectively controlled with dishwashing soap and water in a spray bottle.  Powdery mildew can be dealt with by a spray solution of baking soda, horticultural oil and water.  Compost tea not only fertilizes, but can also inoculate plants from disease

 • Use biological and natural controls instead of chemicals.  For example, both insects and fungus on roses can be taken care of by a spray made of oil from the Neem tree.

LAWNS

• Plant turf grasses that need less water and are appropriate for the site, e.g. varieties suited to shade or heavy traffic.  A well established lawn needs less water and maintenance.

• Do not water an established lawn. In a drought it may look ugly, but it will not die. An over-watered lawn will encourage Japanese beetle grubs that will ultimately wreak havoc in your garden.  Also moles, voles and skunks are attracted to Japanese beetle grubs and will tear up the lawn in search of them.  Beneficial nematodes that can be ordered through Gardens Alive as well as other companies offering biological controls can help get rid of grubs (see website list).

• Leave the grass clippings when you cut lawn.  They provide both moisture and nutrients.

• If you are going to fertilize your lawn, do it once in the fall and use organic slow-release fertilizers.  Corn gluten is a natural pre-emergent that stops weeds from germinating in an established lawn and eventually breaks down into an effective fertilizer.

• Test your soil pH. In our area it is usually acidic and will need lime.  Using pelatized lime helps speed the absorption.

• Use low impact tools like reel mowers for small lawns, hand clippers, and electric trimmers and weed wackers. 4 stroke engine weed trimmers are available and create fewer emissions than the common 2 stroke engines.

• Don’t mow your lawn too close.  It will stress the lawn causing it to require more water and then more mowing.

MAINTENANCE

• Use chemicals very sparingly e.g. weed killer and pesticides.  Chemicals often kill the beneficial microorganisms in the soil ultimately leaving your plants less vigorous and more vulnerable to disease.  Household vinegar is a good natural weed killer, and there is a product called Burn Out made with concentrated vinegar and lemon juice which is highly effective killing tough weeds and doesn’t harm soil and water (see website list).  Usually the most effective method of getting rid of an undesirable plant is to dig it out rather than spraying it.

• Chemical tick controls are rarely effective and can leach into the soil and water as well as disrupt the beneficial insects in the garden.  

• Use local materials for mulch as much as possible.  Composted  ground or chipped hardwood is the best because it does not leach nitrogen from the soil. Don’t use dyed mulch.  Sweet Peet, a certified organic mulch made from composted wood chips, manure and ground leaves is available locally (see website list).

• Fertilizers are rarely necessary when the soil is healthy.  Soil enriched with compost and mulch is often disrupted by the introduction of strong chemical fertilizers.  Use organic fertilizer sparingly.  These break down slowly and do not shock the soil.  An organic version of Miracle Grow called Full Bloom is available and works well on potted plants (see website list).

• In order to get rid of an area of weeds, first cover the area with a thick layer of newspaper, top it with mulch and by the time you turn it over in the spring, the weeds will be dead and it will be ready to plant.

• When using gravel and rocks in landscaping, use local materials as much as possible because they are heavy and require significant energy to transport.

• Use hand tools whenever possible.  They save on energy, noise pollution and time at the gym.

Suggested Reading

Rodale’s All New Encyclopedia to Organic Gardening:  The Indispensable Recourse edited by Fern Marshall Bradley and Barbara Ellis

Noah’s Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards by Sara Stein

Native Plants of the Northeast:  A Guide for Gardening and Conservation by Donald J. Leopold

Ann Lovejoy’s Organic Garden Design School by Ann Lovejoy

Organic Gardening for th e 21^st Century by John Fedor

Organic Kitchen Gardening by Barbara Segall

Lasagna Gardening:  A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens:  No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding by Patricia Lanza

The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control edited by Barbara Ellis and Fern Marshall Bradley

Compost:  Rodale Organic Gardening Basics edited by Vicki Mattern

Growing Roses Organically by Barbara Wilde

Beth Chatto’s Woodland Garden by Beth Chatto

The Damp Garden by Beth Chatto

The Dry Garden by Beth Chatto

Sustainable Landscape Construction:  A Guide to Green Building Outdoors by J William Thompson and Kim Sorvig