Everyone wants a beautiful and well-kept yard. Whether you have the most elaborate gardens, the busiest vegetable patches or even just a simple lawn, we all want our greenery to look neat and well-cared for. In this era of growing environmental concerns, however, that isn’t the only thing we want.
Increasingly, our worries turn to things like soil erosion, pollution, flooding, fires, and increasingly violent storms. In this climate of change, what can your small patch of lawn do to make the world a little greener?
It starts with a desire to adapt, and the willingness to follow through on that desire. If you’re serious about wanting to maintain an environmentally friendly yard, then we want to help you do just that. That’s why we’ve put together this guide of our top tips on creating outdoor eco-friendly living space. Together, we can make a difference.
Creating an eco-friendly backyard might sound like a huge operation that requires years of work and a major overhaul of your entire yard. In reality, it’s simpler than that.
Rather than being about significant changes that throw your whole life out of balance all at once, it’s all about little changes that add up over time. Maybe it means planting a new row of trees or digging a small new garden. Try implementing some of these 15 smaller changes one at a time. In a few years when you look back, you’ll be amazed at how much change you’ve accomplished.
Flooding is a major problem that quickly causes soil erosion, which leads to your precious earth being washed away into your local water system. While your gutters are only one small part of this much larger problem, every little bit helps.
Clogged gutters lead to water overflowing in all the wrong places, creating small floods in your yard. Avoid this problem altogether by committing to cleaning your gutters on a regular basis. We recommend creating a schedule, such as once a season or once a month. It’s also a good idea to check them after a particularly heavy storm when it seems likely that plenty of leaves and twigs will have collected up there. And of course, anytime you notice water overflowing from the wrong section of your gutter is an appropriate time to climb up to the roof and clean them.
Concrete patios might be convenient for you, but they aren’t the best solution for eco-friendly landscaping. No water can penetrate these hard slabs of concrete, meaning the water all collects around it instead, forming puddles and small rivers and lakes that contribute to soil erosion and displacement.
If it’s possible, the best solution is to get rid of these spaces in your yard entirely, or at least to minimize them. Instead, opt for permeable solutions like grass, flowerbeds or even well-spaced pavers or stepping stones.
Not only are native species far less work for you, but they’re also better for the environment. They’re hardier, support local wildlife and even discourage those mosquitoes that won’t leave you alone when you’re trying to have a pleasant evening out on the porch. Do a little research into the plants that are native to your climate zone and region and try opting for those instead of the more exotic options.
Do you have neighbors who also enjoy gardening? Why not do two things at once and help the environment while also getting to know your neighbors a little better? You can accomplish both these things by organizing a friendly neighborhood plant swap.
It’s simple — the next time you notice one of your plants are getting out of hand and need to be divided, pull a few of them up carefully, keeping the roots intact, and trade with your neighbor, who may also have a plant that needs to be kept under control.
This might seem like a small gesture, but the ripple effects are bigger then they might initially appear. Firstly, you start a chain of friendliness and giving throughout your neighborhood. Secondly, you’ll save money, since you’re getting rid of plants you would have thrown out anyway and getting new plants for free. Finally, you’re preventing these discarded plants from being thrown into the waste stream.
Remember those gutters we talked about earlier? Why not position a rain barrel beneath your gutter spout, collecting all this extra water runoff and trapping it in a barrel. Then, when the barrel eventually becomes full, you have a large supply of guilt-free water you can use for your other plants. In this way, you help turn excessive amounts of rain from something potentially harmful into something useful.
This isn’t always a household term, so we’ll explain. A dry well is an underground reservoir that’s installed beneath your yard and designed to capture excess water from gutters, heavy rainfall or any other sources. This reservoir holds the water and allows it to slowly be dispersed throughout the ground, instead of simply collecting in puddles on the surface or running off in mud-filled streams.
These are a bit of work to install, but once they’re in place, they require almost no maintenance at all — so little that you’ll likely forget it even exists.
None of us like mosquitoes, but unfortunately, many of the modern methods for banishing these pests are not exactly eco-friendly. If you’ve got a mosquito problem but are also looking to keep your yard green, then try fighting these pests with their natural predators — birds and bats.
The trick to attracting bats is to install a bat box. This is an artificial roost you can either buy or build yourself. For the best results, place it about 10 feet high, about 20 feet from the nearest trees and within a quarter mile of fresh water. All of these factors help create a habitat that bats will naturally flock to. In return, they’ll repay the favor by preying on your mosquito population.
For daytime bug control, you’ll want birds. Attract local bird species simply by filling your yard with local plant species that birds will naturally want to taste. By choosing plants that also bloom with winter berries, you can also help ensure you’ll have birds around your yard all year round.
Most people have a rocker, a folding chair, a bench or some type of seating on their porches or patios. Some may even have a table and chairs outside where they eat dinner on warm nights. Whatever your setup is, it’s time to bring your eco-friendly backyard ideas to this portion of your outdoor space, as well. To do this, you’ll want to seek out products made from durable and sustainable or recycled materials.
Eucalyptus and teak are two wood options that are not only beautiful but also highly sustainable choices for your patio or porch. If wood isn’t the right choice for you, try stainless steel or aluminum. Even synthetic wicker products can be eco-friendly, depending on the manufacturing process.
It’s nice to have a little light outside when it gets dark. For those looking to cut back on their power usage as well as their electrical spending, there’s a perfect option to try — solar lighting. Solar lights come in a wide range of forms, from path lights that stick into the ground itself to more traditionally mounted lights. No matter what form your solar lights take, they all operate the same way.
During the day, these lights absorb solar energy, storing it up inside. When the sun sets and it begins to get dark, these lights will start to emit a soft glow, reflecting the solar power they absorbed during the day. No electricity is even needed.
We’ve all heard this adage, and many of us are quite responsible about trying to follow it. When it comes to your garden and outdoor space, challenge yourself to find new ways to reuse materials instead of going out of your way to buy new ones. Maybe you’re looking to build a garden wall. Could you reuse those rocks you dug out of the yard last spring? What about that patio table that’s seen better days? Is it really ready to be thrown out, or could it be as good as new with a good cleaning and re-staining?
It would be remiss of us to talk about all the ways to make your yard a little more eco-friendly without mentioning composting. If you’ve never practiced composting before, then now is the perfect time to start. This is the practice of taking any natural waste — think weeds pulled from the garden, fruit rinds, overgrown vegetables, dead leaves, and grass clippings — and allowing it to decompose back into the earth to create soil that’s packed with nutrients. You can then use this soil, in turn, as fertilizer for your garden.
There are numerous different methods of creating a composting system, and we’ll let you decide for yourself which one is right for you. No matter which you choose, you’ll be greatly contributing to your local environment by creating natural and chemical-free fertilizer, as well as by keeping organic waste out of the trash.
One of the best things you can do to promote the environment in your own backyard is to work with your yard, instead of against it. As you think about how to landscape, try to incorporate your yard’s natural features into this plan. Are there hills, dips, and valleys? Consider how you can use these to their best advantage instead of trying to level them out.
For example, maybe you’re determined that you’d like a pool, but the space where you want to install this feature is slanted on an angle. Rather than demolishing this natural hill, search your yard for other flat spaces. Where else could you install the pool instead? In this way, you help keep things natural and disrupt the local eco-system as little as possible with your work. One of the best parts of this practice is that it also helps you save money.
Buying products produced across the country or even across the globe exacts a toll on the environment. Fuel is needed to transport those products to you, and as more and more people buy from major national and global suppliers, small local businesses are often forced to close up shop. This allows large businesses to grow larger, often expanding their operations to such an extent that the environment is inevitably damaged in the process.
You can do your part to stop this process by shopping for things like patio furniture, mulch, pavers, and garden supplies from local suppliers. Track down your local garden supply or hardware store and see what they have to offer, and make this your first choice before turning straight to a major corporation.
As more and more people are becoming aware of the harmful effects that synthetic fertilizers and chemicals can have on ecosystems, eco-friendly alternatives are beginning to pop up. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t still harmful chemicals on the market, however.
Whenever possible, turn to natural solutions instead of chemicals. Are you looking to deal with a mosquito problem? Enlist the help of natural allies like bats and birds. Are you looking to fertilize a garden in the spring? Create a compost heap that you can use to enrich your soil with nutrients.
If you absolutely must turn to synthetic chemicals, be sure to do your homework ahead of time. Learn which brands and products will harm your local plants and wildlife and which ones are safer to use. By doing this research, you become a responsible user and help do your part to keep the environment safe for everyone.
Allow your planting to add to your outdoor space not only in beauty but also in function. For example, fruit trees look gorgeous while also providing you with food that keeps your grocery bill down. Many types of trees make great windbreaks, keeping your house safe from major gusts. Still, other trees are ideal for shading your house from the sun. This is an excellent and all-natural way to help keep your cooling costs down in the summer without sacrificing any comfort.
All these are creative ways to make your green space more functional and multipurpose. What other ways can you brainstorm?
Your backyard will likely not become entirely eco-friendly in the space of a day. Instead, it will be a process that spans months and even years as you make one change at a time. The end result will be worth it, though, as you create an all-natural space that’s both beautiful and in harmony with the earth around it.
If you’re ready to take the first steps of this journey, then we encourage you to browse our various landscaping services here at Shearer Patio and Landscape Services. From installations to drainage concerns and aeration to seeding, we do it all. Learn more about the landscaping services we can offer you and start planning for how they can fit into your new eco-friendly backyard.